The Gift of Baseball

Last night my brother-in-law, Nick, and I took his two boys, Jake and Eli, to the Angels-DBacks game. The tickets were a gift to Jake for his Kindergarten graduation. This was the first time I had ever attended a baseball game with my nephews, and I was really looking forward to it. The game went about as expected, the Angels worked over their struggling counterparts for the DBacks most lop-sided defeat of the season... so far. The only reason that we would have even stayed around to see the end was the fact there were fireworks right after. We ended up leaving around the eighth inning because Nick had been fighting a major tooth-ache all day and he was ready to be gone. The boys and I were all cool with that; fireworks were no new phenomenon to me and it was about two hours past the boys' regular bedtime.

The game itself was just any other game to me. I've been blessed through my lifetime to see quite a few Major League games, and hundreds of other baseball games on top of those. However, this game will be a memory I will keep around. It has been no secret to my new family (my wife and I haven't even been married two years yet) that baseball is an important part of my life. Over the last few months, however, I think they've started to see that it is a lot more than something I just played for 18 years.

Baseball was a big part of my father's upbringing. He played baseball through high school (hitting over .500 his junior season isn't bad for someone with a bad leg from the time he was a young boy). Baseball was one of the cornerstones of the awesome relationship that he had with his little brother. They became Yankees fans together at a young age. With no local team to root for in Idaho, the only teams consistently televised were the Yankees, Pirates and Dodgers (they chose wisely).

My dad knew no better way to help raise his kids then with the valuable lessons of this humbling sport. My two older siblings and I all played baseball (softball for my sister) at least into high school. It was something we could do together, learn together and cheer for each other. It was as good for family bonding as anything else I can remember from my early years (one would play, mother would keep score, father would coach, siblings would cheer). This general formula continued, for me, all the way through college. It is very, very real to say that I would not have played baseball as long as I was able to without my family's support.

The beauty of baseball is that the overall way the game is played has undergone very little change for the last 100 years. So one generation can relate with the game and pass it on to the next. In a recent radio interview I heard self proclaimed "baseball nut" Alyssa Milano describe it as one of the greatest generational gifts. There is no better way than that for me to explain it.

I am not a baseball fan because it's just something to watch and cheer for, I am a baseball fan because it is something I can be a part of with those close to me (to this day, it is rare for me to have a conversation with my brother that doesn't touch on the Yanks). I do not have kids; although I try to love and treat my nephews and nieces as though they were my own. My wife and I have decided to leave our parenting decision up to the LORD. If I am someday blessed with children, they will not have baseball "pushed on them". It will be there as something they can experience together with their father if they choose to accept that gift. Easy to say, I'm glad I accepted it from mine.