On the heels of possibly the greatest World Series game of all-time and just before tonight’s pivotal game 7 I thought it appropriate to say why I love Baseball.
10. My 6th grade teacher, Mr. Butler requisitioned a TV for our classroom at East Lake Elementary to watch the 1969 World Series. I will never forget marveling at the TV (my family did not own one), but also thrilling to the “Miracle Mets” startling upset win over the Baltimore Orioles. Storied names such as Gil Hodges, Earl Weaver, Donn Clendenon, Nolan Ryan, Tom Seaver, Jim Palmer, Brooks Robinson and Frank Robinson played their way into the Hall of Fame.
9. Earlier in my life, my Mom saved enough money somehow to buy my brother and I a leather and cloth baseball jacket. It had baseballs sewn all over it with the teams logos. That was about the time the Dodgers and Giants moved to California and the Braves were still in Milwaukee. I slept in that jacket.
8. It was the only major sport that my father played with me.
7. I moved to South Florida and discovered the magic of spring training. Balmy air, sunshine, small stadiums and close proximity to the players caused me more than once to skip a college class and slip into a game in West Palm Beach.
6. Three of my friends played major league baseball including Turner Ward of the Toronto Blue Jays who was featured on an infamous ESPN highlight crashing through the outfield fence and Jerry Reed, a pitcher who is currently in the top 5 all-time era leaders with the Mariners.
5. I was one of the few people in attendance at Tampa Bay (with Jerry) when Wade Boggs garnered his 3,000th hit. He subsequently signed my authentic “I was there” placard that every attendee received that day.
4. One of the greatest trips of my life with my father was to a recent Atlanta Braves Spring Training game at Disney World.
3. You can watch baseball and multi-task.
2. I’m American and I love apple pie so…
1. Every musician wants to be a baseball player and every baseball player wants to be a musician.
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