On this beautiful weekday morning, I think of previous years and how wonderful and exciting it was to wake up and watch spring training games thinking this might be the year my team actually wins the World Series.
Watching youngsters who have the hope of becoming major league stars, get their chance to mix it up with veteran players they have grown up idolizing and who have gone thru the process they are just
beginning. Yes, baseball has a much different meaning to us fans than it does to the greedy billionaires who are fighting with millionaires to see who can win at the game of the almighty dollar instead of seeing who can win on the actual playing field.
Some of the most wonderful memories in my life were when my dad took me to Shea Stadium to watch the New York Mets play. And then for me to pass that tradition on, when my son was born, taking him to see the home openers and other Tampa Bay Rays games.
The memories of chanting “Let’s go Mets” with my dad as Rusty Staub or Ed Kranepool came up to bat. Or the amazing time my son and I had watching Carlos Pena hit a grand slam home run off CC Sabathia in the home opener in the bottom of the 1st inning to send the Tampa crowd into one of the loudest we have ever witnessed.
Yes, those moments are what baseball is all about. The moment a father and child will never forget, but one that could be sacrificed this year because of the owners and players having what they believe is
more important things to tend to. Yes, these are the same individuals that have children of their own, but that believe there is something more important than the happiness of a child eating a hotdog, snacking
on a bag of peanuts, Cracker Jacks or just enjoying an ice-cold Coke.
The feeling I would get as we left the house with our baseball gloves in our hands so that we could get to the game early and watch batting practice. Living out our dream of catching a foul ball during that practice or better yet, during the game. The feeling of going down to the first row in the stands as the players came over from their pregame workouts hoping to get an autograph of Tom Seaver, Jerry Kossman and later on with my son from David Price, Evan Longoria or “Big Game” Shields.
Oh, the memories I’ll never forget…
As we enter the middle of the month and I struggle to wake up everyday to no baseball I can only pray and hope that the owners and players wake up as well and realize when they look in the mirror that they are not the things that keep this wonderful game we call baseball alive but that it is the fans and the memories that we create that will never die.
Larry Frank is the host of Frankly Speaking Sports Tue-Thurs 11am on Tobacco Road Sports Radio
