Be a part of the tradition
Below is a quote by former Major League Baseball Commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti titled “The Green Fields of the Mind.”
“It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone. You count on it, rely on it to buffer the passage of time, to keep the memory of sunshine and high skies alive, and then just when the days are all twilight, when you need it most, it stops.”
Giamatti summed up baseball perfectly. This game will break your heart. Sounds depressing, but in reality, it is eternally optimistic. The only way someone’s heart gets broken is if that person cares so much that their heart could break. Baseball is always there when life begins again. When winter ends and the grass begins to grow again our hearts drift to baseball fields and the eternal summer.
Baseball can fill our hearts and minds with wonder. The feel of a clean base hit, the sound of the glove recording the final out of a ballgame. We know that we might not succeed; we know it is a game built on failure. We know that our dreams of major league baseball stardom are not completely realistic. We know that today’s game might not turn out perfectly. We know, but yet we play.
We also know that baseball will be back next year. We know that this sport has been shared by families for generations and will continue to be shared for generations to come. So when you suit up in your uniform, when you pull that hat upon your head. When you run out to your position, remember, you are part of a legacy. You are part of something bigger. You are part of our nation’s pastime.
You are part of the story that is forever being written. Enjoy the day. Enjoy the game.
Till Next Time,
Chad