When Baseball Starts...

Wrigley field is a really strange place in the winter.

I’ve never been inside except during the season, but every morning I take the train to work and I walk right by the field. In fact, if you stand on the Addison red line platform, on the north side, you can look in at it and see straight down the right field line. Just over a month ago I was sitting there, waiting for the train to come, and I looked over onto the field and saw snow on the seats, and a drift on the mound. Man, what an eerie sight. Almost depressing actually.



In A League of their Own, Tom Hanks Character Jimmy Dugan famously says, “There’s no crying in Baseball!” Well, I’m pretty sure there’s no snow either.



Baseball is a wonderful sign to me that the seasons are shifting. When I hear about the first spring training games, it’s still cold, but I know spring is coming. I can almost smell it in the air. I can feel my bones start to thaw from the winter, and it’s suddenly just the slightest bit easier to get up in the morning (really). This being my first season living in Chicago, I feel it more than ever.



Baseball, like spring, also marks a new beginning. It’s a long season, but there’s a sense any team could have a pennant 162 games down the road. Granted, it’s unlikely the Senators are going to do that, but at the beginning of a baseball season it doesn’t seem as crazy as it might later on.



There are no worries when baseball starts either. Steroid use in baseball is something to act upon and be concerned about. It’s something we as fans simply should not stand for. But when baseball starts, it should be forgotten until May.



Everybody is optimistic about his or her team when baseball starts. One of my friends (a Cardinals fan, sigh) has asked me things recently like, “Well, what about your pitching situation? Are Prior and Wood going to be ready?” or “You lost your RBI producing corner outfielders! Where are the runs going to come from this year?” Honestly, I’m not worried. There’s nothing to be worried about right now. None of that crap matters because baseball is here.



Drinking becomes a pastime again when baseball season starts. When you drink in the winter, it never seems as light. Everyone seems to be drinking with malign purpose and intent and it’s just never as joyous an event as it could be. When baseball season starts, everyone is trying to drink nine beers in nine innings and though they never do it’s still humorous. People do it because it’s fun, not because it’s expected or because it’s going to get you in the sack with someone.



Rivalry also kicks in when baseball season starts. This is great! It keeps us from fighting with each other and focuses our negative energy on the hated opposing foe (in our case the dastardly Cardinals). We sit around for hours and come up with reasons why the Cubs rule and the Cardinals, well, suck. I found myself in a conversation once (several beers down a long road) debating who would win if a Cardinal fought a bear cub. I mean seriously! What sort of chance does a 10oz. Bird have! But I fought about this, instead of politics and it saved me from pissing people off. Plus, I can always win this argument so naturally I like it.



And finally, my favorite thing about Baseball starting: Vienna Beef hot dogs. You can eat this anytime, but they don’t taste NEAR as good as they do in Wrigley. It’s like drinking Guinness in Dublin. It’s ridiculously better. Plus, as some of you may know, I recently took a shot at hot dog modeling… so I’m a little partial….







When baseball starts all in the world seems right again. Nomar can bat .320, C-Patt can go errorless, Ramirez can hit 45 HR's, and Wood can through an 18K game and get 18 wins. In the movie Field of Dreams, James Earl Jones character Terrance Mann says this of Baseball, "It reminds us of all that once was good, and could be again." It's still true. And the optismism of starting a season seems like we're just on the verge of discovering all that is good all over again.



"Maybe this year's the year..." we'll say. And maybe this year it is.