I STILL LOVE BASEBALL

This is in response to a post by Paul Guivens entitled, "Ode to Baseball"? I commented on the piece but thought there was much more I wanted to say.

Paul summed up his piece as follows:

"Even though my beloved Red Sox won the World Series two years ago, I give up the game. I see no heroes, no players to be admired, no humble folk who just want to play the GAME. I see greed, venality, selfishness, nothing to be admired, nothing at all. They don't care for the fan so why should we care for them? Let the real "opiate of the masses" be practiced on those who don't care about the history of America's pastime. They just won't be doing it to me. Goodbye, Baseball."

Dear Paul,

You and I are nearly the same age, and our experiences growing up with baseball, no doubt, were near the same. We shared Ted Williams, with him playing for your beloved Red Sox but being a native of my home town, San Diego.

My mother and father were both very devout "born again" Christians, who spent their lives during my childhood, starting new churches in various communities where we lived. The only time that I felt that my dad was like other kid's dads was when we went to the minor-league Padre games at Westgate Park.

There, he would buy a beer and a hot dog, just like all the other dads. He would even let me have a sip. It is my fondest memory of father-son bonding of my childhood. He passed away when I was thirteen. I touch that memory with every game I watch. It was baseball that allowed that memory.

Baseball has always been more than a game or a sport. It is as thoroughly woven into the fabric of this country as the "Star Spangled Banner" which we sing at the beginning of each game. I grew up believing that the last two words of our national anthem was "play ball."

I'm sorry that you have been disheartened by recent events in the game. The days before free-agency was basically slavery. I don't look at that, as times we should long to return.

It's not for the businessmen in baseball uniforms that I watch. It is not for the owners, I cheer. I abhor what Fox Sports has done to my game. They don't seem to know it the same way that I do.

I still love baseball. The smell of the grass and the dirt. The crack of the bat. The flight of the ball arcing deep into the night sky. I feel my soul hitching a ride with the balls flight. The grace and balance of the double play. The determination of the pitcher in the ninth inning.

So many things are going on in so many directions the mind just can't keep up. I laugh at the ones so dense as to say it is boring. The irrepressible joy of men returned to boyhood.

I still love the game as it is still a poetic part of my life.

It is still America's pastime, one handed down in families because families can still afford to come. Fathers to sons and now even to daughters. On Summer nights and Sunday afternoons amid the amazing sensual thrills of sound, taste and smell.

Where even self-righteous fathers might become, "just one of the guys."