Confession: I don’t like football.
Well, that’s not entirely true. I have nothing against football except its violence and a player’s proclivity to serious injury. And the fact that I still don’t totally understand it – even after having raised five sons who all seem to grasp the finer points of the game.
But, I LOVE baseball.
It all started with my grandfather, Frank, who frequently went to see the Cincinnati Reds play at Crosley Field in the 1930’s. He was such an avid fan that he regularly advertised his small flower shop business in the Cincinnati Reds short program. (A copy is still in our family’s possession.)
Riverfront Stadium opened its doors in 1970 and my dad was lucky enough to call for two season tickets immediately after a journalist returned his two box seat tickets – four rows behind home plate.
My children spent their childhood going to baseball games with their grandfather. The luminous impression the Cincinnati Reds experience had on my boys was evident when four out of the five of them chose the Cincinnati Reds as their Bar Mitzvah theme.
My boys grew up. My boys moved away. My dad died. My husband and I settled elsewhere too. And all that was left of the Big Red Machine was a scrapbook of memories.
For many years after their heyday, the Cincinnati Reds limped along.
“No matter how good you are, you’re going to lose one-third of your games. No matter how bad you are you’re going to win one-third of your games. It’s the other third that makes the difference.”
― Tommy Lasorda
I get that. Apparently so did the Reds – who lost their fair share of all their games too.
Nonetheless, whenever my husband and I travel back to our hometown, we take in as many games as we can. IT IS MY HAPPY PLACE.
It was hard for me to share my baseball loyalties with the Tampa Bay Rays BUT now that their move to Tampa seems destined, I’m getting itchy with excitement.
Last fall it was announced that the project for a new Tampa Bay Rays stadium in downtown St. Petersburg was effectively dead. And on March 2, the team released a video showcasing a new ballpark, which it dubbed its “forever home,” to be located on about 130 acres in the Westshore District of Tampa, Florida, and Hillsborough College’s Dale Mabry campus. It’s a 2.3 billion dollar ballpark which is planned to be operational by 2029. – seating 31,000 fans.
I guess it’s time to order an additional sign for my front porch like the one hanging there for the Cincinnati Reds.
Baseball for me is chocked full of childhood memories, memories before my nest emptied and memories before my parents passed away. I’m ready to make some new ones. And I hope you are too.
Keep Preserving Your Bloom,
