I love baseball. I always have. I grew up with two brothers who were always in little league. I played one year of softball but found that I was much better at watching than playing. So, I retired from the Saints softball team after one year. My mom was one of the coaches of our softball team that year. When my softball career ended her coaching career ended as well. My problem as a softball player wasn't that I didn't want to play but rather that I just wasn't good at it. Mostly I was slow, it's a Meyers trait. We're short and slow people.
I catch and throw pretty well for a girl. I can also make contact with the ball although I never was a strong hitter. I remember the first time in a game that I got a hit that made it out of the infield, it was a pretty big deal. That's how weak my hitting I was.
But my inabilities on the diamond have never affected my love for the game. I love watching it at any level. All of my nephews have played baseball at some level with Jacob actually getting to play in a Dixie Youth World Series a number of years ago and later playing club ball in college. I still think he was one of the best catcher/short stops I've ever seen (but I could be slightly biased). Tim is still in high school and was on the baseball team last year and I assume will be again this year. Both of his brothers Chris and Matt played little league ball before discovering different interests to move on to. Even Rebecca, my niece, was a perennial all star playing club softball and high school ball, as well.
In the past I have held season tickets for the Roughriders and I can't tell you how many Rangers and Astros games I have been to over the years. I LOVE going to baseball games. In addition to Rangers and Astros games, I've gone to Yankee Stadium a couple of times, Shea Stadium for a Mets game once, Fenway Park just this summer and AT&T Park in San Francisco for a Giants game last year (coincidentally they were playing the Rangers that day). I think those people who make it there mission in life to visit every major league ballpark in America are just the coolest people in the world. I want to be one of them. Wouldn't it be fun? It doesn't matter that I really hate some of the teams that play in those ballparks. It's about experiencing the atmosphere in each ballpark. For instance, I hate the Mets and the Yankees but I'm so happy that I got to go to both of those parks. I actually have now been to old Yankee Stadium as well as the new atrocity.
I've also missed opportunities to go to some pretty cool ballparks and I still kick myself every time I think about it. I don't think I will pass up many other opportunities when given the chance after the regrets I have had the last several years. Once when I was working for the employer who shall not be named, I was going to be in Los Angeles for a long weekend with free time on Sunday before flying home. All I had to do was schedule a late flight home and I could have gone to the afternoon Dodgers game, but I worked in salon and no one in salon had any interest in extending their trip by a few hours to go with me. At the time, I was hesitant to go alone, so I came back when everybody else did. It was a huge mistake. I should have just gone alone.
A few years ago when my travel buddy Jenny and I went to Seattle, the Mariners were in town and we planned to get tickets and go to a game one night. But the homeless situation near Safeco Field sort of scared us off. Ok, who am I kidding, it totally scared me off. I can't speak for Jenny, but the homeless people in the area were bold and numerous and they scared me. We knew that when the game ended we would be walking back to our hotel and it wasn't a far walk. But we were unsure of how many other people would also be walking with us and we didn't want to chance running into an angry homeless person with a grudge. So we backed out on the night we had planned to go. Later that night as the game ended we went past the area where we would have been walking back to our hotel following the game and there were hundreds of fans all walking together. Everything would have been fine but live and learn, right? So now I've learned my lesson. When given an opportunity to go to a game, I'll never pass it up.
Tonight for instance, I have two tickets for the Rangers vs. Astros. So far I haven't found anyone to go with me, but it won't stop me. If no one goes, then I get a place to set my purse during the game. If someone does go, then that'll be fun too. You might be wondering why I'm writing about my love affair with baseball in a travel blog. Well, let's just say that maybe one of these days I'll be one of those people that have made it to every ballpark in America and that will mean a lot of fun trips in my future. I posted a blog before about a week long trip to California in which you could hit all five major league parks (you can go back and read it by clicking on the California link). It was a pretty expensive trip. But some of the great things in life can be costly. Have a great Tuesday and a terrific final week of the regular season. I'll try to post a photo on FB tonight from my seats.
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