The Old Ball Game

I think sometimes that I could go without sports entirely. Baseball is my favorite and the Detroit Tigers my team, and they're doing very well. Yet I've become content not watching or listening, just catching the scores the next day. In short, I generally feel I don't really miss even baseball.

Then I go to the ballpark. And it all comes back.

I was in Newark, Ohio last weekend visiting the famous Ohio Cosgriffs. We drove into Columbus to see the AAA Clippers, as we've done before. Waking through the gate, seeing the diamond, the deep green grass, being with family and seeing the other families and fans, the aromas, hearing the crack of the bat, watching the great plays (this particular game ended with a great diving catch by the Columbus center fielder to save a 2-1 Clippers win, with the tying run on third and the lead one on first and both likely to score without that play), and getting the Clippers replica jerseys which were being given away that night (we were stylin' I tell ya, the four of us in matching outfits); it all came back, why I love baseball.

I can't wait for the next game.

Pittsburgh Plus Nine

When I'm out and about outside, I wear baseball hats. They keep my hair loss yarmulke from being sunburned. 

I've acquired quite a collection of baseball caps, more than three dozen if I were to guess. The bulk of them are for actual baseball teams. The most recent addition is a dark blue cap with a large white C from the Columbus Clippers Triple-A team, who I saw last month with the Ohio Cosgriffs. They have a very impressive cap with a clipper ship on it which I'm getting next time I'm at Huntington Park, where the team plays.

Obviously, then, I get the majority of my caps from the ballparks I visit. They make great, useful souvenirs. As I walked out of the house for my morning constitutional around 5:30 this past AM, I elected to don my Pittsburgh Pirates cap. I wistfully thought, it's been nine years since I bought this, when me son Frank and I visited PNC Park back in August 2014. 

Wow. Nine years ago. Even my baseball caps are aging!