BASEBALL AND HOME

When I was a little kid, the baseball games were always on.  Back then, there was only one game on the TV... the game of choice for one of the three networks. We got to hear Dizzy Dean's wonderful bending of the English language with such verbal jewels as "he just slud into third!"  Interviews with Casey Stengel.  Gems that fell from Yogi Berra's mouth like chipped diamonds.

As I write this, the Rockies just beat the Padres 4-3 and I'm completely distracted by the commentary by our Manager, Jim Tracy, who freaking rocks by the way. To my point.

Parents give you unintentional gifts.  From the time I was an infant, it was obvious that I was a musician. But the inundation of athletics and, particularly, baseball in our home, the fact that Dad taught his daughters to throw and catch and to stand at the plate with a chance to hit the ball just like the boys - then to top it all, taking us from an early age to see the Milwaukee Braves play at County Stadium in Milwaukee gave me something that is as much a part of my heart as is music.  I am exhausted after I watch a game because I stand at the pitcher's mound and I stand in the Batter's Box...my body feels the swings, and every muscle in my body feels the pitch when it flies across the plate.

I am looking into ideas for getting me out of the house and involved in life since the accident pretty much screwed my opportunity to return to the Improv community. So, now that I'm becoming a bit more mobile and am dealing with the residual pain issues, I'm ready to get out and do something and it has to be in performance.  I wish I'd been chosen for the job I applied for so long ago.

When the Rockies were becoming a reality in the early 90's they ran an ad for the team organist.  I wrote the coolest letter and included a resume of everything I'd done, my knowledge of baseball and ability to know when and where to play, and how it would be so cool if the daughter of a coach became a part of a major league ball club as a MUSICIAN.  I didn't get the job.  I was really sad. That would still be my happiest job of my life. Revving up a crowd with my ridiculously creative brain. (They don't know what they're missing.)  Ah well...

Again, I took a trip down the tangential river.  I have always been a fan of boat rides so I hope you enjoyed it along with me.

I'm mostly thinking about how when you're a teenager you have, by necessity, an adversary relationship with your parents. You are establishing your personality, your ideas and your independence.  The time to worry is when a child just complies with everything its parents say throughout its growing years and never even attempts to develop its own identity.  While annoying, disturbing and difficult because parenting is such a long time investment, letting go and allowing them to grow up is such a challenge. The word "NO" from your child is actually the first sign of success.

So, in the "no" time there were a lot of disconnects.  A good parent keeps presenting the connects and I got those.  Countless baseball games:  High school, Legion and Major League.  I guess that's why my list of favorite movies contains Broadway musicals (including Damned Yankees) but also "Field of Dreams," "Eight Men Out," "Bull Durham," "Major League," (filmed in County Stadium, the stadium of my youth and my son's youth to boot) "The Natural," and perhaps the baseball movie I have yet to write with the brilliant aid of my son.  I supply the plot and pithy dialog and he supplies the "inside baseball" knowledge.

You know what's awesome about writing a blog that pretty much nobody reads?  No fear. I'm often told that I hold back and don't tell people who I am. So here I am, sending it out to the universe and nobody knows.  I guess the universe and I are even.  Here I am.  Tonight, I'm home and the Rockies won.  All is well with the world.

To view comments or to comment on this or any other postings, click on the blog posting title to the right. It will then give you a comments area where you can post your thoughts. Have fun. Don't be dicks or I will annihilate you.