Get the grills going and the hot dog cooking, baseball season is right around the corner. For many of us the thought of the snow melting is enough to make the spring time look good, but for me it is a reminder of a time where athletes come out of the woodwork to play the oldest sport of our great nation. A time where little leaguers wear the gloves of their fondest players in hopes of following in their footsteps, and a time where landscapers spent hours of preparations just to give a field the prestige look it deserves.
For me hero’s like Don Mattingly, Cal Ripken Jr., and Mike Piazza were just a few players I liked to follow and have since retired, but have not left the game for good. Mattingly has gone on to become the manager for the Los Angeles Dodgers. He will face a home opener against the World Series Champions, the San Francisco Giants, Thursday March 31. Cal Ripken Jr. has started a little league to return the favor that he was once blessed with. Mike Piazza is spending more time teaching his children the love for the game.
Soon stadiums around the nation will be filled with spectators, “Root root rooting,” for their home team, and even if they don’t win, well that’s a shame. But it’s one, two, three strikes you’re out of the old ballgame.
