I. Love. Baseball. I have loved baseball for most of my memory. I learned to love baseball going to Macon Braves games when I visited my dad in Macon, GA. These Braves were a farm team for the Atlanta Braves, and therefore I grew up watching the Braves. (And then I moved to Pittsburgh and people were still mad about this little teensy play-at-the-plate in 1992…) I knew about guys like Greg Maddux (before they gave him away to the Cubs) and the Joneses - Chipper and Andruw - when most girls my age were more concerned about playing Barbies or whatever. The Braves of the 90s were awesome. Aaallll the division championships. And, a World Series at the expense of the Pirates and their next 20 years. At least one Braves fan does feel badly about that.
Chipper Jones retired at the end of the 2012 season and Greg was gone years ago. Brian McCann moved into my top spot last year, but then the WORST happened. This last off-season the Braves gave BMac to...the...Yankees. It hurts so much to write those words. THE YANKEES?! Trade him to the American League so he can hit? Not the point. The point is - the Braves are breaking my heart.
The point is also that I live in Pittsburgh and I have fallen in love with this city. Part of that love has become this baseball team. When I first moved here, the curse was in full swing. (The curse that the 1992 play-at-the-plate started…#awkward.) 2013 was the lucky year for our Buccos though! We got to the post-season for the first time in 20 years, and actually competed in the National League Division Series against our division rivals St. Louis Cardinals. I was at the first post-season game in 20 years (the first one ever in our current ballpark) and the environment was UNREAL. I may have cried a little during the introduction of the team. At that point, the team could have lost and the city still would have been ecstatic. But then...THEY FREAKING WON THE GAME. Bughers were just excited when they won 82 games, and finished over .500 for the first time since 1992, but then to go all the way to the division series! Whaaaaat!!!! It was a great year for baseball in Pittsburgh and everyone has high hopes for 2014! So, I will admit - The Pirates have won me over. The Braves have dropped to second place in my heart. This city will get you EVERY TIME. I love this place so much. (That’s another blog post for another day, though.)
You don’t really find people who marginally like baseball. It’s a love or hate situation. A lot of people don’t like baseball. It’s too slow and boring, and the rules are complicated. But when you find a baseball fan, they LOVE baseball. It’s a heart and soul kind of sport. It’s hard to teach someone to love the game. You can teach anyone to understand baseball, if they want to take the time. But, at least for me, baseball is in the heart. It makes my heart so happy to be in a ballpark. There’s just a feeling about it that I can’t describe in any other way besides happiness and contentment. The smell of the grass in the outfield and the dirt in the infield. The sounds of a ball coming off the bat, into a mit, hitting the wall. That’s love.
My boyfriend and I took a mini vacation to Florida at the end of February to see some Spring Training games. It was so wonderful. It reminded me of all those games I watched the Macon Braves. The MLB clubs play in their minor league affiliates’ parks so everything is smaller and more intimate. We got third row seats at Dunedin (where the Blue Jays play) next to the Pirates dugout and were about 40 feet from third base. I could hear everything that the third base coach said to the players. It was just fun baseball. Those wins and losses don’t count towards getting into the playoffs. It’s just about practice and learning how these players work together. It’s about young guys learning and trying to get their place on the big league club or moving up from AA to AAA. It’s just baseball and that’s all.
I’m taking a vacation day from work on Monday to go watch these Buccos start another season. I can’t wait to give these guys another standing ovation and welcome them home. Let’s Go Bucs!