I love the game of baseball. From the smell of freshly cut grass to the singing of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame”, there are very few feelings for me that equal that of being at the ballpark. A big part of that is the history of the game, the metaphors linking baseball to life itself and, most of all, the memories of certain moments in time that we carry with us forever. Those moments are special and can even define who we are in some ways.
For me, there are many of those moments. Some are sad ones like watching my Seattle Mariners tie a Major League record with 116 wins in a season in 2001 but losing to the Yankees in the American League Championship Series. But there are also some great ones like seeing my favorite player, Edgar Martinez, hit a double in 1995 that carried the Mariners to a series win over those same Yankees. There are hundreds of these memories that, when reminded of them, bring out certain emotions in me reminding me of a time in my life. But, whether it’s happy or sad memories, they are all positive in some way because they have lent to who I am.
