Home Stretch
Monday, March 19, 2007
One of the great aspects of playing and watching baseball is that it is done outdoors - with the associated pluses and minuses.
It's hard to fathom - what with a layer of ice and snow still on the ground - that baseball will be in full swing in a couple of weeks. The Yankees and Mets will return from the Sunshine State while local college and high school teams will brave the elements to battle for seven innings or more.
I can't wait.
The first couple of weeks of the season can be challenging weather-wise, to say the least. Anyone who has ever tried to hit a fastball with chilled hands or - from a spectator point of view - struggled against the elements to take in an entire game when a warm, inviting car is just a few yards away in the parking lot can vouch for that. But we sit through it because we love the game and we know that before we know it the chill will give way to the cooling breeze that makes playing and watching such a delight. Soon after that, of course, we'll be playing and watching in the summer heat, but even that has a certain charm.
Then, of course, there is the chill of Fall Ball and the World Series - which does not seem officially the World Series if at least half the games are not played in The Bronx.
But we will have to weather a lot of challenges before we see that happen this year.
- Michael Watt