I love baseball, truly, madly, deeply love baseball!
When I was a little kid, I can remember being in the family room with the A’s on TV, I think it must have been when Reggie Jackson was on the team and they were in the playoffs. I remember it was exciting and then it was over, so it must have been at the end of the season. Like I said I was little, so I guess I just moved on to whatever was next and never gave it another thought.
My next experience was at a San Francisco Giants game, no longer a kid, my dad coaxed us into the car and said “let’s go to the game”, I figured how bad could it be, there would be sunshine and I was sure there might be ice cream, so I was in. It must have been 1993, they had this new guy on the team named Bonds, and these other guys Williams (he quickly became my personal favorite at the time), Clark, Thompson, Clayton and Lewis to mention a few. I don’t remember who they played, I think the team wore Red (being new to this, I did not know I needed to know all this stuff). The Giants were down in the game and this Bonds guy came up to plate and hit a home run, THE ENTIRE PLACE WENT NUTS! All I can remember thinking is, “Why have I not been to a baseball game before?” I was hooked!!!!
That day began my love for all things baseball. I love the numbers, coming from behind to win, a pitchers duel, hitting streaks and even losing a close one. It's baseball, sometimes it is very pretty and some days it can be downright ugly.
I was walking around the park on opening night last week and I saw this quote on the wall, it said the following about baseball:
It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone. ~A. Bartlett Giamatti
As a lover of all things Spring, Summer and Fall, I could not agree more. I am always sad at the end of the season. For me it means the dreaded winter is coming and the boys of summer have gone. Talk radio becomes boring to me, I mean do they need to talk about Football that much, if it was so great they need to play it more than once a week. They need day/night double headers, long road trips, umpires with changing strike zones, training camp where everyone shows up, rain delays and a day where every player in the league wears the same number (much like MLB did on 4/15/09 to honor Jackie Robinson). I would love to see a bunch of #42 running around and the QB trying to figure out who is who. That is a game I would watch. How about it you new coach guy for SF?
Back to my beloved baseball, about a month after the season ends, I feel like Rogers Hornsby when he said, “People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring.” I do that, I have a huge picture window in my office and I often look out into the rain, counting the days till pitchers and catchers report.
During opening week, you see the dream of as the long baseball season come into view. Let’s all sit back and enjoy the view of our favorite pastime. We will win some, we will lose some. But we always remember that we “Chase the Dream, Not the Competition!”
Here are my opening night views and snaps! (all photos taken 04.08.09)
-Monique Jervan-Chilton
PS—As some of you know I have been doing some volunteer work with the San Francisco Giants Community Fund and the Jr. Giants Program for the past 4 years. One of my favorite activities is the Jr. Giants Glove Drive.
There are thousands of kids in the program that cannot afford a baseball glove, on May 16th, before the game vs. the NY Mets, a large group of us will be collecting donated gloves or $10 donations. If you can make it out to the game please help the kids out! If you cannot make it out, but want to contribute contact me. I would be happy to give you the information as to where to send your contribution. GO GIANTS!
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