Now that Merry 25th of December is over the real countdown begins… The countdown to baseball season!!! Only 48 days till spring training and only 91 days till opening day. Nothing announces spring and summer like the opening day of baseball season.

I find baseball to be the most human of games. It is a game where failure is more common than success. It is a game that demonstrates just how human we all are, despite being highly skilled on the field of play. It is a game of chess with a moving ball that one must hit squarely with a rounded bat.

I’ve been a fan of the game all of my life, but there was some time that I did not follow the game as closely because of a strike, and then a career in the performing arts. Now that I am retired from the stage, I have had time to re-engage with the game of baseball.

In 1994 when the MLB Ownership backed the players association into a corner the longest labor strike in professional sports within the United States occurred. This kept the Montreal Expos from having a chance at the NL Pennant and maybe a World Series Ring. This was a special team to watch, and I wasn’t an Expos fan. I stopped watching baseball from 1995 til the big home run chase between Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire in 1998. This event, now tarnished by the PED scandal, saved baseball while the strike killed the Expos. I have opinions about all of this, but I will save it for later…

From 1998-2007 I followed baseball when I could. Life has a way of throwing curveballs at you when you’re a developing young professional working on polishing one’s teaching and performing career. Relationships, work, and family all take a higher priority. When my oldest son was born pre-maturely Barry Bonds was on the verge of breaking Hank Aaron’s home run record. I remember asking my son when do you think it will happen as he was wrapped in his blanket cradled in my arms at just 4′ 4″. Little did I know then, but that was the last time I would follow the game seriously until the spring of 2018. During this 11 year period the closest I got to watching a game was through a baseball fantasy league that I have participated in operated by a college friend who is a professional opera singer.

Fast forward to 2018. It was early April. I’m in my new home in the state of Iowa after years of professional struggles, health hardships, divorce, failures and renewal. I turned on the television and ESPN had a baseball game on. I ended up watching three games that rainy Saturday. It was glorious! I had no idea how much I missed it. Every chance I had following that day I watched a game. I fell hard in love for the game I already loved. It just got better from there.

Up until 2009, I was a Chicago Cubs fan. As a kid I loved listening to Ron Santo on WGN-Radio. I watched Ferguson Jenkins throw his 3000th strikeout. I enjoyed watching the old NL East, the 23-22 Cubs vs Phillies game on May 17, 1979 with Jack Brickhouse on the call. I collected Ernie Banks autograph as a kid and then broke the helmet a year later. Greg Maddox became my favorite pitcher of all time, and I watched Kerry Wood strikeout everyone. Then Ted Ricketts bought the team. The city of Chicago got fleeced with all of the tax breaks they gave Ricketts to improve Wrigley and surrounding area. It’s no wonder sales taxes are so high. They have to make revenue for all they gave away in TiFs and tax breaks. I dropped the team like a bad habit when Ricketts donated $4M to an anti-education governor in Wisconsin.

Around 2014 I was still a free agent baseball fan. I wasn’t watching it on television, I hadn’t been to a game, other than the brief highlights I would see when doing research on my fantasy teams. I decided to peruse ownership groups to see if there were any that fit my community standards. My short list came down to the Detroit Tigers, St. Louis Cardinals, Baltimore Orioles, Washington Nationals, and the Cincinnati Reds if memory serves correctly. I decided to embrace the Nationals. They had Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg, and Bryce Harper who had all helped me win my fantasy league one year. The Lerner family seemed like they had done some nice things in D.C. developing around the ballpark. There was an arts connection within the family. It seemed like a great fit. I adopted the Curly W. as my team. I declare myself (sarcastically) as the Fan Club President of the Eastern Iowa Chapter of the Curly W. There is a Curly W flag that sits on my porch. My students all think I work for Walgreens on my off days.

In 2019 I watched them win a World Series. Since then I have watched a rebuild with one really sad year with just 55 wins. No big deal, how many years had I watched losing Chicago franchises? Knowing this National’s team carries the Expos history makes it meaningful to me. That 1994 team is part of Nationals history. The Alou family is special in the game of baseball. This year is also special as it is the 20th anniversary of moving the Expos franchise to D.C.

My wife and I are doing our own chase of baseball stadiums. We’ve been to Nationals games in Milwaukee and St. Louis. Then on a work trip we stayed an extra day to watch the Rockies play the Angels in Denver. I witnessed Shohei Ohtani hit a homer to right center… Oh how I wish my seat was over the bullpen (30 feet left and it would hit my chest.) We hit Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and D.C. last summer. We are planning on Cincinnati this summer and maybe the ChiSox too. I’ve been to Wrigley Field in Chicago about eight times, Busch II, County Stadium (Milwaukee,) Tampa, and Old Comiskey all prior to this chase.

Highlights from past trips include seeing Hank Aaron coach 1st base for Atlanta. Watched Rickey Henderson steal two bases against the Sox in Chicago (may he rest in peace.) I saw Pujols and Molina on Labor Day lose to the Nationals. Pujols just got under a butterfly pitch for a routine out to left field. If he would have connected it would be in the section I was sitting for 702 or was it 703… can’t remember… I watch Jose Canseco play for San Diego in an early interleague game in Tampa.

Of the stadiums I have been too, PNC Park in Pittsburgh is the best. The skyline and the Roberto Clemente bridge is far better in person than on television. They also have a passionate fan base. The worst venue was Old Comiskey Park in Chicago. There were a lot of obstructed views. The stadium was a dump when I saw my only game there. I haven’t been to Wrigley since Ricketts bought the team, but that stadium was really rough looking in the early 2000’s. The last event I saw there was a Jimmy Buffett Concert (May he also rest in peace.)

I just can’t wait for the season to start. The smells, sounds, fans, food, and community MLB franchises attract to games is superb. My wife and I have had great conversations with people from all around the country on our chase. We also like trying some of the food. We know that their are a few franchises with less than friendly fan bases, but we will just dissent with discussing them at this time…

I could go on and on about all of the special things the game of baseball means to me, as a player, father, or fan. I love talking about the game with other baseball fans. It doesn’t matter what team we root for, well maybe it does… …we all can find something to agree or disagree and still smile about it. I wish the weather was better so I could have a catch with my sons… …once more around the horn.