Over 134 million human beings attended a Big Four game last season (MLB+NBA/WNBA+NHL). By far and away the big Kahuna attendance-wise was MLB (over 70 million) and this is my story as a baseball maven for over 60 years.
This is the summer that I check off the following UBER fan boxes
- Go to a Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Cooperstown, N.Y
- Go to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania
We’ll call it the Flee from Heat tour. Either way I will be in Cooperstown to see Ichiro in July, and later in August watch the raw emotions of kids (and parents) from across the globe chasing the dream in Williamsport. In the meantime, I’ll sharpen the pencil and manage a couple fantasy baseball teams, watch some games on TV and listen to games on XM (while I fall asleep). So far this year I’ve seen two college games (UNCW) and last week attended a spring training game in Florida. That is when the memories kicked in.
The memories of playing the game , the memory of seeing, in person, Hank Aaron belt his 715th homer (breaking Babe Ruth’s record) , seeing , my team, the Braves get no hit in the last game of a season by John “the Count” Montefusco, an eleven city Spring Training pilgrimage through Florida with a buddy, Kenny Keys, and lastly the definitive memory of my first game over 60 years ago.
That was the day that my father, Bruno, brought me to the Bronx to see the Yankees at the old Yankee Stadium, I don’t remember much except the fact that Elston Howard hit a homer and the initial sights and smells of the stadium. Over sixty years later I can still smell that popcorn, envision the sparkling green grass and can hear the barkers calling BEER HERE or SCORECARDS.
A few years later we went back to the stadium with my two brothers Paul and Bobby, and Cousin Jimmy. This was the day that we saw Yankee legend and announcer Phil ‘the Scooter” Rizzuto walking on a sidewalk and said he smiled and said hello. Inside the baseball cathedral we saw Joe Pepitone slam two home runs and in the Old Timers Day game Joe DiMaggio crack a towering home run. He was 51 years old. Looking back this was a heritage grand slam- Pepi, Joe D and the Scooter were all Italian Americans.
Baseball has hailed as America’s national pastime since 1856 but is it the most popular sport in the “states”? There is no true barometer to measure PRO SPORTS POPULARITY, but my guess is that the NFL has been king for a long time. For validation look no further than the monumental effort by MLB to make baseball less boring and more modern. In recent times they have sped up the game (still too long), banned the defensive shift (about time), built new high tech ball parks (bring lots of $$) and tightened up the umpiring with replay challenges. Someday soon robots will be calling balls and strikes. Complicated stuff all targeted to getting more heinies in the seats.
As far as my hysteria, I may not be able to play baseball or softball as the old days or for that matter have the patience to sit and watch a whole game, but I remain curious and hopefully that this will be the Atlanta Braves year. In the meantime, I have circled the following days on the calendar- April 24th (NFL draft) and September 4th (NFL opening day). Yes- I am even more of an NFL nutcase.
The hoopla of the opening day in baseball is special, every team and its fans hopeful that this will be the year that their team gets the title. But there is a baked in problem- early season baseball can be iffy weather wise especially in the Northeast. I went to a Philly/ Mets opening day game at the Vet in the 70’s. It was a sunny but brisk day and we wore shorts for the game. Two future hall of famers were on the hill Steve Carlton versus Tom Seaver- that’s the only detail I remember other than the fact that by the time the game commenced snow was drifting down and in a short time huge flakes followed. Too cold for comfort we headed to the streets in search of a hot pretzel. A short while later we were sitting in a bar laughing about being the only two people in the Vet wearing shorts.
Long story short, this summer I am risking being baseball’d out but I’ll risk it since my relationship with the sport has deep roots and countless positive memories. I guess you could call it an oasis. After all, doesn’t everyone deserve an OASIS?
Without Wax
J.F Gozzi
