Baseball is around the corner

The 2013 Major League Baseball season is about to begin. I was never a hard core baseball guy growing up. I grew up in the NJ/NY area and I could either route for the NY Yankees or the NY Mets.Being that my family is from New England I would have been tarred and feathered if I routed for the Yankees, so I followed the Mets. I grew up in the era of Dwight Gooden, Darrel Strawberry, Lenny Dykstra and many other Met greats of the 1980′s. My two baseball worlds collided in 1986. When the Mets and Red Sox played in the World Series. The Mets won the World Series in 1986, but have been up and down for years after that. Needless to say its been a tortured relationship. I still keep my allegiance to the little brother of NYC. Recently I have started to indulge my family roots, by rooting for the Boston Red Sox.

With the beginning of the new Baseball season, I always return to memories of my childhood. Playing wiffle ball in the yard with my brothers and friends. I would even pretend to play an entire baseball game by myself always being the hero by hitting the game winning home run. Another fond memory will always be  playing catch and pickle with my friends after school.

There is always a connection made between father’s and sons or 

daughters with baseball. If its not baseball itself its just spending a quality afternoon with your dad. One summer my brothers and I wanted to spend some quality time with our dad. We celebrated his 70th birthday by attending Citi field in NYC, and Fenway Park. WE ALMOST MISSED OUT ON THE GAME, because our FATHER forgot the tickets. But that’s another story!!! Our wonderful mother drove two hours south to drop the tickets off for us, at her sister’s house. It was my first time attending a game in Fenway Park, and we listened to stories of my father skipping school as a kid to watch Ted Williams, and other Boston Red Sox greats on opening day.

I would like to extend the same memories to my daughters. They may not like baseball, but I hope they can indulge dad and spend some quality time with me.

This post was originally written two years ago, updated and reposted.