BASEBALL IS AMAZING !
"Yogi Berra once said, ?It ain?t over till it?s over?, and in my house as a child, baseball was never over! Baseball, often called a man?s sport, is a lifestyle of the woman in my family for as long as I can remember. Every summer was filled with the sights, the sounds, and the smells of baseball. To this day, baseball is a sacred sport for the woman in my family, my self, my mother, and my three daughters. My children have learned from the time they were infants, that no one touches the remote control during a New York Mets game at grandma?s house. They had to either get used to life without Nickelodeon or learn to love the game as much as mommy and grandma. Thankfully, my daughters choose the New York Mets.
I went to my first World Series Game in 1969. I was only four years old when mom came home and told me that she got us tickets. Back in the early days of the New York Mets, it was not difficult to get tickets. I walked into the stadium, and my eyes lit up! I remember being amazed with the gigantic scoreboard, the bright green grass, and the way they brought food right to your seat! We sat right near the first base line, and right next to the Baltimore Orioles? dugout. I was very young and did not know the names of the players, but it didn?t matter because I was so intrigued by the enormous stadium. We sat in seats called the ?orange?, and then I did not know that those seats were the ?exclusive? ones, all I noticed was how close we were to the field. The baseball players were friendlier back then, and I was able to fill my Mets Yearbook from cover to cover with autographs.
My memories of the 1973 World Series are more vivid. I can remember giving up a sleepover birthday party at my best friend?s house to go to the game. My young friends never did appreciate my love of baseball as I frequently left them alone to go sit in front our the television. My friends were hanging posters of Leif Garrett and David Cassidy and my bedroom walls were filled with pictures of Rusty Staub and Lee Mazzilli.
I remember being teased because I was such a big fan of Rusty Staub. Rusty was not your typical hunk that most teenage girls had crushes on, but I adored him. It was obvious one day when I was so upset because he ran into the right field wall and got hurt. People may laugh at children for the hero?s they choose but it was Rusty Staub that inspired me to be a chef. I saw an interview with him and he was cooking a meal for Merv Griffen. From that day on, I wanted to be a Chef and actually went to college to become a Chef.
My fond memories of baseball are still with me as an adult. My husband, my fianc? at the time, arranged for me to meet Rusty Staub the night he proposed to me. He called the restaurant, Rusty's on Fifth Ave, and spoke directly to him. Rusty promised he would be there the night he proposed. One evening, on my birthday, he brought me into the city and took me to his restaurant. Unfortunately, Stuab was out of town, and could not be there. We went back to that restaurant every anniversary, and for some reason or another he was never there.
One night, years later, we were in the Diamond Club, a restaurant only open to a select few. My husband snuck in and found Rusty Staub and I finally, after 20 years got his autograph. It may sound a little silly, but to me, it was as if I was 10 years old again, walking into that huge orange and blue stadium, singing, "talking baseball" and hearing the crack of the wooden bat as the ball sailed over the fence and watching the "big apple go" up signifying a homerun.
I have had the joy of experiencing the same feeling three times now. Every time I took one of my girls to Shea stadium, I took a picture of their reaction as they walked into the stadium for the first time. I relive my own experience through their eyes. Each of my three girls have a favorite player, and it is of no influence by me. My oldest daughter loves Rey Ordonez and Derek Jeter. Her grandmother is not too happy with her selection of the latter player being he is the enemy, a Yankee. My middle daughter loves Jeff Bagwell, who is a player for the Astros. This may have resulted from my influence as I have known the second baseman Craig Biggio since High school. My youngest daughter was able to obtain something that I had to wait twenty years for. At a game against the St. Louis Cardinals, Mark McGuire, under heavy police protection, walked over to my daughter, flanked in her pint sized Macquire attire and handed her a baseball. She was thrilled to death and even slept with the ball that evening.
In 1986, I was not able to go to the World series as I was living in Buffalo. As I sat in my apartment watching the game with not another Met fan for miles, I looked over at my daughter and straightened out her #16 miniture jersey and put her royal blue Met cap back on for the hundreth time. I ask her today if she remembers me hugging her when the "amazings" won that night, but she just looks at me and says, "Ma I was only six months old."
I was on the internet until all hours of the night back in September and October of 2000. I will not admit how much money I spent to get tickets to the Subway Series, but it was well worth it. I can honestly say, next to the birth of my three girls, and my wedding day, it was the happiest time of my life. It was a dream come true to me. I had tears in my eyes they day they won the National Leauge championship. 60 thousand people were singing New York, New York,and I am sure many people had the same feeling I did.
Last week we went to the Met-Yankee game on father's day, and would you believe Lee Mazzilli, who is now the first base coach for the enemy, the Yankees, tossed into the stands his blue wrist band that all the players were wearing in honor of there fathers, and I got it. My husband thinks I am a little crazy, but you can not replace great memries of your childhood, and if I can keep reliving them I will.
My mother and father are still great fans. In fact, I always keep my cell phone handy as my mother will always call when the games gets exciting. On Sunday, I called her just to let her hear the roar of the crowd.
I am the mother of three girls. I have always encouraged them to achieve what ever they set out to to. I also have three daughters who are talented softball players. I have been accused of brainwashing them into loving baseball as I do. I can not deny that I may have influenced them . As I sit at game after game, travel sofball , junior varsity softball, and all the tournement games, it brings me so much joy to see them loving this sport as much as I do.
I will always argue with anyone who says baseball is for men. When I was 6 years old, I could name every player, dish out all the statistics and the rules as well, if not better than some of my dad's friends or the boys in school. As I sat and watched the movie 61* which was about Babe Ruth's homerun record which was broken by Roger Maris and more recently Mark McGuire and Barry Bonds the other night with my husband, he looked over at me as I was sobbing at the ending, he said, laughing, "It was a Yankee silly," and I said, "It was a baseball player."
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KOD