Baseball

Rational Jenn wrote about sports yesterday, which prompted me to put down what I haven't had the time, what with all the Halloween and rehearsal/concert madness going on.

Although I don't follow major-league baseball religiously during the regular season, we always watch the postseason on TV in October, especially if the Red Sox are playing. I love baseball. There were only a few girls playing Little League in the 5th and 6th grades, and one of them was me. (The other was my dear, dear friend Anne, who was known as "that red-headed girl pitching for the Lions.") I was on the Panthers. I was no good for almost all of the two years I played, although in my very last at-bat in the 6th grade I hit a triple, and that was the official moment when it "clicked," and although I never played on an official team again, I was always pretty decent at pick-up games. I remember having someone pinch-run for me at my first IOS seminar in 1993 when I was in a leg brace due to the skiing accident.

Anyway, in 1991 I became a Red Sox fan when Patrick and I lived in Boston for the summer when he was reporting for the Globe. I loved, and still love, Fenway Park. 1991 was the beginning of the era of Mo Vaughn, and the beginning of my rooting for the Sox. The day after I found out I was pregnant with Ella in 2000, I had to go to Boston on business and was able to get a ticket. I sat in right field, and I bought The Baby a Red Sox T-shirt that I'll give to Ella when she's a teenager. Madison is going to Boston with the Bach Children's Chorus April 17-19, and if the Sox are playing at home I'm going to do my best get us tickets, even if we have to go out early or stay late.

Fortunately, we have the Rochester Red Wings here, the Triple-A team for the Minnesota Twins. So we go often during the summer (only $6/ticket) and always sit over third base. We don't really follow the individual players so much, because the better ones are always getting called up. But going to a game here in Rochester is so much fun. It's such a genial way to spend 3 or 4 relaxed hours on a summer afternoon with kids. The girls really got into the game this year, and positively enjoy discussing the rules and strategy. If you go on a Sunday afternoon, after the game, the kids get to go down on the field and "run the bases with Spikes," the Red Wings' mascot (I think he's an eagle). On Mother's Day and Father's Day, you go down on the outfield after the game and play catch with the free baseballs they give you.

The interesting thing is that baseball on TV has really seized Ella's attention this postseason, much more so than for Madison. She roots for the Red Sox because we do; she got to know the players, the lineups, she discussed how grumpy the Cleveland Indians' manager always looked and how much Terry Francona spit, she loves Big Papi and Manny Ramirez. While Madison would often read a book while we were all watching the game, Ella was always paying attention. A couple of nights during the ALCS and the Series, she finished dinner early and asked to go and watch the pregame show all on her own, while we were finishing up. ("Hey, Mom, Dad, come quick, James Taylor is singing the National Anthem!") The first thing she'd ask us in the morning was who won. Yesterday morning, upon finding out that the Sox had won Game 4, she said, "Well, I'm happy, but I actually wish the Rockies won last night. Because now there's no more baseball until spring.")