The late MLB Commissioner Bart Giamatti wrote about baseball in a way that could well be the metaphor for life. His essay is called "The Green Fields of the Mind" and appeared in a collection entitled A Great and Glorious Game: Baseball Writings of A. Bartlett Giamatti
It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone. You count on it, rely on it to buffer the passage of time, to keep the memory of sunshine and high skies alive, and then just when the days are all twilight, when you need it most, it stops.
It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone. You count on it, rely on it to buffer the passage of time, to keep the memory of sunshine and high skies alive, and then just when the days are all twilight, when you need it most, it stops.
Life is like baseball, designed to break your heart, but like baseball...life also brings victories and moments of joy about which to celebrate. A major league hitter can fail 7 times out of 10 and still find himself in the Hall of Fame with a lot of followers attempting to emulate him. Life, like baseball, begins in the spring, blossoms in the summer of our days but if lived fully always comes around to the fall.
But...I choose to see the fall of my life as a new season. The first month of my retirement is Opening day. Everything begins again! That young fellow above in his first Rockies' cap is my first round draft choice. He'll be joined by Edie June Jacobsen, his new cousin, in June! Opening day couldn't be any more hopeful.
PLAY BALL!
Rodger,
ReplyDeleteIt's great to have a way to reconnect with you after all these decades of knowing you, reading about you, working with you a little, and always admiring you.
Peace!
Ed Boenisch
I have followed your good works Ed. Perhaps we'll have more opportunities to work on some joint projects. Best to you.
ReplyDeleteRodger
Well, I'll try again. Congratulations on your new blog site. It will be a great way to keep up with you.
ReplyDeleteKen