Wednesday

Seth, thanks for the opportunity. My history with baseball parallels that of the Twins. I became aware of them sometime during their first or second seasons in Minnesota. I was seven or eight years old at the time. My first exposure was probably the radio broadcasts with Halsey Hall, Ray Scott, and Herb Carneal. To this day, listening to Herb Carneal’s voice on the radio brings back the warm, fuzzy memories of listening to Twins’ broadcasts while doing the sundry chores associated with life on a small farm. I’ve always been interested in history and stats. I think the traditions and records that are such an integral part of the game are a portion of what keeps me coming back for more. I am a fierce baseball traditionalist. Anything that is done to diminish the accomplishments of those players from bygone eras annoys me. I dislike the DH, domed stadiums, the homerun friendly dimensions of the newer ball parks, the five man rotation, the steroid use, and Inter-League play to name a few. Growing up on a farm twenty miles from town did not afford me the opportunity to play organized baseball as a youth. We played fast-pitch softball during recess times at the country grade school I attended. I spent hours playing simulated games at home; either by throwing a ball on the roof and attempting to catch it as it came down, or throwing a ball against the exterior of the basement wall which was built of cinder blocks and trying to catch it as it came back toward me. Another thing I did to amuse myself was hitting pebbles (about and inch in diameter) with a sawed off broom handle. I did this when I had spare moments during the evening milking chores. I could hit those little stones a long way, and seldom swung and missed. During the cold winter months I played a game I made up using a pair of dice. I would score these games and keep stats. In retrospect, I was obviously a baseball crazed geek! When I went out on my own, I started to play city league fast-pitch softball, but my work schedule didn’t allow me to play every week, and I needed to play regularly to find my timing at the plate, so after a couple of seasons I switched to slo-pitch and have played that ever since. I took about five years off when I reached forty-five, but took it up again last year at age fifty-one. It just about killed me, but I loved every minute. Gotta get in better shape if I play next year. I enjoy the game of baseball/softball, and will gladly play, watch, or talk about it any time. I’ll jump at the chance to make the three hundred fifty mile trip to Minneapolis to watch the Twins in person at a stadium that should never have been built (I loved Metropolitan Stadium!). It’s really hard to explain the attraction. Even though I consider myself to be a fan with staying power, I sometimes find myself less interested when the Twins don’t do well. I suppose that’s somewhat natural. The availability of information online (this blog is crucial in that regard) has helped me stay in touch with the Twins farm system to the point where the prospects down on the farm are just as intriguing as the players at the major league level. I enjoy seeing how these guys progress as they rise through the system. You don’t get that opportunity with most other sports.