The calendar has finally turned from February to March, despite the extra day for leap year, but with that comes the first taste of baseball after a long winter of hibernation. Turning the dials today, and for those lucky enough to have the MLB Network on their local cable system, the first games of the exhibition season are live from Florida and Arizona. For those baseball junkies, and just the casual baseball fan, today is the first day of eight months of non-stop games, which will end of with the crowning of a World Series champion in the late days of October.
Baseball 2016 – Must be March!
No matter what team you root for, watching the first games of a new season brings back great memories to many, both former players and spectators, and everyone is starting off as a potential first place team. The names won’t be familiar to most folks, as teams get a good look at the up-and-coming stars of the future. Camps are stocked with players during the first week of games, and the numbers will continue to dwindle as opening day gets closer. Many of these young guns will be back with their respective minor league clubs sooner rather than later.
Many of them, still younger than most veterans of the squad, are eager to play, excited to learn, and do everything they can to show the manager and coaches they belong on the roster, when teams head north to play ‘real games’. There are not many teams who have spots available, but one never knows when lightning might be caught in a bottle, and someone who was almost ready last season finds their way onto the big club in April. Baseball during its preseason, more than any other sport, is a time when players and fans unite to enjoy a month-long sojourn in the quiet, cozy confines of parks that the Grapefruit and Cactus Leagues have to offer.
The Phillies and Blue Jays started things off, if you’re keeping tabs, and the weather in Clearwater was something that we can hope for come April. For those of us who have had the opportunity and privilege to attend spring training, it’s been nothing short of a joy, and a return to childhood. The atmosphere is almost surreal, and players, whether storied veterans or eighteen year old prospects, get to mingle with fans and create an atmosphere of what baseball used to be in America. Opening day is when the ‘big boys’ start playing a man’s game, and that closeness and camaraderie gets replaced only by wins and losses.
The month of March is short, but there’s enough games played by each team to allow everyone the chance to see what their team may look like in the upcoming 162 game battle. Each and every day, a new story emerges about a potential star in the making, and it brings a sense of ‘perhaps this is the year’ for all clubs – even though going in, many clearly won’t make the cut after May. That’s entirely fine for many true blue fans, who just love baseball for what it is – America’s pastime. It’s a family affair, when dads and moms, kids, grandparents, uncles and aunts, all wear their team colors to root on their favorites to bring home a World Series win.
Not everyone has the opportunity to watch these games during the day – especially on weekdays when most folks have to work, but this author is lucky enough to work out of the house – so a little hooky on the first day of spring training takes precedent over a client memo or potential conference call. Sorry, the clients will have to wait a day or two, though perhaps nothing should be scheduled in March after noontime. This is the 2016 Major League Baseball season debut – spring training or not – and nothing can stand in the way of games that make no difference come opening day.
It’s a rite of passage, passed down from generation to generation, and nothing can stop the train that leaves the station when the games commence. Everyone is a kid for the foreseeable future, and employers, wives, and others will just have to understand that this is the real ‘spring fever’, and men will be boys, and kids will get their gloves and bats out of the closet, and after a long winter, during which football has ended, and basketball and hockey are just getting prepared for the playoffs, baseball is a true respite for those who want to forget about the rest of the crazy world, and look for better days to come.
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