America's Favorite Pastime

I'm not really a baseball fan. I rather like baseball movies, The Natural, Bull Durham, A League of Their Own and Field of Dreams especially. I enjoy seeing my 8 (almost 9) year old nephew Matthew playing and hitting. He takes the game very seriously except when he's surreptitiously waving to his auntie.

I usually say that I was a baseball fan for a couple of weeks a couple of years ago. (Red Sox sweep Yankees, go on to win the World Series against some team). It might have been 2004.

I like the history of baseball. Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Lou Gehrig, Ted Williams, Hank Aaron, Yaz, Barry Bonds. SCREECH!! Hold on, back up. Barry Bonds? Isn't he the guy who is on the cusp of tying and then passing Hank Aaron's all time hitting record? Isn't he the guy who's use of steroids has increased his hat and shoe size? He had a growth spurt in his late 30's, go figure.

I saw an article on the internet yesterday that Barry Bonds says that he is an "embarrassment" because he's in the middle of a slump. That's it!!?? That's all he has to be embarassed about? He's not embarassed because he is a CHEATER? Doesn't he realize that when you cheat to win, you really don't win. This guy is 40 something and he hasn't figured it out yet? Yikes. I hope he doesn't ever tie the record. Not that I'm hoping for an injury, that wouldn't be fair. Fair, what am I talking about, he doesn't play fair. But maybe something could happen. We could hope. I am anyway.

We don't know when this will happen, especially with the "embarassing" slump, but from what I understand, even the baseball commissioner is thinking of avoiding that particular game. I just hope that there's not a big deal about this, that . Maybe the "embarassing" slump will last until he retires. Or he dies from "embarassment".

A few weeks ago, my nephew Matthew was playing with his team and he was covering a base, third, I think. The ball and the runner were heading to him. He caught the ball but missed the runner. The ump called the runner out. But then Matthew, who is 8 almost 9, told the ump that he missed him. So the runner took the base. I'm thinking that maybe Barry Bonds might have done that when he was a kid playing little league. And I wonder what he forgot in the meantime.