"Not Really, I Just Like The Color!"

 

Good "bottom of the ninth" Monday, y'all.

So funny. A few days ago, I happen to pass by a dude headed into the Covington City Hall ostensibly to pay a bill. He looked at me and I looked back at him, nodded and said, "Good Morning!"

We both stopped momentarily in the parking lot as if one of us was gonna say something important.

Looking at his retro Cincinnati baseball cap, I said, "You a Reds fan?"

"No, I just like the color."

"From that part of the world?" I asked.

"No man, I'm from Bogalusa," he said with a smile.

The dude had the baseball cap placed on his head kinda off to the side. I could tell he wasn't much into the sport by the brim of his cap. The brim was flat like if he had to catch a fly ball, the cap would certainly not help him.

He was wearing an untucked, collared white shirt with loose fitting red basketball shorts that stopped at the knees. The rest of the look included white calf length socks and bright red Nikes.

"Don't watch baseball much?"

"No... I just like the look!" he said with a bigger smile.

We then just stood there... in the parking lot... with nothing else to say.

"Well, I said as I was slowly walking toward the car, "Have a good day!"

But then, a thought popped into my head that I just had to convey. Besides,"Have a good day?" Really?

With a smile, I turned back around and said, "Well, you really look like the ultimate Cincinnati Reds fan. Did you know that they are the oldest franchise in baseball?"

" I didn't know that!"

"Yeh, I said. They were formed back in 1881 as the Cincinnati Red Stockings!"

After another momentarily awkward brain freeze, he said, "Cool, I didn't know that, but...

"I just like the color!"

Copyright 2021/Ben Bensen III

"Thoughts About Baseball in 2020"...

I miss all the sportstalk radio stations I used to listen to in Los Angeles when I lived there twenty years ago, or so. But, there was a segment on NPR about the prospects of there ever being a season in 2020.

Being a big Dodger fan and not having a Major League team here in Louisiana... we actually lost our affiliate AAA minor league team with the Miami Marlins a year ago, I was curious about a few adjustments that would have to be made for the game to survive the Corona virus.

My first thought was about the handling of the baseballs throughout the contest.  It's bad enough that even before the virus, balls were discarded even if the ball was considered scuffed having grazed the dirt or the plate from the pitcher's hand. I can't even imagine a ball leaving one hand and then, going on to another's hand and then, another's hand as would be in the case of a double play.

How simple minded of me to just consider what is generally known as being one third of the game. That is, the ball, the glove and the bat!

I subsequently learned that MLB, in their infinite wisdom, has created a 67 page diatribe on the new rules of the game. Consider, because I didn't, no spitting, no sunflower seeds, no high fives, or head first slides, keeping one's distance in the dugout, in batting cages, on the bases... during the National Anthem! Then, of course, consider team buffets, club house showers and hot tubs not to mention after hour dinners, night clubs, airline flights from one city to another and staying in your hotel quarantine till game time.

Of course, non of this matters, really.

As usual, in big time sports, especially in baseball where there is no salary cap, the season will but an asterisk in the annals of baseball lore because of the almighty dollar.

"Root, root, root for the team,

If they don't win, it's a shame...

For it's One, Two, Three Billion dollars,

In the ole ball game!"

Copyright 2020/ Ben BensenIII