As I sit here in sunny Arizona watching the Dodgers at their morning practice and receive text messages about the predicted snow back home, I am reminded that spring is here! Baseball has begun and Maryland weather is whacky! Welcome to spring.
Baseball has been a part of our lives for as long as I can remember. When we moved to Frederick years ago, we got caught up in the idea of a minor league team coming to play in our new “hometown.”
One chilly spring evening, we packed up the kids and headed to McCurdy field to watch the Frederick Keys play ball. My son, Timmy, was more interested in playing in the dirt underneath the bleachers than he was in the sport. It was after all his first game, he would prove to be a much better fan of the sport as he grew up.
Once the Frederick Keys moved to their new home at Harry Grove stadium, Timmy was almost five. By the time he reached the age of seven, he had developed into a real baseball fan. We became regulars at the stadium, joined the Keys fan club, and began housing players. Each spring Timmy anxiously awaited the arrival of his “summer brother.” We housed players for ten years, and one, Darnell McDonald, has remained a life-long brother to my son. In fact, Darnell is with the Cubs this season and that’s why this year our spring training trip brought us to Arizona and not Florida. The Cubs hold camp in the Phoenix area.
My son spent three seasons as a bat boy for the Keys, working each summer under the guidance of clubhouse manager George Bell. He learned a lot about baseball, but the lessons on character were what I believe have stuck with him the most.
Timmy knows every statistic about ball players and the sport. He’s always ready for a discussion about a particular World Series or a record-breaking game. But his heart has been and always will be with the minor leagues.
When we go to training camps, he heads directly for the minor league fields. It’s there that he chats with developing players and coaches. He talks to young men who are struggling or some who are playing on a high. They toss comments back and forth about pitching and hitting, about batting stance and curve balls.
My son has such deep respect for many of these young men who will never make it to the major leagues but who give their hearts day in and day out for a game they love. We’ll be at a lot of minor league games this season, cheering these players on. This is the baseball my son loves. Head to a minor league game this season and see the game played with real heart!
This blogpost appeared as my April 2013 monthly column in the Frederick News Post.
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