America's Game

This card is a contradiction of sorts. While it's true that baseball is America's Game, I'm not sure if it is still number one. I think that has been taken over, sadly, by football, or as the rest of the world calls it, American Football. You see, the United States is one of the only countries to call football by a completely different name... soccer.

I like football as much as the next guy, but I can't watch it continuously. I can watch baseball continuously. I'll even watch reruns during the winter months. I watch my 2005 World Series DVDs right around February of each year to get me primed for the upcoming season. It's a good way to reintroduce myself to baseball, right before Spring Training. I've already overdosed on trade talks and free agent signings during the off season. February is time for the real thing.

My birthday is the same as Carrie Fisher's, so I'm extremely lucky if I see my team play on my birthday. So far, it hasn't happened. It's come close though. One of the most iconic moments in World Series history happened exactly one year before my birthday. Maybe that's a subliminal reason why I love collecting that particular player. Although it doesn't make me run out and buy every card of Toby Hall, who was born on that day.

I think that baseball is slowly creeping back into being America's Game. It's not quite there yet. It's inching closer though. That part is important. Now that the game is starting to clean up and become more fan friendly, it's coming back into the hearts of everyday people. At one point, baseball lost me. It's allure slowly drew me back in and now I'm hooked more than ever.

Will it ever get to a point where I'm quizzing my aunt on what Wade Boggs' batting average was in 1982? No, it will never be that innocent and pure again. Those days are lost for me. There is hope for the children being introduced to baseball today. Although it's hard to maintain that level of innocence in this day of instant information, it can be obtained, if only for a brief time.

That's the type of wide-eyed innocence that baseball needs for a first exposure. As the kids grow up, they can become slightly disillusioned with how baseball was and how baseball is. Just let them enjoy the spectacle of it all, while they can view the sport through rose tinted glasses. I wish I could look at baseball the same way, but there is no going back. That's the price you pay with growing older. I still keep a little part of that six year old boy's spirit with me. That's why I still collect pieces of cardboard of my favorite team and of my favorite players. It keeps me young at heart. It brings baseball back to being America's Game.