I grew up playing baseball.  It was the first sport I remember learning how to play.  From little league through high school, summers meant baseball.  Having now entered my fourth decade of life, baseball is not so much a part of my life any more, but in recent weeks, I have gotten back in touch with the game in a special way, or a better way to say it is that the game has gotten back in touch with me. 

I am a fan of the LSU Tigers.  Doesn’t matter the sport.  It’s always great to see the Tigers play.  So you might imagine my excitement when LSU made it to the College World Series.  I began watching them play midway through the super regional in Baton Rouge and found myself drawn back into the rhythm of the game. And you can imagine my delight with they won it all. 

 

 

In The Hartford Courant, the late commissioner of Major League Baseball, A. Bartlett Giamatti wrote:

Baseball is about homecoming.  It is a journey by theft and strength, guile and speed, out around first to the far island of second, where foes lurk in the reefs and the green sea suddenly grows deeper, then to turn sharply, skimming the shallows, making for a shore that will show a friendly face, a color, a familiar language, and at third, to proceed, no longer by paths indirect but straight, to home.      

Baseball demands both attention and engagement.  If you don’t pay attention, you might miss the game, for the game can be won or lost in an instant.  If you don’t stay engaged, you might begin to think that there are insignificant moments in the game and miss out.  There are no insignificant moments in the game of baseball.  Every pitch, every hit, every strikeout, every inning is important, if not, essential.  And the ultimate goal of the game is to make it safely home.

 

 

During my reacquaitance with the game of baseball, I have been reminded how many lessons in baseball are also lessons in life.  Life demands attention and engagement.  In life as in baseball, every moment is essential, every relationship is important, and in the end, no detail is ever insignficant.  Never count anyone out until the last pitch is thrown, the last out is made or the last run is scored.  Even if you strike out, you still have a chance to make it to first.  And the ultimate goal of life, as in baseball, is making it safely home.  I regularly forget this.  Maybe you do as well.  Sometimes  we need gentle reminders. 

Live well, laugh often, love much…Geaux Tigers!