At the Ballgame
Joyous Singers at Slugger Field
On Wednesday night, Joyous Singers, our senior chorus, sang “The Star-Spangled Banner” at a minor league baseball game in our city. It was a scorchingly hot evening, but I thought we sang well, and it was fun to dip into a whole other slice of life in our community.
As a kid and later the mom of “Fast Eddie,” who lit up his Little League with his fast ball, I was a huge baseball fan. But lately, I’ve been more of a basketball fan, cheering on our local university team.
The evening evoked lots of memories for me and also made me think about the futures of all of these young players vying for a shot to make it to the big leagues. As each player came to bat, his picture and stats flashed upon the big screen. They all looked so impossibly young and so hopeful that somehow, they would be among the handful of players who would make it to “the Show.”
The career path they’ve chosen is not an easy one. Minor league players don’t make much money and the schedule is grueling. They play 150 games each season!
My heart ached for the pitchers on the opposing team who were getting walloped that night. A major league scout sat in the stands a few rows in front of us making notes and recording the speed of their pitches. For these young men on the mound, it was not a good night to have a scout make a visit.
Meantime, there was drama in the stands as well. A young woman got on one knee and proposed to her girlfriend, as the billboard lit up, showing a video of the proposal and congratulating the couple. The fans clapped and cheered, and it was a genuinely feel-good moment. I thought about how far we’ve come since the days when these two earnest-looking young women would have hidden their love and commitment to one another.
As a writer, I can see why so many stories have been written with sports settings, and films like Bull Durham have become classics—plenty of drama and lots of dreams and hopes for the future on and off the field.
Kind of like life in all its glory and messiness!