"The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It's been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt, and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. ...this game, is a part of our past. It reminds us of all that once was good, and it could be again. Ohhhhhhhh, people will come, Ray. People will most definitely come."
~Terrence Mann (James Earl Jones) from "Field of Dreams"
Just a game.
A thread in the fabric
of Americana; ranks with
Mom's apple pie,
Dad's Chevrolet.
But we'd play for hours.
Breaking windows,
crushing flowers.
On youth's field,
yielding the promise
of a future bright.
In the light of Doubleday,
we'd play. No visions
of Cooperstown or
World Series heroics,
just a stoic jaunt through
a dirt infield. Days past,
and present futures strong,
I long for the days to play.
We built our dreams on
that field. If you build it,
dreams will come.
And they did.
And they did.
Photo by Walt Wojtanik
Like this glimpse of down-home baseball experience.
ReplyDeleteDid you ever get a chance to read Shoeless Joe by W.P. Kinsella? It would be a good summer read.
Patricia
Yep. Read it. A fave for sure. I've had the hockey experience when I was younger (on the border of Fort Erie, Ontario), but my baseball episodes rank right up there.
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