I’m getting old. Do you want to know how I know that? You’re probably thinking, “Um, this could be bad.” Don’t worry, the answer doesn’t involve tedious descriptions of physical ailments, and it doesn’t involve mental decline (maybe it should, but it doesn’t). The answer is “baseball.” I knew I was getting old when I found myself enjoying watching and following baseball, specifically the Minnesota Twins MLB team.
My fondness for baseball took a long time to develop. When I was a teenager, the only baseball I would watch was the World Series. I didn’t know the subtleties of the game; I often thought a game, especially the latter innings, took forever, and I didn’t understand why. “Boring,” I thought. A new pitcher comes into the game, pitches to one batter, and then they pause the game again to bring in another pitcher. What the hell? Do they want the game to go on forever?
I began watching baseball regularly in 2001. I have always preferred watching NFL football. I have a little more understanding of its subtleties, and it was a lot faster moving, making it easier to pay attention. But starting in 2001 I begin to watch the Twins as they started to attract attention as a contending team after years of futility. After winning the 1991 World Series, the Twins had sunk a long ways by 2000. But during the 2001 season, the Twins started making some noise. The Twins had a lot of young players that had been developed in the teams farm system, and those players were driving the Twins to the top of their division, surprising a lot of people.
The Twins faded that year, not making the post-season. But I had become interested enough to follow them, and it was exciting to watch them go to the playoffs in the following years, even though they haven’t made it to the World Series. And in that time I’ve learned enough about the game to enjoy it.
I used to think a close game – a 1-0, 1-1, or a 2-1 game – was boring. Now, I think such a game is exciting, like a low-scoring NFL football game between two good defensive teams. Sure, offense is exciting, but I can appreciate a good defensive battle. And such close games are exiting in a way that high-scoring games aren’t.
What has helped me to enjoy baseball is a basic appreciation of the nuances of the game. Even though I’m no baseball expert by any means, I can appreciate a pitcher who can shave the outside of the plate for a strikeout, or a hitter who reaches first base on a walk after being down 0-2. I can feel the pressure when a pitcher takes a no-hitter in the late innings. I watched Johann Santana tie the record for strikeouts in a game; that was history in the making. I have watched Justin Morneau and Joe Mauer come up from the minor leagues and develop into two of the best players in all of baseball. There is still a lot I don’t understand and maybe never will, and I don’t have a good sense of baseball history, but I have come to enjoy of well-played game of baseball and to savor the 160-game season.
Don’t get me wrong, baseball is often boring, almost as bad as watching paint dry. Those pitching changes can extend the end of the game and take away some of the excitement of a close game. And a never-ending extra-inning game is like a boxing match between two exhausted opponents that ends when one of them gets too tired to defend himself.
I rarely watch a baseball game with my full attention. There are exceptions, but I’m usually doing something else, either reading, working on the computer, or other activities that allow me to give the game my partial attention. I can work on something else and keep an ear out for key events in a game, like a home run or a great defensive play.
I am getting old, no doubt about it. But liking baseball shouldn’t make me feel old. Maybe anything that I can be passionate about should make me feel young. If nothing else, it helps me relax after a day at work. Not bad for a boring game.
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