Baseball

An old friend wrote to tell me of a screenplay he had written and was shopping around for an agent. His story was about baseball. It struck a chord with me.

Isn't it funny how a simple game like baseball can be such a life altering event. In my own experience, taking my stepdad to his first baseball game was a pivotal moment in my life. He was a lifelong Yankee fan. Raised in the Bronx but had never attended a game at the house the Ruth built.

I never took the time to get to know him and taking him to a Mets game both established my individuality and that I had become my own person, with a family of my own. Hard to believe that even though I was raised a Mets fan, my strongest memory of a ballgame was a trip to Yankee Stadium when Lou Pinella was playing left field.

Sadly, 2008 saw the end of both great iconic stadiums. Oddly enough, in a year when the economy turned south like players in Spring Training. Two new stadiums, soulless behemoths, will take their place or at least, occupy space. Some things cannot be replaced.