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Everyone loves a good story. And I don’t mean only an interesting tale that you read or watch on television or whatever. I mean anything that happens with an attention-grabbing beginning, middle and end. Why else does everyone watch a baseball when it’s hit foul into the stands? It offers a kind of story: the ball player hits the pitch, the ball flies behind the batter toward the stands … and? What happens? Everyone wants to know the rest of the story. Did it hit someone in the head? Was it caught one-handed by some guy? Did it bounce into a child’s glove? How did this little drama conclude?
I was thinking about all that earlier this week when I attended one of the year’s last spring training baseball games at Fort Lauderdale Stadium. The home team Baltimore Orioles took on the away team Florida Marlins. Of course the Marlins were the real home team, with thousands of fans cheering them to an exciting 5-3 win. We all were eating hot dogs and cracking peanuts at the ball park because we wanted a good story. Live, unrehearsed and played out in the heat of competition. But maybe the best story was under our feet.
The old stadium has seen some of baseball’s greats over the past few decades. From 1962 – 1992, the New York Yankees warmed up for their powerhouse seasons there. These teams included many of the finest players ever to take a ball field. Guys like Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford. In 1993, the Boston Red Sox held spring training at Fort Lauderdale Stadium and soon after that the Orioles took over. They’ve come down for 12 straight years now. I’ve been around that park for some wonderful spring training moments since moving to South Florida. I watched the Yankees’ Dave Winfield return triumphantly to the dugout for the first time after a major injury. I saw the Orioles’ Cal Ripken Junior patiently and pleasantly sign autograph after autograph only months before he topped Lou Gehrig’s consecutive games record. I noticed an elderly Whitey Ford as he strolled across the field after coaching some young pitchers. Baseball is intimately entwined in Fort Lauderdale’s story – past, present and future. I have a feeling this town will continue to add chapters to its long baseball history for some time to come.
I was thinking about all that earlier this week when I attended one of the year’s last spring training baseball games at Fort Lauderdale Stadium. The home team Baltimore Orioles took on the away team Florida Marlins. Of course the Marlins were the real home team, with thousands of fans cheering them to an exciting 5-3 win. We all were eating hot dogs and cracking peanuts at the ball park because we wanted a good story. Live, unrehearsed and played out in the heat of competition. But maybe the best story was under our feet.
The old stadium has seen some of baseball’s greats over the past few decades. From 1962 – 1992, the New York Yankees warmed up for their powerhouse seasons there. These teams included many of the finest players ever to take a ball field. Guys like Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford. In 1993, the Boston Red Sox held spring training at Fort Lauderdale Stadium and soon after that the Orioles took over. They’ve come down for 12 straight years now. I’ve been around that park for some wonderful spring training moments since moving to South Florida. I watched the Yankees’ Dave Winfield return triumphantly to the dugout for the first time after a major injury. I saw the Orioles’ Cal Ripken Junior patiently and pleasantly sign autograph after autograph only months before he topped Lou Gehrig’s consecutive games record. I noticed an elderly Whitey Ford as he strolled across the field after coaching some young pitchers. Baseball is intimately entwined in Fort Lauderdale’s story – past, present and future. I have a feeling this town will continue to add chapters to its long baseball history for some time to come.
posted by LauderBLOGGER at 4:43 PM
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