For love of the Game

I don't remember the EXACT moment I started loving Major League Baseball.  I do remember it was sometime in the late 1980's, after I had graduated from high school.  I NEVER attended a game with my father( or grandfather). My family were casual fans at best. Anyway, because I lived in Southern California I had numerous teams to choose from. My first choice was the California Angels. They were a scrappy, gritty team that didn't mind leaving the field with a dirty uniform. I was drawn to two players in particular, one a pitcher with only one arm(Jim Abbott) and a small sparkplug of a shortstop(David Eckstein). Both got my attention NOT because one was missing a limb or one was so tiny compared to the other players but because they were playing a game they loved and loving every minute of it even though people had told them they would never play professionally.  I was always quite small for my age and had health issues as a young child and I HATED being told I couldn't do something.  It made me want to prove to people I could do things even if it was different.  I realized, just like Mr. Abbott & Mr. Eckstein probably did that I could do things others did, I just had to do it differently to accomplish the same goal.

This year, 2011 the Angels celebrated 50 years of existence as a Major League Baseball team.  I am always excited for the new season to start and was even more so this special year.  I took to twitter and Facebook on game days to vent frustrations with fellow Angels devotees when the team lost, and cheered when I heard " Light up the Halo", as that meant the Angels had won. This special year also allowed me to earn some tickets to see my beloved team play in Anaheim, which I did on September 25, 2011 during the last week of the season, where I got to meet some of the Angels twitter family that were venting & cheering right along with me.  So over 20 years AFTER I had picked the Angels as my team I finally got to see them play in person!!!  It was a day that I will always remember, even though the Angels lost, the memories of meeting new friends will last a lifetime.  Might not have met them if not for the love of a game and a team. Long after these pictures fade, I will have pictures on my heart of that day in September that I saw my Angels play. Thanks for the memories!!!!

  As iron sharpens iron,
      so a friend sharpens a friend.------- Proverbs 27:17(NLT)