Baseball is a game for the ages

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The detractors will tell you it’s too slow. There’s not enough action. But baseball has its own unique place as our pastime.

It evokes memories you just can’t obtain in other sports.

You may remember aspects of your first football, hockey, or basketball game, but you always remember your first Farm League tryout, not to mention the first game.

You stood in the outfield with several other kids, most of whom you didn’t know, and waited for the man with the fungo bat to call out “Next.”

Next was you.

If you caught the fly ball, your confidence swelled. “That wasn’t so bad,” you thought. If you dropped it or misjudged it, you gunned the ball to the guy shagging for the fungo hitter and ran to the back of the line as quickly as possible.

You wanted to dig a hole and crawl in.

At an early age, you had already been consumed by the passion of the game.

As you progress through your career, certain games will find their way into a special memory bank. Good and bad.

At any time, you can pry those games from your memory and transport yourself back in time like an episode of “Quantum Leap.” You relive them. The memories are vivid.

Maybe it’s because there is so much time between pitches. You have more time to digest the moment.

Too much time perhaps.

As you become an adult and get into coaching, you discover that one of your prime responsibilities as a Farm or Little League coach is to keep your outfielders upright.

Outfielders lying on their sides are significantly limiting their range.

It is equally important to inform them that their gloves are much more efficient when they are worn on their hands, not their heads.

The stakes get higher when you enter the world of all-stars. The selection process can sometimes bring out the worst in people.

Somewhere along the line, you make your first trip to Fenway Park. To a youngster, the opportunity to see the players you idolize generates yet another lasting memory.

The players seem larger than life, but the field is smaller than you had envisioned it.

Your eyes are riveted to your favorite player.

The beauty of the sport is that the game is just part of the experience.

There is a casual aspect to the sport, caused by the time between pitches, that enables you to enjoy the entire environment.

The smell of hot-roasted peanuts or ballpark sausages creates part of the memory.

The activity surrounding the game itself – relievers warming up, umpires running to get into position to make a call – also blend into the picture.

The sport itself creates its own intrigue. There is more second-guessing in baseball than in any other sport.

Should they bunt? Why wouldn’t the pitcher stick with his fastball against a hitter who hasn’t proven he can hit it in previous at-bats? Do you walk so-and-so intentionally to pitch to the next guy?

It is thought provoking.

Then there are the nuances of the sport.

There is nothing like watching a pitcher hurl a masterpiece either with overpowering stuff or by painting the corners, or seeing a hitter keep his weight back and snap his wrists to drive a ball into a gap, or watching a fielder make a dazzling play.

It is, indeed, a sport and an atmosphere for all ages.

Larry Mahoney can be reached at 990-8231, 1-800-310-8600 or by email at lmahoney@bangordailynews.net.