The Journey Begins

Today I am embarking on a new adventure. I am going to blog about baseball. The idea to start this blog was truly an ah ha moment for me. Like the majority of the American public, I have been feeling disillusioned with everything from my job to my day to day experiences and most especially with the current state of our Country. I needed a new project and having just returned from Opening Day at AT&T Park in SF, this idea caught me like the bay breezes that sometimes carry a home run into McCovey Cove.

I think I should begin by proudly confessing that I am a Giants fan. I was born into a Giants family and spent many days and evenings at Candlestick Park with my extended family when I was a kid. I remember tailgating in the parking lot, our vehicles parked between white parking barriers that demanded to be climbed on. As the game was about to begin we'd enter the stadium and step onto the escalator that would take us to our seat level. I think anyone who has ever been to Candlestick can recall seeing the intense orange of the seats towering over the green field. It was always cold. I spent most of those games climbing on the laps of aunts and uncles and my mom and dad, or running up and down the stairs. Though I wasn't necessarily paying attention to the game, those experiences have stuck with me and are some of my favorite moments to remember. There was always baseball memoriablia in our home and traditions surrounding the important moments in the season. Hot dogs must be eaten while watching the All Star game and no one is allowed to touch the baseball my mom caught at a Giants game.

My favorite movie of all time is the baseball film Field of Dreams, which tells the story of Ray Kinsella, a farmer who destroys his field to build a baseball stadium because he loves the game of baseball. I think this film really speaks to the magic that is baseball and that magic happens in the cornfield-hence the name of this blog. 

"The one constant through all the years has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It's been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt, and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game, is a part of our past. It reminds us of all that once was good, and what could be again." - James Earl Jones in Field of Dreams (1989)

I love the idea that baseball is a constant thing and is really part of the American experience. I like to think about kids playing stick ball in the streets of our major cities or families eating hot dogs in the bleachers of any stadium across America. When you think of baseball you think of simpler times and feel good moments. I need that once and awhile.

Throughout high school I would catch a game here and there, but didn't really give much thought to pitchers, batting averages or standings. In 2002 the Giants made it to the World Series and I listened to them lose in the 7th game while working at a local Starbucks Coffee shop. For my 18th birthday I went to a game with my mom where we saw Barry Bonds hit his 660th homerun. Last year I went to my first opening day game and we brought the extended family together to go to a game later in the season that celebrated the 1989 Giants team. We had the special experience of meeting several players from the '89 team in our hotel bar. I got married in October of 2009 and my husband and I watched every World Series game we could while on our honeymoon.

I get the idea of the game. I think I could probably even keep score thanks to my little brother. Baseball has certainly been a constant in my life, but I want to know more about this game that means so much to so many people. I don't really know where this blog will take us, my readers (assuming I ever get any) and I. The cultural anthropologist in me wants to know about the special foods only available at certain stadiums, why hats should be turned inside out during a rally or the reason one must never mention the possibility of a no-hitter while it is in progress. I want to know about teams other than the Giants and historical aspects of the game. I look forward to seeing how this unfolds and I hope that it culminates this season with a celebration of the Giants winning the World Series.

My husband Ryan and I at Opening Day 2010