the influencer is you

Damn. The Baseball Season Is Over.

Damn. The baseball season is officially over.

As a player, the first few weeks after the baseball season was always a major transition. From day one of the season you have a clear purpose. Hit the ball hard each at bat, play flawless defense, keep your body in great shape throughout the season and win. The season starts and your next six months are charted out for you in a handy pocket schedule. Your days are full of the routine of getting ready to go to the yard, getting ready for the game, playing the game, unwinding from the game. Change towns, rinse, repeat. Before, during and after games you develop habits that you are convinced make you a better hitter. You structure your eating, sleeping and working out schedule around this routine. Wade Boggs was the extreme:

He ate chicken before every game...woke up at the same time every day, took exactly 100 ground balls in practice, took batting practice at 5:17, and ran sprints at 7:17.^[1] His route to and from his position in the field beat a path to the home dugout. He drew the Hebrew word "Chai", meaning "life", in the batter's box before each at-bat...

via en.wikipedia.org

Your routines are clockwork, down to the details of how you put your shoes on. (It was ALWAYS right foot sock, left foot sock, right foot sanitary, left foot sanitary, right foot stirrup, left foot stirrup ....I know. Scary.) Then, all of a sudden, the season ends. You go home and as Bill Robinson would tell say, "you can choose your own friends."   

What happens when you get home? At first there is euphoria. Freedom! You can go anywhere and do anything. It's better than the last day of school feeling.

Shortly, that wears off and you fell something missing. There is no intensity. Your mind and body every day are still geared to focus on hitting a 90mph fastball, ignoring thousands of people screaming or being ready at an instant to sprint 90 feet to swipe a base.

Slowly you adjust, start focusing on 'normal' life, start reconnecting with your  family/friends that baseball has taken you away from and figure out a new pattern that allows you to unwind and then build an offseason plan that takes you into spring training. Physically, you rebuild your body that has been beaten down for months. Mentally, you refresh your mind from day after day of extreme intense focus.

As a fan it is different, unless you win the championship, depression kicks in immediately followed by months of speculation, arm-chair GM'ing and all the joys of the hot-stove league.

Countless hours of "if only..." around that one pitcher or one hitter that would change everything. Speculation around who your team should resign, who needs to retire, who will be traded and how to beat the Yankees. There will be gripes about the lack of equality between small markets and large markets, cable contracts, stupid owners, overrated players, diamonds in the rough, the virtues of Billy Beane vs. Bill James.

Either way, right now the baseball season is over and that sucks.

Baseball Has A Code

Baseball has a code. There is a long list of things you must do and things you just don’t do.

Here’s a few:

-   Show up on time....always

-  During the game, you don't talk to your girlfriend/wife

- Don't talk to a pitcher on the bench when he has a no-hitter going

- Don't say, "this game is going fast" unless you want extra-innings and a late night

-   You don’t “show people up” like walking around the bases after hitting a home run

-   You don’t take cheap shots at your opponents w/out repercussions (Maybe it takes four seasons, when you have a 5-run lead late in the game, 2 outs, and an open base. You drill the guy, hit him in the back, never in near his head, and you move on.)

-   If you argue balls and strikes with the umpire and you face him, you will most likely get thrown out. If you don’t look at him, you can get away with a lot more bitching

You do not go ballistic and run into the visitors clubhouse like Prince Fielder. That is dumb, gives athletes a bad name and is embarrassing to the game at large.

Getting drilled is part of the game and any retaliation should stay in between the lines.

People Around The Game

Having the Phillies in town this week sparked lots of great memories. There are few things that feel  better than crushing a 90 mph fastball or throwing a runner out at the plate from the outfield , but the majority of things I miss the most didn't happen between the lines. One of the greatest things about playing baseball are the people around the game.

Teammates

You will find some of the most colorful personalities inside the clubhouse of a baseball team. Mix tons of diversity,  long road trips, spring training, parties, gym time, meals,W's, L's and a bunch of athletes and you have unforgettable memories, lots of laughs and hopefully not too much trouble. Nice to see many of these great guys starting to join Facebook.

Fans

The loyal fan is such an integral part of the game. Every team in every stadium has a set of loyal fans that become part of the season's experience. They arrive early, stay late and somehow sit through those long rain delays. These fans make the team an integral part of their life and add lots of support through the ups and downs of the season.

Clubhouse

Inside the home/visiting clubhouses in every park, there is a staff of "clubbies" that have seen thousands of players come and go. Clubbies are there to make your experience comfortable with food, supplies, hook-ups and anything you could possible need. I'll never forget Pauly or Harry from Clearwater in their Philly accent saying 100 times a day, "you good..you good?"  Clubbies also help keep players in line. I remember one guy who deservingly so, showed up at the yard with his clothes in an ice block hanging on the flag pole. 

Around The Yard

The broadcasters, beat writers, front office "suits," ticket sellers, pr/marketing, community outreach, groundskeepers, ushers, and vendors are the people you work with every day. All share a love of the game and help the wheels go around. 

Many of the fun stories on and off the field will be remembered for ever. Too bad blogs weren't created yet.

(David played Outfield from 1991-1996 w/the Philadelphia Phillies organization, 1997 in Taiwan and 1998 in the Northern League in Madison.)