Being a Baseball Fanatic

Mark McGuire signing for me

 "You're just a baseball fanatic," my mother used to tell me.

She was right. As a 10-year-old, my love for the St. Louis Cardinals began, and it has never ended. Over the years, I followed the team with Stan Musial, Enos Slaughter, and Red Schoendienst, listening to late night radio as the signal bounced cross-country from KMOX, the voice of St. Louis. I dreamed of studying journalism at Washington University because I truly wanted to be a journalist and I wanted to be in St. Louis.

But life took its own turns. I kept listening to and watching the Cardinals, but I also graduated from high school and college (not in St. Louis), had a family, played tennis all day long every day during the summer months and almost forgot about baseball.

But not quite. 

At the end of the 20th Century and in the beginning of the 21st, my passion for the sport elevated almost to fanatical once more. Perhaps it grew because I started following Mark McGuire's home run record chase in 1998. I remember watching "Big Mac" approach breaking the record while we were barricaded in a room in a scary part of San Juan, Puerto Rico. We were stranded in the city during a holiday when all the rooms were taken. We eventually found a room in a hotel unlike anyplace we ever stayed before. What a calming relief to get to see my team play with so much on the line for Mark McGuire.

Tony La Russa at manager's party

Not long after that, we discovered baseball spring training in Florida. It was a joy to see players up close, chat with them, watch games, and attend the manager's party arranged following selected games at Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter, Florida. That was a dream come true. In the photo, I became the little 10-year-old girl again in 2007 during spring training following the team's World Championship victory in the 2006 World Series.

That spring training was one of a series we have attended every year. Next February, I hope COVID-19 will not put an end to the unbroken string of years in Jupiter.

This year's World Series ended last week. Soon after, Tony La Russa, Cardinals Hall of Fame manager for many years,  came out of retirement and signed as manager of the Chicago White Sox. That was the team where he started his managerial career many years ago. I began remembering past times and longing for spring training to begin. 

Then, I became concerned the team will not look the same. Cardinal catcher Yadi Molina might not be there. 

If that happens, the little girl in me will be sad. But as in all things, baseball teams change. And I will still be a fanatic. Even in late fall and winter.

TV announcer Al Hrabosky, Yadi Molina (middle)

Too Long Isn't Long Enough

"Sunset on Singer Island" ©Mary Montague Sikes

The palm trees glistened as the bright orange sun touched the edge of the horizon, then slid like lightening out of sight. Two weeks vanished in a moment while the vision of major league baseball players grew ever more familiar. The time was too long to be away, yet it wasn't nearly long enough.

"Why don't you move down here?" someone askled.

"I couldn't do that," I replied. I didn't explain that it is spring training baseball that calls me to Florida. The drills and practice games last only for four or five weeks. Once we went down for the last few games instead of the first and discovered that by then the players were weary of practice and ready to fly north for the "real" baseball season. The early games are more exciting because everyone is happy to be in the warmer climate and anxious to play ball. All the teams are even then and have great hope for the season.

"Before the Game, Cardinals Dugout" ©MMSikes

In addition to taking more than a hundred baseball photos with my Nikon camera, I also took numerous pictures of the Atlantic Ocean as the waves crashed along the beach of Singer Island. When the winds came, the ocean grew ever more beautiful and the waves more dangerous. In late afternoon, the beach sights captured me, and I dreamed of the colors I would use to paint those visions abstractly in gentle hues like those that filled my canvases long ago.

Such a contrast--the beaches of Singer Island and the playing fields of Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter, Florida. They both made my stay too long, yet not long enough. I didn't want to leave, but I could hardly wait to return home to my studio in Virginia where I will fill my canvases with colors I had forgotten long ago.

Blogging A to Z Around the World in 30 Days - Jupiter, FL

The Passenger to Paradise is a baseball fanatic, so what could be more perfect for "j" than Jupiter. Not the planet, but Jupiter, Florida. Every February/March, the Passenger rushes down for spring training. It's the most exciting time of the year for her because there is great hope for a wonderful baseball season.After all, every team has a chance in the spring.

"Molina Batting"  MMSikes

"Afternoon at Palm Beach" MMSikes

The St. Louis Cardinals are the Passenger's team, so when she heads to Jupiter she doesn't care about any place other than Roger Dean Stadium. She watches the team on the practice fields. She waits by the parking lot gate in hope of getting an autograph from a favorite player. She thrilled when Matt Holiday stopped to sign and when Lance Lynn did the same.

Although the beaches in the area are beautiful, the Passenger seldom sees them. She's almost always at the playing fields.

How sad it must be when April arrives and all the players are gone.

Do you have a sport that you love? Have you ever been to baseball spring training.

Making a List and Marking Off

At 2 a.m. Monday morning we arrived home from a 10-day visit to the Jupiter/Palm Beach area of Florida where I was swept up into a different life style. We started each day with a big breakfast, then headed over to the baseball fields behind Roger Dean Stadium. Six were in use by the St. Louis Cardinals, and the ones with most of the players were a long walk away. When rain and wind didn't close things down, we spent most of our time there. Lunch at Mugg's right across from the stadium was a special treat. I don't know many sports bars that provide scenic views as well as sounds from the nearby stadium. Sometimes I joined in the line of people by the gate where Cardinals players and other personnel park. Fans wait there, supervised by stadium aides dressed in orange flowered shirts. Everyone hopes a player will stop his car on the way out and sign autographs. Some do, but most don't. Each evening, we had a delightful dinner experience--most at the Islander restaurant at the Palm Beach Shores Resort on Singer Island. The lobster dinner there was excellent.. We feasted on 1 1/2 pound lobsters shipped from Maine earlier in the day.

One day when the Cardinal fields were not open, we shifted over to the Miami Marlins fields. To our surprise, we found the Marlin players were not blocked off from the fans by high fences. Instead, stars wandered from one field to another directly through the waiting fans. They even stopped to sign baseballs and other items. People were buying lots of items featuring the new Marlins' logo.

We returned home to a different and more demanding life pace. I've found the need to make long lists of projects left undone. Since I had little time to access the Internet while away, writing a new blog post is near the top of my list now. Another must-do item is to catch up on the blogs of friends. I hope I haven't missed anything too important while away, but now I feel refreshed and ready to start marking off my to-do list items.

"J" Is For Jupiter

Albert Pujols bats in Jupiter

"J" is for Jupiter, not the planet but the beautiful little community in Florida that comes alive each spring when two big league teams descend on the town to begin practice for the coming baseball season. The St. Louis Cardinals and the Florida Marlins are the teams that share Roger Dean Stadium.

For baseball fans, this should be the most exciting time of year. So much hope lies with the teams. The potential is there among enthusiastic players who may or may not make the final cut. Fans are close to the players. They can talk, get autographs, and take hundreds of photos as they wander from one practice field to another.

The Passenger to Paradise looks forward to her journey to Jupiter each spring to see the St. Louis Cardinals. There's no time better than spring training when hope reigns supreme!