By Trevor Winsor
Baseball – man what a sweet, sweet thing. Baseball is so much more than a sport to me. It’s so much more than a few hours on a diamond shaped field. Baseball is more than just a bunch of dudes throwing, catching, hitting and running. Baseball is perfection – pure, old school, American perfection.
For me, baseball has been a passion and love of mine since I was 5 years old. Growing up, my parents weren’t baseball fans – we didn’t watch it as a family, we didn’t go to games. But when I was 5 years old I started playing t-ball. That’s where it all started for me – my love of the game.
I probably wasn’t able to articulate my love for baseball until I was in high school, but I always loved playing the game. There was a fascination with the rules, dimensions, and dynamics of baseball. A ball could be held two different ways while being thrown and the outcome would be different. A fast ball and a curve ball are inches away from the same pitch, but they aren’t the same. I became a student of the game that I love.
The beautiful thing about this game is that once I began playing and began loving it, my family embraced the game of baseball with open arms. I would say that now it is the one sport my family rallies around. We began watching the Seattle Mariners play when I was only 8 or 9 years old. Watching Ken Griffey Jr. and Alex Rodriguez play was like watching two gladiators going to battle. It was like watching two birds soaring through the air – doing exactly what they were created to do. It was magic! And this magic got into the veins of the Winsor family and we have yet to shake the love of baseball.
My desire to learn more about the game fueled my ability and growth in the game. As I learned what it meant to truly play baseball the right way, I learned there was a purity to the game. And this is the kind of purity that “instant replay” and “coach’s challenges” could never change. There is a purity to the simplicity of the game while also being so complex. Baseball, in my mind, is the most difficult game to play – it requires such a dynamic attention to detail while also being simply “hitting and throwing a baseball.”
In the movie “Moneyball” Brad Pitt’s character, Billy Beane, says, “How can you not be romantic about baseball?” I fully agree. How can you not be romantic about a sport that not only demands a level of respect and purity, but also is capable of bringing a family together as a unit.
What does baseball mean to me? It means family. Baseball is the blood that runs through my veins. It’s the truth about life that is placed on a diamond shaped field. It is the light in a dark world of confusion and uncertainty. Baseball is the shaper of my worldview and the creator of my lifestyle. Baseball is everything to me – I will never stray from my first love.