It’s a strange time to be living. We are experiencing a world that most of us have never experienced before…probably none of us. We’re confined to our homes and neighborhoods, we are keeping our distance from friends and even, at times, family. I have been in a store only once in over two weeks.
It’s a new world, one that I don’t particularly like, but one we must live in for now.
The other day I saw one of my teammates in town as I was out walking. We’re the shortstop and the second baseman on our softball team…double play partners. We talked from a distance of more than six feet and then went our separate ways. “I can’t wait to play ball, “ I said. “Yeah, me too,” he replied.
I’m a principal who doesn’t see his teachers, his students, or anyone from the school except through Google meetings. Yet the learning goes on because of the great work everyone is doing – especially the teachers and the kids (and their parents).
Friends now only come together through calls, texts, and e-mails. It certainly isn’t the same.
Yet, in a strange way, we have all come together while staying apart. We have this shared common experience. Somehow, we know, even though we’d enjoy a handshake, a pat on the back, and even a hug, we are finding ways to touch each other in different ways.
And then there are those, health care workers, police, even the people manning the stores and markets and restaurants who have put themselves on the front lines so we can have some normalcy and survive as comfortably and safely as we can. Bad times see ordinary people becoming heroes. We’re certainly seeing that now.
Somehow, when this is all over, I think we’ll appreciate each other more. I hope so. I hope that through the social distancing that we learn to come together and appreciate each other in new and different ways. I think we will.
And then there is baseball…
Baseball Blogging – In some ways, the off-season is the most challenging time of the year for a blog about baseball – and in our case, specifically the New York Yankees. From October through March we have to think of creative ways to talk about the game. I think we do a pretty good job of it here. A few blogs have now gone on vacation until the baseball season returns, but we’re still cranking out multiple articles and posts each day. I’m particularly liking our new features focusing on the Yankees in the 1977 Topps set and also the feature where we share period pieces from the past in articles we’re calling “What They Said At The Time.” In addition, our great writers have still developed great analytical pieces on the current Yankees, the prospects, and more as we wait patiently for the season to come.
All of this is a labor of love, but it’s certainly not easy. We want to be a place that baseball fans can come to to get away from all the real-life news of the days. I think, in this, we’re succeeding. We’re staying positive and working hard to be a safe haven for all our readers.
We also have some other ideas in the works to keep the blog active, vibrant, and fun.
Thanks for visiting and supporting our site. We’re appreciative of each of our readers and hope that you come back and visit us throughout each day.
The 2020 Yankees – The one thing this long delay has afforded the 2020 Yankees is the chance for the players to get healthy. I think the team’s biggest weakness is that their players just can’t stay on the field. A shorter season can only benefit these players – as does this extra time for their stars to fully heal. Once baseball finally comes, it could be a magical year for the Yankees. One key will be for them to win early. A slump to begin the season (for any team) could be devastating. There just won’t be time to make-up games. The sport and the strategies will all be different this year. They say games in April matter just as much as games in July and September…and they’re right. This year, the games, when they start, will all carry even greater weight. Losses hurt, always, but this year they’ll hurt even more. In 2020, when the season comes, there will be a very real need to win often. This year’s season won’t be a marathon, it’ll be a different kind of race, one that rewards the teams that get out of the gate quickly.
One Last Shot – Regular readers may recall a feature from last year titled “One Last Shot” as I chronicled my season as a pitcher in an 35-and older baseball league in Northern New Jersey. Last year was the first time I played baseball (not softball) in 34 years. It was a great experience being a 51-year-old pitcher trying to get (much) younger guys out. This series will come back as I am working on getting myself ready for Season #2, if, or when, we finally play. Ethan and I have a catch almost every day. I’ve been making hundreds of throws each day to get my right arm ready for the season. Soon I’ll start “pitching” to Ethan in earnest. I want to get up to 100+ pitches per session. When the season comes, I will be ready. I’ll re-run the original articles here on the blog and then begin the new series as I document my attempts to pitch successfully as a middle-aged man. (I still hope the Yankees will come calling.)
12 Weeks – On Wednesday, April 1, I’ll celebrate a big day in my life. April 1 will be 12 weeks since the surgery to repair my torn Achilles tendon was performed. I was on crutches for eight weeks, and have progressed from there. I have also been doing physical therapy for about nine weeks now, and have also been exercising on my own daily. It’s been a long haul, but my recovery is going great. I have been walking now (we have lots of time to walk each evening) and have reached 3-4 miles at a clip. My orthopedist told me that I can begin running, RUNNING!!!, on Wednesday. (That’s not an April Fool’s joke.) My long recovery will start for real that day as I look to run a quarter-of-a mile. Once I can do that distance successfully, with no pain, I’ll slowly begin ramping up to longer distances. I still plan to run the New York City Marathon in November. I’m in the race and I plan to run it. From surgery to a marathon in eleven months – that’s my goal. I’m hoping I can do it. I plan to do it. Like anything, success comes day-by-day in small increments. I believe I can do anything, I think we all can.
Stay Positive – To all our readers, a few last words. Stay positive. You can do this. We all can. And we will. The days are getting longer. The sun stays out to bring brightness, joy, and more and more warmth. Baseball is coming. It is. It’ll be here. Soon we’ll all be complaining about errors and strikeouts. Every loss will be a tragedy. We’ll be upset, angry, and frustrated….and laughing all the way knowing that this is what life is about – the joy of the game, the joy of the frustration of loving a team and living with their ups and downs, and the hope (there is always hope, in every way) of a World Championship. Life isn’t always about the sunshine, it’s also about how we manage to get through the rain. That rain makes us appreciate the sunshine, when it finally comes, just a little bit more.
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Let’s Go Yankees!
