A friend of mine remarked that working on a college campus makes growing old more difficult. The age of the student population stays the same every year. Fresh faced freshmen this year will be replaced by fresh faced freshmen next year. The graduates move on in a ceremony not unlike Logan's Run. They are handed pieces of sheepskin or some similar substance rather than have the jewel on their palms checked for blinking.
Baseball is different. On any team, there are a mix of old and new players. It eases the transition and makes for a smoother aging process for the fan. Nomar, Jeter and A-Rod have been in the bigs around thirteen years. All three were supposed to be the new faces of baseball. I remember Nomar as skinny AA player in 1995 and how nervous and tentative he was. He laughed at his own joke which is how I got the smile. I reminded him of the joke the next year when he made it to AAA Pawtucket. It worked and I got the same smile. By the time he hit the bigs, he lost that little boy charm.
No comments:
Post a Comment