Mommy? Are you crying? Over a BASEBALL game?

In high school I dated THE cutest boy in school.  He played baseball.  When he wasn’t playing baseball, he played softball.  I knew the game.  I had watched my brother play Little League. I had even watched my dad play softball on a church team and I had spent many afternoons watching my dad’s beloved Dodgers on TV with him.  So, when I was asked to keep the scorebook for my boyfriend’s team, I didn’t hesitate.  I soon learned the numbers behind the game.  I learned that when the batter hit a ground ball to the shortstop and then was thrown out at first, that would be recorded as a 6-3 in my books.  Everything that happened in the game would be recorded in a series of codes and numbers.  This made sense to me.  If only real life could be as neat and tidy as the recording of the most difficult 5-4-3 double play.

Life moved on and so did that relationship.  After college in Oklahoma, I took a job in Arlington, Texas.  My first apartment was in North Arlington, just a stone’s throw away from the old Arlington Stadium.  It was 1983.  Many nights I would hear the announcer at the stadium from my apartment.  Some nights early in the season, I would open a window just a little so that I could hear a little clearer.  In those days, when our third baseman came to the plate, I would hear “Buddyyyyy Beeeeeellllll.”  As our catcher came to bat, I would hear, “Jim SUNDberg.”  Pete O’Brien was announced something like, “Pete OOOOOO’BRIen.”  I could hear the occasional fireworks from my apartment and I was drawn outside each time to see if I could see them from my vantage point. 

Soon, the lure of the stadium drew me in and I attended my first Texas Rangers baseball game.  It was my first ever Major League Baseball game…..and I was hooked.  I can’t remember what happened that night.  I can’t tell you who we played or who won, but I can tell you how it made me feel.  Maybe it was the fact that I had moved to a new city, had a new job and new relationships that left me yearning for something familiar.  I just don’t know.  All I know is that the ballpark offered that security, that familiarity, a reminder of something that had not changed.  The game was still the same…. and it still made sense to me.  It was like a big ol’ serving of my favorite comfort food.  Done.  I was a Texas Ranger Fan!

Sadly, if I had known at the time of the heartbreak and the disappointment my new status as a Ranger fan would bring, I might have thought twice about it all.  But, I delved in full-steam and bought the Ranger shirts and picked a few games each season to attend, watched the television coverage faithfully, and supported my team.  The highlight of the following season came on the last day of the regular season (which goes without saying because that is all we ever played back then – there was NO post-season for us).  I had invited my dad to the ballpark on September 30, 1984 to see the Rangers play the Angels.  It was hot!  Mike Witt was pitching. We sat out in Center Field and we talked and ate hot dogs and sweated and enjoyed the game.  In about the 5th inning, we started to take notice of the pitching.  Mike Witt had a perfect game going.  We didn’t say too much out loud, but watched each inning and it soon became obvious that we were going to see something spectacular that day.  As it turned out, Mike Witt did pitch a perfect game that day and my dad and I were there to see it!  It was one of only 6 perfect games EVER pitched in the American League and WE WERE THERE!  Ok, that’s the good news.  The bad news is that Mike Witt pitched for the Angels!  We lost the game 1-0 on a RBI from Reggie Jackson.

So, that’s how it went.  The seasons became a series of moments to remember, but never seasons to remember.  The late 80’s brought Nolan Ryan to the team and we celebrated his 5,000th strike-out.  The early 90’s brought Nolan’s 6th and 7th no-hitters and construction began on a new ballpark.  The first regular season game was played in our new ballpark on April 11, 1994.  We lost.  That season, the Rangers actually won the division (with a losing record, no less) and qualified for the play-offs  To add insult to the ever growing injury for Ranger fans, the MLB strike began and no post season was played.  The Rangers qualified for the playoffs in 1996 and lost to the Yankees in the first round.  In 1998 AND 1999, the Rangers won the AL West title, but were SWEPT by the Yankees two years in a row in the first round.

By this time, I was completely focusing on my love of the GAME, admittedly, not on my love of our TEAM.  Once Max was old enough to enjoy games with me, we would go together.  One long-standing tradition is that we go to Opening Day.  We don’t miss it.  Ever since he started Kindergarten (he is now a sophomore in high school), he has been able to count on the fact that I am going to show up at his school at around Noon on Opening Day, and make up a bogus reason as to why I need to check him out of school (most times I am all decked out in my Ranger gear and not fooling anyone at all…but they play along).  Nothing beats the feeling of Opening Day on a beautiful Texas afternoon in the spring.  I love the smell of the ballpark food, the choked-up feeling I always get during the National Anthem, the pre-game jet fly-over, the sound of the organ during the prelude to “Take Me Out To The Ballgame”.  Opening Day brings all sorts of possibilities of rebirth and all disappointments of the previous season are soon forgotten once we are in our seats.     On a side note, Max and I have always been convinced that our Ranger Ballpark is the most beautiful ballpark in all of America.  And that’s something, right?  We may not have EVER had the best team, but gosh darn it we have the BEST ballpark.  And we would know.  We began a quest to visit all of the MLB parks when Max was about 8 years old.  Each season, we try to hit at least one new ballpark.  We have been to just about half of all of the ballparks in our country and we can still say that we DO have the most beautiful ballpark of them all, right in our backyard! 

So…… back to the timeline.   Life moved on.  I got married, and cheered on my Rangers.  I had 4 babies, and cheered on my Rangers (but more often from my sofa since getting to the ballpark was more of a challenge).  I went from “Boo”ing Steve Buechele at the ballpark, to dropping my daughter off at his house to visit her best friend.  I mourned Johnny Oates, ignored the steroid scandal, skipped the All-Star Game we hosted and cheered on my Rangers.

After my divorce, one of the first things I bought was a season ticket mini-plan.  Maybe I was once again turning to something familiar to ground me.   Maybe it was a desperate attempt to find myself. Maybe I needed to have my own place in the world. That place became Section 37 – Row 23 – Seats 3-6.  And that is where I have been, year after year, cheering on my team and hoping and believing that SOMEDAY my faithfulness would be rewarded.

And now, it’s 2010.  The Rangers won the AL West title and advanced to the play-offs for the first time since 1999.  And then my Rangers, who have only ever won ONE playoff game, immediately went two games up against Tampa Bay and returned home to continue the American League Division Series.  The whole city was in a tizzy over it.  At the ballpark, I was overwhelmed with the show of support for our team.  It was like nothing I had ever seen.  And, then the team did what the Rangers have done since I have been a fan.  They blew it.  They returned home and lost two games to Tampa Bay to force a Game 5.  This was a familiar feeling.  The familiar response to this would be for the whole city to turn and walk away and adopt a “we knew this would happen” attitude and go about our business and focus on other things.  But oddly, that didn’t happen.  Everywhere I looked I saw signs of support for the team.  The overwhelming mantra of the day became, “I Believe!”  It felt like the scene from The Grinch when the people of Whoville wake up and just decide to go ahead and have Christmas anyway, even without the gifts!  And so we watched Game 5, and hoped beyond hope that history would be made for our franchise that night. 

And then it happened.  The Texas Rangers WON A PLAY-OFF SERIES for the first time in franchise history!  For the First .Time. Ever.   It actually happened!

And so to answer your question, Kids…. “Yes.  I cried.  Over a baseball game.”

The American League Championship series brought the Yankees to town.  In the first game, the Rangers blew a 5 run lead in the 8th inning and lost the game.  Again, this city and these fans were undaunted.  Fans turned out in full force for Game 2 and we eventually watched our Rangers win 3 in a row against the hated Yankees!  Game 5 went to the Yankees in New York, but everyone had the feeling that was supposed to happen. The Rangers needed to return home  to win this in front of the hometown crowd.  Game Day for Game 6 was a BIG day in Arlington.  Big...Huge!   As I sat in my seats and the ballpark slowly filled up, I couldn't help but think about the day in which you could come into the stands and sit just about anywhere you wanted to sit.  Today, there would be standing-room-only.  The die-hard Ranger fans sat alongside the newer, but equally as excited, fans.   The old-timers wore faded and worn out Ranger shirts, while most wore the first Ranger shirt they had ever owned.  It didn't matter.  We were together in this and everyone was vested and welcome, no matter what the level of support up to this time had been.  The difference came with that last pitch. As the fireworks went off and the confetti swirled over old-timer and newcomer alike, those of who knew what this meant, who remembered the road we had traveled to get to this point, felt it all just a little deeper and the victory was just a little sweeter.

And so, once again, "Yes. I cried. Over a baseball game."