America's Favorite Past-Time

Baseball has always been my favorite sport...especially when I get the chance to go out to the ballpark.  The bright green grass, the smell of hotdogs, catching a bag of peanuts flying through the air from a vendor, well, it's all just tons of fun.

Lots of people seem to think that time has passed baseball by.  The body slams in football, the alley-oops in basketball, the slapshots in hockey are just more exciting they say.  But for me, give me great pitching or batting skill, the excitement of a homerun or stolen base, the manager's strategizing, and the fun between innings and I'm a happy camper.

A recent game between the Washington Nationals and the San Francisco Giants reminded me of why I enjoy occasional outings to see the boys of summer at play.  I'm going to add a little caveat to this.  If you have any sway with the Washington Nationals organization, they desperately need to hire a new organist and scoreboard director.  Please tell them so.  Otherwise...let the pictures begin.



The Nats take the field against the defending champion San Francisco Giants...and come away with a 5-2 victory.



The 12-foot tall presidents (George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt) come out of a door in the outfield fence to race frantically around the warning track to the finish line in front of the home dugout about midway through each game.  Abe usually wins, and Teddy ALWAYS loses.  In this photo, he was already left in the dust somewhere out of frame.  You might want to check out some of Teddy's less than honorable efforts though.  Here is one more.  We all want Teddy to win, but he needs to do it the RIGHT way.  :)

I also go to see the great skills of some of the best players the game has to offer.  Here, catcher Ivan Rodriguez is at bat.  He hit an important double in this game and also threw a perfect bullet to second base to get a man out on a steal attempt.  This player is a certain hall of famer in the years to come and it's great to have the opportunity to see his formidable abilities on display.

The Giants fielded a pitcher on this day who obviously has his own sense of style.  Notice the lemon yellow glove and the old style of wearing his pants like knee britches.