Today is the day: February 17th. Baseball training camps open in Arizona and Florida, and today is the day that pitchers and catchers report to their respected teams’ base.
In hindsight, today is just another trivial day: we wake up; we go to work; we go home; and we prepare to do it again tomorrow. To a hardcore baseball fan, however, today is much more.
To Continue...
Let me preface this by saying that in real-life perspective, Pitchers and Catchers reporting to camp means nothing. Most of those who are invited to Spring Training have already settled and checked in at camp, and today is essentially the deadline for the 1’s and 2’s to check in.
There’s no action involved. There’s no ceremony, no benefit dinner, no major commencement. The extent of today would involve a couple of pitchers throwing a short bullpen session, and handing out autographs to those who are devoted enough to be there on the first day.
Putting all the insignificant and medial inactivity aside, today brings us that much closer to the 2010 MLB season. In addition, following one of the most active off-seasons in Mariners history, the Seattle faithful has found it difficult to find enough patience to get the regular season started, which makes today so significant.
Today is the first notable day on the baseball calendar, which makes this Baseball New Year’s. We can now officially say last year is over and today is a clean slate. We can now start saying: “this is the year, this is our year.”
The next “holiday” for M’s fans is March 3rd, when they play their first Spring Training game against San Francisco down in Peoria, Arizona. This will most likely be the most meaningful Spring Training game (an oxymoron, I know), for history suggests that the most regular-season starters will participate in the opening Spring Games, resting those starters and exposing the squad’s depth towards the end of spring. Each game brings us closer to Christmas, otherwise recognized as Opening Day on April 5th.
In real life, many people perceive New Year’s Day as a concluding benchmark to the holiday season (despite its eternal meaning to the beginning of a new year). In baseball, there’s no sign of conclusion when Pitchers and Catchers report.
It brings us excitement to a day that is seemingly grey. It emanates anticipation of spring and summertime. It gives us an excuse to act giddy and childish to something that's bigger than all of us. It brings us the ultimate new beginning to green grass, clear skies, teamwork, homeruns, strikeouts, diving catches, and an inexplicable moose pumping up 35,000 fans on a mid-summer’s night. So here's to the New Year.
Reach Jacob Kehle at nextseasonsports@gmail.com
