It’s October

For most people, that doesn’t mean anything. For baseball fans, on the other hand, it means the playoffs.

I didn’t always like baseball. Sure we’ve always been Yankee fans but that was more because of genetics than anything else. I didn’t really pay much attention to baseball until I realized there were a lot of really good looking guys playing. Then it suddenly became more interesting.

My sister & I started watching it in the Thurman Munson, Willie Randolph, Reggie Jackson days – in the late 1970s. I don’t recall ever picking up a newspaper back then so I didn’t know about any of the behind the scenes drama. All we knew was we thought Bucky Dent was cute. Janet got a cockatiel which she named Lou after Lou Piniella. Poor Lou turned out to be Louise after she started laying eggs. I’m not sure if the real Lou would be offended or flattered about having a bird for a namesake.

My mom hated baseball. It took my father’s attention away from her and he was glued to the TV during playoffs. She never knew the first thing about baseball. I could swear I recall her making a reference to 4th base.

As she got older and started watching more & more TV, her hatred of baseball suddenly changed. I had no clue about this change and one day we were visiting them when the game was on.

“Oh, is that Pudge up at bat?” Mom asked.

“Who the heck is Pudge?” I knew all the Yankee players but had no idea of anyone on any other team, much less their nicknames.

“You don’t know who Pudge is?” I could swear I saw this triumphant glint in her eye, reveling in the fact that she knew more about baseball than I did. “Ivan Rodriguez. He’s the catcher for Texas.”

My mother had turned from a woman who despised baseball to someone who was yelling at the umpire through the TV when she disagreed with the calls, especially when her favorite players were up at bat. She knew the names of all the Yankee players and somewhere, there’s an autographed photo of Paul O’Neill written out to her when she was in the hospital for 4 months.

I have a feeling she’s watching the game right now, rooting for her boys.