This Could Be The Year


 I haven't watched one pro baseball game this season. I was turned off by the MAGA mentality, especially after seeing the Cubs hold a moment of silence for Charlie Kirk last season. The team's owners are bigly Trump supporters and contributors to his regime. So now, if I want to watch a ballgame I go local, to the home team featuring college kids. The season has ended so I'm now poking around the big teams. What's with the Houston Astros and their fans booing the players? Is that what fans do now- boo their team? Maybe it's because we're watching millionaires play a game and maybe the love for the game has changed. In 1970, a baseball player averaged about $29,000 a season. The average income for the fans was around $9,000. Today the average income for regular folks is around $65,000, while a ballplayer makes $5 million and up. I don't doubt the professional players still love the game but I think the reason for being passionate about the game has changed. It's a business, a very big and expensive business. A ticket will cost you $30, hotdog-$9, one beer-$15. Before that, you gotta find a parking space. Lol, good luck on game day. Parking will run around $75. You're looking at over $300 for a family of four and that's not including souvenirs or a bag of peanuts. 

As a lifelong liver (lifer?) in a Chicago Cubs household, you don't ever boo the home team. It's always, "Next game. Next year. Next decade." I learned the game by osmosis. A game was always on, either on radio or the television. Jack Brickhouse, Harry Caray, Pat Hughes and Ron Santo still rent a room in my head. I can hear their voices as they banter and call the game. When I moved to Wisconsin, Bob Uecker was the guy you listened to even though my heart was always with the Cubs. In my childhood, every neighbor had the radio tuned to the Cubs game. I could ride my bike down the street and hear every play by play. My Dad had his transistor radio, unfiltered camels and a can of Old Style outside on the picnic table as he took turns mowing the lawn and listening to the game. When my grandparents visited from the city, if a game was on, the radio was on, as the adults played pinochle and this eight year old served up whiskeys and soda. Hankering for an Old Fashioned? I'm your girl. It's been a ten year dry spell for the Cubs. They broke the curse 👇ten years ago, so maybe it's time?

 Back in my day the blue collar folks could still watch a game from their rooftops and hotdogs didn't cost $9- for one. I can't afford to see a game these days, but that's ok. There are some things you just can't bring back anyway. 

I still love the game. It's still a ball, a bat, curses and hope. 

"Holy Cow!"

Update: It isn't. 

Comments

ex-ferrer said…
That curse was stupid! What started the 108-year WS drought?? It wasn't that damn goat. If that guy was alive today, he could join the FBI!
October 1, 2026 at 12:51 AM
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