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You show me the path of life.
In your presence there is fullness of joy;
in your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
- Psalm 16:11
I disliked professional baseball. I said multiple times that I would never attend a game and I didn’t attend any games from 1992-2017. I would avoid games on TV because I thought professional baseball was boring. I even said no to playing the “Star Spangled Banner” at a Phillies Game in the 90s because of my opinion of baseball.
I developed my opinion at the age of 9 at a Pittsburgh Pirates game against the Atlanta Braves in the now gone Three Rivers Stadium. My siblings and I attended with our father and a parishioner but we were not allowed to leave our seats for the game, we didn’t even get the peanuts, popcorn, and cracker jacks. I just didn’t see the joy in baseball after that game.
Then in 2017 I attended the Pittsburgh Pirates Faith & Family night with members of a church to which I was appointed. Our tickets had an all you can eat option with unlimited hamburgers, hotdogs, and nachos…I ate so many jalapeños that I don’t think I could taste food for a week. It was a fun evening with lots of laughter and it was powerful to hear the faith stories of the players and their family members. I started to see why people liked baseball but I still didn’t fully understand the joy.
Then on April 2, 2018 I was invited by a pastor friend to opening day at PNC Park. I finally understood. It was like an “aha” moment, I could feel the atmosphere and the joy that was radiating from everyone around me. We were all cold and frozen, my friend and I had nosebleed seats so we could barely see anything but we wandered around the ballpark talking to people and taking in the experience of just being there. I fell in love with baseball on that day.
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