October 30, 2026

Let’s talk about baseball…

This has been a game I’ve been in love with my whole life, but I must admit - many seasons have come and gone without me taking nearly as much notice as would have been the case in my earlier days.  My beloved Yankees last won the World Series in 2009 and yes - I went to the parade!  But life gets in the way of so many of our passions and many years, past and since, have actually had me questioning my own remaining interest.  Going to Yankee Stadium had become stupidly expensive.  And those never-ending evening games have a hard time competing with the news channels, at least for me.

But last year - and I’m surprised looking back now that I didn’t blog about it! - I found myself for the first time in ages watching baseball for the sake of the actual game.  My Yankees had been taken out in the playoffs by the Toronto Blue Jays, which would usually be the end of things for me, but I watched their next 7-game series with the Seattle Mariners with great interest.  And on the National League side of things, I was in awe of finally paying close attention to the once-in-a-lifetime talents of Shohei Ohtani.  His three-homer game while pitching six scoreless innings against the Milwaukee Brewers had me realizing how truly spectacular he is and how lucky we are to be a witness to such greatness.  The ensuing sweep had them facing the Blue Jays in what would turn out to be one of the most compelling and well-played World Series of all time.

So this season - thanks to another disappointing early farewell from those same underachieving Yankees - I looked forward to treating myself to the same baseball reawakening.  And, man…  Even though this time around the Devil Rays and Brewers only stretched things out to five games, the quality of play had me transfixed.  What a treat!

And to tell you the truth, I probably couldn’t have named a single player from either team one year prior.  That’s as much a testament to my own failing memory as anything else, but hopefully some of those names are now etched in stone.  Certainly the Milwaukee Brewers and their fans are.

And funny - I didn’t even notice how great their logo was until recently.  For me it had been simply a baseball mitt with the team color of blue, but a co-worker pointed out how the “b” actually looked like a lever for a keg of beer.  That was cool enough, but even later my brother Tom pointed out to me the blue “M” stitched right over.  Subtle - but perfect!  I’m happy for everyone involved how even the logo is now recognized by the entire baseball world.

Baseball being played right is a return to normalcy, in my mind.  Hopefully the same will be true of next week’s mid-term elections; let’s get back to being civic-minded and decent!  We live in a world of full circles, where we can find ourselves returning to the point where we originally wanted to be.

At least, I hope we do.

In any case, congratulations to the Milwaukee Brewers!  I hope to visit the town and the stadium someday.  In the meantime, I’ll have a beer in their honor and look forward to the next sporting event bound to reignite seemingly long-lost childhood curiosity.

And maybe that great logo is a sign of the blue wave to come!!