Love and Baseball

Today is my husband’s and my 30th anniversary.  30 years.  It’s hard to believe.  Those of you who read “The Cure“ know what a huge role baseball played in our courtship and marriage.  Baseball was pivotal to our first date, we got engaged in the stands at a Phillies game and “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” was our wedding song.  (Try stepping out to that little ditty for your first dance.)

We were married in 1982 when the Phillies roster included players to remember:   Pete Rose, Michael Jack Schmidt (as Harry used to call him,) Gary “The Sarge” Matthews, Steve Carlton, Garry Maddox and Willie Montanez (my husband does a great impression of the way the stadium announcer used to pronounce his name during the starting line-ups, rolling those n’s for all they were worth.)

But there were some, shall we say, less remembered players, too: Bo Diaz, Luis Aguayo, Ed Farmer, Mike Krukow and Len Matuszek.

And one of the newest Phillies that year was Ivan DeJesus.  OK, I’ll come clean and say I was never a big fan of DeJesus.  Why?  Because also in 1982, the Phillies traded my beloved Larry Bowa (along with Ryne Sandberg) to the Chicago Cubs to get him.

A good reminder I guess that things change, in baseball and in life.   So it’s nice to know that some things still endure.

For me, it’s my 30 year love affair with my husband…  and baseball.

See, I put you first, honey.  It is our anniversary after all.

So today I hope you’ll join me in a toast to 30 more years (at least) of  love and baseball.

(Notice how cleverly I managed to avoid writing about last night’s game?)