This past, Monday evening, not having anything to do to help our daughter and her labor, my three sons and one daughter-in-law scurried off to attend a game of the Chattanooga Lookouts who that night were playing a home game against the visiting Tennessee Smokies. Both are teams in the Southern League, the Smokies being the AA affiliate of the LA Dodgers and the Lookouts of the Chicago Cubs.
What a blast. We sat close enough that we could hear the conversation on the field, and add to it. Even my eight year old was learning how to yell.
The gal who sold us the ticket told us that the manager of the Smokies was Ryne Sandberg. Sandberg was the standout second baseman of the Chicago Cubs. He is apparently extremely gracious and patiently signs autographs before each game. We stood in line, but he had to quit signing before he got to us.
In minor league ball, you are watching men who play the game because they love the game. They make little money and they have awful schedules. But they love what they are doing. They are following their dreams, no matter how unrealistic for most of them those dreams are.
By all accounts, other than the Lookouts’ catcher throwing Colin a game ball, a high point of the night was the “3 and 1/2 inning stretch”. If you know baseball, you know that it is something steeped in its many traditions. One of those is the “seventh inning stretch”. In the middle of the seventh inning in ball parks everywhere every fan in attendance stands, stretches, and joins in singing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.”
But here they have the “3 and 1/2 inning stretch”. After 3 and 1/2 innings, we were ordered to stand. We sang “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” but half way through, the song stopped and we were ordered to sit back down. We could only sing half, because it was only the 3 and 1/2 inning stretch!
What a hoot. What a great time.
Even without Sandberg’s autograph.