This year has renewed my love for baseball.  It feels much like a full circle year.

The Royals won the World Series in 1985.  It was the first time, I ever remember, my parents watching sports- other than racing.  My parents and I were all born in Kansas City.  And, of course, it was the I-70 series.  It was a big deal even if we lived in Texas.  I don’t remember the games, but I remember watching them, the excitement in the air, the fun, and the thrill of victory.

It wouldn’t be until the Spring of 1987 that there would be baseball in our home again- only it was only me watching.  If I had to guess, it began with free Astros tickets that I received for my grades.  But, I fell hook line and sinker for Baseball.  I was in love.  I would sit in my room keeping score while I  watched the Astros games on the TV with the sound turned down so I could hear the game on the radio.  I always loved the play-by-play on the radio better.  When the Astros would play late games, I could watch them after every one went to bed in the living room.

As I’ve said many times, Kansas City and Missouri have always had a special place in my heart.  When the Cardinals played the Astros- I always rooted for the Cardinals and how I enjoyed watching Ozzie Smith play.  Mind you, this is long before the TV baseball packages and Internet would bring you any game you wanted.  It was a rare instance that I could watch the Royals play on ESPN- but I always loved it.

I watched Craig Biggio, Ken Caminiti come up from the Minors, go back down, and come back up again their first year.  I remember knowing the moment that Craig Biggio would hit his first home run- I called it sitting on the edge of the couch watching the game alone in the dark one night after everyone else had gone to bed.  I collected baseball cards and even had that year’s Triple-A Astros cards.

I got see a number of great guys play.  But, now, my mom.  Gosh to have been her.  Baseball struck the women in my family.  My mom was the first.  She would go with her Uncle(s) and my Uncle (her brother) to the Kansas City A’s games.  She would get autographs from many of the greats.  Ask her about the time the Kansas City A’s beat the Yankees and you’ll see her face light up.  She, like me, had quite a baseball collection. . . But she gave them away to my cousins who used them in the bike spokes and otherwise destroyed them.

Over the next few years, I’d find any game I could to watch. . . which meant The Braves on TBS and The Cubs on WGN.  I owe so much of what and how I’ve learned baseball to Harry Carey.  Gosh, I loved to watch those Cubs games just to get to listen to him.

I would also use my computer nerd skills to keep a database that calculated the Astros baseball stats- and now, of course, the stats are readily available online.  The only books I would read were baseball autobiographies.

This was all about the time the Baseball bug bit my Grandmother who lived with us.  She and I would watch the games together.  We’d get our hopes up for the Astros but have them crushed by the Last-ros.  When I was in school and there were day games, I could count on my grandmother having the games on when I got home.  All I had to do was dart into her sitting room.

I would get to go to a number of Astros games- I tried to time my free tickets for times I could see the Cubs or the Cards play the Astros but honestly I would go anytime.  One time, I had tickets to a double header at the Astrodome.  Of course, games didn’t get rained out at the ‘dome and doubleheaders were rare.  But, it had flooded the parking lot so bad they canceled a game.  And the lucky recipient of tickets to a double header was me.  Coming back from funeral in the Ozarks, my brother came down with the Chicken pox. . . just in time for me to get them and miss the doubleheader.  To this day, I’ve never seen a doubleheader.

The older I got, the more I craved seeing the Royals playing and a glimpse of Kansas City.  When I got out of high school, we made a trip to KC and I got to see one of their games- they were having quite a winning streak and we saw them extend that streak.  We had great seats and I can’t think of any place I would have rather been.  (Talking about that game recently my mother talks about how hot it was- I don’t remember that part at all. . . I remember seeing beautiful Royals Stadium (later renamed Kaufman Stadium).  It would have also been my first outdoor baseball game.

Over the years, I’d get to watch more games.  Astros games, Rangers games, and Royals games.  I saw a Royals game with my cousin Rob one time.  Cody and I would have traveled to both Houston and Arlington to watch the Royals play here in Texas.  (Oh and I gave up on the Lastros a long, long time ago.)

When we moved into our home, Cody and I started getting the baseball package from our satellite company.  Oh great day!  I could see Royals games!

Several years ago, the Royals had a great year.  We caught them in Arlington when they played the Rangers. . . It was then I decided I had to go to KC to see them play.  I made plans to see them play the White Sox in the closing homestand.  When you stick with a team through thick and thin but see more thin that thick, you’ve got to really enjoy the good times.  Cody didn’t originally want to go so I had gotten single seats- and great seats.  Then Cody decided he wanted to go. . . so we sat up high- like the very top rows of Kaufman Stadium- It was all good.  I loved it anyway.

In the last few years though we just hadn’t made use of the baseball package as much.  We just hadn’t watched as many baseball games as we do the hockey games we get through the hockey package.  This year we decided we wouldn’t renew the baseball package.  It was after I had called and canceled that I really regretted it- realizing that I likely wouldn’t get to see any Royals games this year.  But, we were charged for the baseball package several months later.  We discussed it and decided that we’d just go ahead and keep the baseball package.

It must have been some kinda divine intervention- and not the kind to take lightly.  The Royals started the season off with a bang.  The timing was perfect as we went through our perils with adoption.  I could get away from it all in the hours of each ball game.  I could connect with the place that gives me so much peace.  I could smile, I could cheer, I could laugh, and I could be happy.  I can honestly say that the Royals helped sustain me though the dark times of this last spring and this summer.  (We, of course, did go see them play in Arlington.)

Cody knew that I needed to back to KC to find some peace and we both wanted to see these guys play- and the beautiful renovations to Kaufman Stadium that we’d been seeing on TV.  And so, our summer vacation was born.  We decided that we’d seriously consider taking our nephew Jack with us.

We “babysat” Jack one evening when his mom and grandparents had fun plans.  We decided to make fun plans of our own.  Last winter we’d taken Jack to his first hockey game and he loved it.  He’d been to one baseball game on a field trip but you can tell it wasn’t so much about the game.  We took him to see the Astros play.  It was pure joy for him and for Cody and I.  He’d lean over to Cody and I and ask us question after question about the game.  He was seeing the game without the blinders of a TV screen for the first time.  He loved the experience and it really brought back the memories of seeing the Astros play when I was around his age.

We knew we needed to take him along with us on Vacation and we did.  We scheduled the trip around five games in Kansas City- two against the Diamondbacks and three against that I-70 rivalry, the Cardinals.  And then another game in Houston.  Having him with us, renewed that childlike passion for the game within me.  Jack ate up everything he could possibly take in during those games and gave Cody and I a fresh perspective of the game.

We found ourselves rooting for Mitch Maier- one of the Royals true rookies.  I’d really enjoyed watching him play before we went to KC and we all hoped we’d see his first “thingie” as we called it. . . you know that trip around the bases. . . we couldn’t say it as we didn’t want to jinx him. . . Though he still hasn’t hit one this year.  (I still find myself wondering in each of his at bats if it’ll be the one.)

I also picked up the book “Heart of the Game” and recently finished it.  I really enjoyed the look into the minors.  I know find myself watching how the Royals do in the minors.  Mitch was sent down to Omaha earlier this month but has been recently recalled.  It’s good to see someone who hustles it to be back in the Majors.  (Really most of the Royals this year hustle it and don’t quit.)  Recently, I discovered the blog of one of the Royals minor leaguers- Chris Hayes and it’s been quite a funny little read. . . but another interesting look at life in the minors.

It’s safe to say that the Baseball still holds quite a place in my heart.  Of course, you have to be able to say that to be a Royals fan, now don’t you.  Now, if only I could figure out a way to see some more Royals games this year.