Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Baseball

I am a baseball nerd.  It’s true – I love baseball.  Not as a player – I was terrible.  That hand-eye coordination thing again.  But I love to watch baseball.

I love the skills of batter vs. pitcher.  I love the strategies of the managers.  I love the complexity of the rules.  And I love to keep score while I watch the game.  Several years ago Paul bought me a set of official score books.  I take one with me to every game and record every pitch, every swing, every walk, every hit, and every out.  It’s a great conversation-starter at the ball park, and it seems to earn me a certain amount of respect as a true baseball fan.
About eight years ago I discovered Spring Training – a series of exhibition games intended as practice for the current players and an opportunity for new players to try out for roster spots.  We’ve attended Spring Training games four times now – three times in Arizona and once in Florida.
Every Spring Training ballpark has a crew of uniformed, mostly grey-haired volunteers taking tickets, selling concessions, ushering and the like.  They have cool names like the Surprise Sundancers and the Tempe Diablos.  They volunteer their time from mid-February to mid-April.  Sounds like a wonderful way to spend a couple of months in a warmer climate surrounded by everything about my favorite spectator sport.
eHow.com had a set of instructions on how to volunteer for Spring Training:
  1.  Pick a spring training camp. The Grapefruit League in Florida hosts about half of the major league baseball teams and the Cactus League in Arizona hosts the rest.
  2. Create a baseball resume. Mention your current and previous occupations, focusing on any people skills you have and where you developed them. Most volunteer jobs will entail dealing with the public, such usher, ticket taker or grounds crew helper. Highlight any direct baseball experience.
Read more: How to Volunteer at Spring Training | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how_2096315_volunteer-spring-training.html#ixzz1bbt5lQH8
I guess I’d best get started on my Baseball Resume.

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