By Kat Bryant
The Daily World
Yes, the rumors are true: I am a baseball fan.
As is the case with so many of the good things in my life, I owe this one to my dad. In 1977, when I was in junior high, he took me to my first ballgame. From great seats on the third-base line at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh, I got my first taste of Major League Baseball.
That fine summer afternoon, my dad introduced me to ballpark hot dogs, the intoxicating roar of the crowd, the rules of the game, and Willie Stargell’s Pirates. I was in heaven. By the time San Diego’s closer — the great Rollie Fingers, no less! — walked in our winning run in the bottom of the ninth, I was hooked.
Over the next several years, we had a lot of great moments at that ballpark. I saw Dave Parker throw a man out at home plate from deep right field, without a bounce. I got a ball signed by Bill Madlock in between games of a doubleheader. And in ’79, the year of “We Are Family” in Pittsburgh, I was there for Game 5 of the World Series. I still have the program somewhere.
The year after my family moved to another state, my team dissolved. Pops Stargell retired, Omar Moreno and Phil Garner were traded to the Astros, and I don’t recall what happened to the rest of the starting lineup I’d come to know and love. The Pirates were never the same again. And so, with no team to root for, baseball faded from my consciousness.
Then, many years later, it pulled me back in.
Living in Arizona as long as I did, I could have gone to spring training games right from the beginning; but since I was ronin — a fan without a team — I never did. But when the Arizona Diamondbacks came into being, with their awesome purple and teal uniforms, I was hooked again. I went to several games every year and loved them whether they won or lost.
Through the years, I rooted for them all: Randy Johnson (a former Mariner, but he’ll always be a Diamondback to me!), Mark Grace, Orlando Hudson, Stephen Drew, Jose Valverde, Eric Byrnes, Mark Reynolds, Ryan Roberts, Miguel Montero, Paul Goldschmidt and so many others. They were (and still are, to some extent) my team, even though the era has long passed when the starting lineup remained consistent game after game — and even after they changed their colors to that boring red.
Once the spark was reignited, I also went to at least one game at every Cactus League stadium over the years — except the Cubs’ shiny new one, where they charged way more than I was willing to pay for a preseason game. I was there for the opener when the Diamondbacks started playing in their new Cactus League facility, and for every spring opener after that.
But then I had to leave Arizona — and wouldn’t you know I ended up in a sports wasteland. From my home in Bismarck, the closest MLB team was the Minnesota Twins, 475 miles away — not exactly conducive to playing hooky for the occasional ballgame. I missed the entire 2016 season.
I went through major withdrawal. It was downright depressing.
But now here I am in Aberdeen, just a couple of hours from a Major League stadium. And when I realized Opening Day was upon us, I decided I needed to be there to get my baseball groove back. I went to StubHub.com and scored a great seat — on the third-base line. As this issue of The Daily World goes to press on Monday, that’s where I’ll be.
One last note: Though I’ve always been a National League gal up to this point, I’ll try not to rail on about the American League’s designated hitter rule. It won’t be easy. But if the Mariners are going to be my new team, I’ll just have to suck it up.
For the love of baseball, I can do that.
Kat Bryant is lifestyle editor of The Daily World. Reach her at kbryant@thedailyworld.com, or on Facebook at Kat Bryant-DailyWorld.
