All Star Game

I sat down tonight to enjoy some baseball as I prepared to watch the annual All Star Game. I was not prepared for the tears that began to stream down my face. The All Star Game is held this year in Yankee Stadium. This stadium will soon be torn down as the Yankees move to their new stadium. I am an avid baseball fan. I got the love of the game from my father who was a Yankee fan through and through. As a young man my father traveled back east with my great grandfather and he watched a game at Yankee Stadium and Mickey Mantle was playing. My dad was hooked. He loved his Yankees. I grew up watching the great baseball players play on that field. Tonight there was a tribute to All Stars past and they had the greatest collection of all stars on a field at one time. They were all out in their positions....stars like Cal Ripkin Jr. and Yogi Berra. I started to get choked up when the camera moved to right field and Reggie Jackson tipped his hat. My dad loved watching Mr. October play the game. Well, the starting right fielder for the American League is my favortie player Ichiro from the Seattle Mariners. When he ran out to take the field and shook hands with Reggie Jackson I could not stop the tears from flowing. My dad would have loved to see this game tonight. To watch the greats from the past greet the greats from today.....and to watch it in the house that Ruth built would have been awesome for him. I suddenly missed my father terribly. I so wished he would have been here to see this game before they tear down the stadium he loved so much. He would have had a twinkle in his eye and a huge smile on his face. It is quite fitting that the night my father passed away ten years ago his beloved Yankees were playing my favorite Seattle Mariners. The Yankees won that night....and I commented...."they had angels in the outfield." It is also ironic that he passed away from ALS...also named for the Yankee great Lou Gehrig. I love you dad...and I love that you passed your love of the game onto me. There is nothing like enjoying a hotdog and some garlic fries and hearing the crack of the bat as the ball explodes over center field.