Great American pasttime still brings cheers

Published 1:24 pm Wednesday, July 16, 2008

By Staff
My many days sitting on a bench at the Little League field in Dowagiac (or behind the concession stand) finally have come to some use, as I can tell the difference between a fielder's choice and an out.
This past weekend was a trifecta of baseball.
On Saturday night I joined some other members of Leader Publications in a suite to see the Silver Hawks play in South Bend.
They made it very exciting by losing most of the evening and then getting runners on base in the ninth to move ahead.
Throughout the night, they make it a fun place to be with different interactive things for the kids, first with small baseball bats upon entering the park and then things like throwing beach balls in the crowd for prizes.
The mascot goes around making kids and adults smile and corn and broccoli had a running contest down the third base side.
I actually won the prize for the fan of the night, a green wooden full sized bat. Actually my seat number was drawn.
The night was prefect, with a freeze cooling off the air. It is a great place to take the family to be outside experiencing the great American pasttime.
Coming up soon is the Edwardsburg Day at the "Cove" to see the Silver Hawks, Saturday, July 26 at 7 p.m. Ticket vouchers are available at most of the Chamber members' businesses in Edwardsburg. Usually that community day is one of the biggest for the year for the Silver Hawks.
My weekend of baseball was just beginning.
On Sunday, we ate in Benton Harbor and seeing the kids in matching shirts at the restaurant, I remembered my many trips during the summer to Eaton Park, when my boys were on the All-Star Little League teams.
I want to congratulate all the teams from our area who are working toward going to the next level, trying to be state champs.
The year my son Shane went on to Kentucky for regionals was one I will always remember.
But this Sunday I was driving into Chicago to see my son Matthew play. He is the manager of an adult hardball team, the Chicago Hounds.
He is really excited as they have second place locked in.
The week before he was chosen as one of the managers for the All-Star game, which apparently is an honor.
Unfortunately traffic and two accidents caused me to miss the first few innings and his "double" which hit the wall and bounced over. A different field and no fence, it would have been a home run, he said.
It is amazing to watch him, at 37, as he out runs the 22-year-olds on the field.
I am impressed at how polite everyone is and how much they enjoy the league.
He keeps stats on a website which has numbers on every team and everybody and every single play.
Following the game, we went to his apartment, just a few blocks from Wrigley Field, as the Cubs were nearing the end of their game against the Giants.
This we watched inside the air conditioning as they tried to pull off a win in the ninth with a rally which was unsuccessful.