Baseball is like the seasons, to paraphrase the first inning of Ken Burns’ Baseball. As the frosty mornings and bitter chill from the previous season fade and the world around us grows greener, baseball blossoms as well. And with it comes hope.
For those of us in the Midwest, the first sunny days in March — even when the mercury only hovers around 50 — lead to bare arms and legs, as if the hope of warmer weather alone will make short sleeves and shorts appropriate dress. And so it is with spring training, as those distant images of young men on ballfields in Arizona or Florida give us hope for what the summer might bring.