The Circle Turns

With alarming speed, baseball spring training is once again under way. It seems like only last week the RedSox were completing their historic season. (I commented on that here.)

It's part of baseball's allure, that the season starts out in such a gentle, almost reticent fashion. In sharp contrast to the crashing, frantic spectacle of the World Series, spring training is almost like the pickup games kids play on sandlots everywhere. Just guys playing pitch and catch. The stars only play a few innings, the rest of the game given over to kids trying to make it in the bigs.

The games take place in Arizona and Florida, warm climes far from the arenas where the game will be played for keeps. Here, snowbirds seeking relief from the long punishing winter mingle in the sunshine with the players, filling small ballparks and basking in the smell of hot dogs and sounds of a game renewing itself.

The games mean little. We don't pay attention for the final scores. We pay attention to help shake off our winter slumber, and begin to gather ourselves for the races that will take us through the coming summer. Baseball is here again.