Spring Training

One great thing about getting interested in anything as an adult is that feeling of discovery. A double benefit of getting interested in baseball at my age is that feeling of being a kid a again.

I had that feeling just this past week when I found out that purely by accident I'm going to a spring training game in Arizona. San Francisco vs Colorado Rockies! It turns out that my wife has a conference in Scottsdale starting the day after the game.

I had this cool mixture of emotions: excitement, anticipation, elation. I'm going to my first Giants game and better yet, I'll be meeting a few friends there.

I'll report more from Salt Lick field.

 

Eight Men Out

Last year, I chronicled my favorite baseball movies.

I overlooked one movie when I made my top ten baseball movies list: Eight Men Out.

The story chronicles the notorious 1919 Chicago White Sox who accepted bribes to throw the World Series. The movie stars John Cusack as Buck Weaver, the player who went to the initial meeting with the gamblers, but never took any money and played to win.

The movie is well made. The plot is interesting and it dramatizes real events of the series. The acting is well done.

Does it make my top 10 baseball movie list?

No.

I decided on several criteria for a movie. One of them was: sense of life. For a baseball movie to make my top ten list, it had to have a positive sense of life.

This movie was about one of the dark scandals in the history of baseball. Calling this a top baseball movie would undermine what I enjoy about the sport. Just as the Black Sox scandal taints the White Sox organization for me; the topic of the movie taints the movie itself for me.

Is it a good movie? Yes. Is it a favorite baseball movie? No.