The What

Baseball.

For decades, the game has resonated throughout the North American cultural landscape and has been a source of inspiration for countless works of popular fiction.  

For this blogger, it is hoped that this game, the most romantic and timeless of all sports, will lead to a lifelong dream fulfilled. A dream to play the game for a living—even if its just for a summer—where the journey will ultimately be just as important as the destination.

That being said, I do not suffer from delusions of grandeur and harbour fascinations of cracking an opening day Major League Baseball roster, playing in front of 50,000 screaming fans, and jet setting across the continent staying in first class hotels, while the superstars of the game that I currently watch on TV become my colleagues.

It’s not going to happen unless I am sent back in time to the womb and my genes and DNA are magically fortified with otherworldly talent, giving me generous helpings of the five baseball tools scouts drool over.

Thus, I would suggest that you fantasy baseball fanatics maybe hold off on adding me to your rosters next spring. There’s a better chance of Ted Williams coming out of his cryogenic exile and winning a batting title with a robot body than me getting into a major league stadium as anything other than paying customer. 

This website and the quest to fulfill a dream is real life, not a Disney movie. I’m not a 35 year old science teacher who will magically wake up one day with a 98 mile an hour fastball (I don’t even have a 90 mile an hour fastball). Nor am I a loveable, vertically and athletically challenged grunt whose dream is to play Notre Dame football and will carry my teammates’ jockstraps to make the team despite everyone I know telling me I’m not good enough.

Just who am I? And what baseball credentials do I have to even hatch such a harebrained scheme as this? My baseball ability, background in the game, and level of sanity will all be addressed in next week’s entry.

I can’t show of all my pitches in the first inning or I’ll have nothing left for the end of the game.

As the title suggests, my desire to play professional baseball begins and ends with the opportunity to ride a rickety, antiquated coach bus on hundreds of miles of dark, desolate freeway travelling from park to park playing the game I love. It’s the same decision hundreds of men make every summer: to play independent league baseball.

They play in old stadiums in front of dozens of fans (maybe more if it’s a special giveaway night). They make a modest sum of money that barely covers living expenses; there aren’t any RRSPs or 401(k)’s in the independent leagues. Million dollar contracts and fawning media coverage are nowhere to be found. The majority of teams and players toil in relative obscurity.

Over the coming weeks and months, I will document the steps I take to hopefully join these guys in ballparks all over the United States and Canada. I will detail my strength and conditioning program, along with my indoor throwing regimen, to prepare my body for the rigours of high level baseball. I will contact teams and leagues directly to find out what I need to do to tryout.

Truthfully, I will do whatever I need to do to make this dream a reality.

In terms of website coverage, for the first five weeks I will be posting new material every Wednesday morning, then up the frequency as the year winds down and we move into 2011.

These initial posts will detail everything one needs to know about this quest. From the limited knowledge of journalism that I have, I know that the proper way to gather and explain information for a story is through the five W’s (and one H). Today’s column answered the What; tune in next week to find out the Who.

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to shoot me an email. My address can be found in the ‘About Me’ section.