BASEBALL PLAYOFF SEASON! (Go Brewers!)

My personal team bias is revealed in the title of this post, but I've been celebrating BASEBALL as a sport, a community phenomenon, as history and as guide to living well for years. Posts from the past (about a dozen!) can be found by putting "baseball" in the search tab, but a few I'm especially fond of can be clicked HERE, HERE, and HERE. Most  baseball posts included two or more titles, so dive in!

As MLB Playoff Season underway, nstant betting of countless kinds adding to the excitement but  lends a slightly sour taste to the historic, classic, All-American sport. I've chosen to feature an older title that celebrates the truest soul of baseball. 

CLARION BOOKS, 2018

I GOT IT is the virtually wordless picture book by virtuoso visual storyteller, David Weisner. If you aren't familiar with his body of work, click on his name/website link and learn more. Many of Weisner's award winning titles involve intensely complex and surrealistic stories with many levels. In this case, though the cover reveals the purity and clarity, the nearly perfect truth that baseball belongs to everyone. And I feel safe in saying that every player on every team in the play-offs and eventual world series began dreaming of these days on a sandlot or local field, with or without a coach. 

Starting with the universally dreaded scene revealing a "Can I play, too" moment to assignment to the outfield, the eager player confidently shouts 

"I GOT IT!"

Those words appear more than  once, and the scenes that ensue  are both recognizable and fantastical. The emotional journey is both extraordinary and utterly familiar. 

As the playoff season unfolds, I'm prepared for the ups and downs, the nail-biting moments and (likely) dull ones, willing and eager to pay the price of angst and upset for the love of the team, the love of the game, the chance to participate. Despite what is undeniably disproportionate monetary investment in major league sports, and now the quagmire of betting on bits like how often someone touches their cap or taps their bat, I choose to celebrate the joy at the heart of the sport. From T-ball to the world series, from trips to triumph, from childhood dreams to standing on those big fields of dreams, baseball is special. I hope you'll take a look at this title (and any clicks you choose) to remind yourselves that there is value in teamwork, in trying, in playing. Play ball!