Photo by Selestadienne

Raising Boys Blog is back.  Sorry for the break.  I hope to get back into the routine of daily posts after a few weeks of distractions have passed.  So, on to my topic for the day… Fantasy Baseball.

I was a huge baseball fan until the time that I decided that swimming would be the sport I would focus on as an athlete.  Little did I know that Being a swimmer would turn into me being a swimming coach.  Fortunately, these experiences led me back to a place where I could renew my enjoyment of baseball as an athletic director.  I love sitting around the lunch table and chat about our high school team.  Baseball is really a series of struggles.  Struggles happen between players on separate teams, players on the same team, and players within their own mind.  I also love the history and mystique of baseball.  There are no greater stories in American sports than those of the likes of Jackie Robinson, Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth, Cal Ripken, and on and on and on. 

Photo By Wendi_Andrews

When I was 12 years old, I carried around in a little plastic box all of my Cincinnati Reds’ baseball cards.  Many of those names wouldn’t register on the average baseball fan’s player list, like Buddy Bell, Bo Diaz, and Ron Oester, but they do for me.  I loved the Reds when I was that age.  We used to go the games as an extended family consisting of my grandfather, each of his six kids, and all of their kids.  There was no better ice cream in the world than the frost malts at Riverfront Stadium.  One of my favorite memories growing up is listening to the games with my Dad.  If the Reds won, they would shoot off fireworks which I could see from my living room.  I would run from the radio, jump on the chair and look out the window to see the fireworks.  I saw my share of fireworks from that window because by 1990, the Reds had won the World Series.

Baseball was a gift that I shared with my Dad and my Grandfather.  I enjoyed playing catch with my Dad and being excited about my Reds.  This is something I want to share with my son.  We have been to a few Diamondbacks games but he is still a bit too young to appreciate baseball but it is not too early to plant the seeds, much to the chagrin of my wife. 

As I mentioned earlier, I got away from baseball due to my participation in other sports but I recently became interested in it again.  I signed up for a Fantasy Baseball league on ESPN.com and quickly renewed my interest in baseball.  I then realized that in a few years, Fantasy Baseball would be a great way for my sonand I to have conversations about baseball.  There are three teachers at my school that all love baseball and we have many times caught ourselves chattering about players when we should be supervising students.  What a great way for a father to share baseball with his son.  It can start out as a teaching tool about baseball and can turn into a friendly competition between two boys of summer.  The father-son relationship will undoubtedly change from the time your toddler grows up to be a man, but something like Fantasy Baseball can be something they can share forever.

So as I gear up for my first foray into fantasy baseball, I have only one thing to say.  Batter Up!!