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Baseball, pencil hand-in-hand
Published July 28, 2010
ARLINGTON, Texas — If you want to draw attention to yourself at a baseball game, there are some foolproof ways to do it.
You can be a stumbling drunk, like the woman falling in the aisles during the late innings Saturday.
You can use a horse mascot to help you propose to your girlfriend, as a man did Friday.
Or you can break out the pencils and keep score.
These days, you might as well take a horse and buggy to the game.
Friday, my family and I saw the Rangers play the Angels. It was great. Saturday, I was at the park by myself, which meant my inner baseball geek got to come out and play.
I’m not sure why I taught myself to keep score. I think it had to do with being intrigued as a child by those strange notations and the blank grid in the center of the program.
Much like when I see a blank crossword puzzle, something in my mind just has to see those boxes filled.
I kept score for my high school baseball team as a junior and senior and the Aggies went to the playoffs both years. I’m sure it was all about the pencil marks I made on each play and had nothing to do with solid pitching, hitting and coaching by my classmates who actually had some athletic ability.
The man to my left Saturday at Rangers Ballpark looked over and said keeping score used to be a favorite hobby of his, too, when he was in high school.
“Then,” he said, “I discovered beer.”
A guy on my right, who was with two women — insert your own double play joke here — asked the same question.
He didn’t pay me much attention after that. Go figure.
I didn’t see anybody else around me keeping stats.
I rarely do.
Saturday’s game was forgettable, but my notes will reveal years later that Josh Hamilton threw out a clueless Eric Aybar as he tried to stretch a single into a double.
It will also trigger memories of fitting America’s pastime into a weekend with family.
What could be better?
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