Baseball- are you as big of a fan as you once were?

My appreciation for the game has not waned over the years, in large part because I glean more from the intricacies of baseball than I did as a young boy or a young man. In short, there is more to see now, though I believe the 1970s was a better brand of baseball than what is on the field today. It is said you cannot step into the same river twice, and as we age our eyes take a different focus at 50 than at 15 or 25. For many of us, baseball has served as a marker of sorts during our lives, replete with friends and loved ones and family no longer with us. On good days, watching a Yankee game brings them back to me just for a moment. Some fans are baseball fans first and Yankee fans second, others the reverse. As a Yankee fan, there were individual players who welded those Pinstripes to my being: Thurman Munson, Donny Mattingly, and Derek Jeter were the cohesive forces for me. I thought Aaron Judge might be a potential fourth, but alas he is too often not on the field. Nevertheless, on any day when the Yankees win, most all seems right with the world and from somewhere a navy blue light pushes any darkness away collected during the day. And, I always smile unconsciously when someone posts how many days before pitchers and catchers report. I doubt that will ever leave me, as it recaptures so much and so many, then and now, without separation.