Katherine went to her first Cardinals game this week.  It was a shining moment for her father.  He had been waiting for this day since...he found out I was pregnant.  Taking his first born to their first Cardinals game was a dream of his. 

Overall she did pretty well.  She took in the sites and sounds for the first inning or two, then she fell asleep.  ASLEEP!  She slept through the roar of the crowd and the loud squawking of the beer salesmen.  Amazing. 

{She wasn't interested in watching the bullpen.}

{So excited about our first game.}

{2nd inning.}

{3rd inning.}

{4th inning.}

{5th inning.  We're done.}

It was a perfect night for baseball.  What wasn't perfect was the outcome of the game.  Boo Cubs.  Oh well.  A Cardinal/Cubs game as your very first baseball game is not a bad way to start out. 

I've been wondering what to do with my old Pujols t-shirt.  I only have a couple of Cardinals team shirts, one of them having Pujols 5 on the back.  While a lot of people had Pujols jersey burning parties last December, I held on to mine.  While browsing Pinterest I found an idea for my old t-shirt.

{My t-shirt and some sewing necessities.} {Sewing the skirt.} {Goodbye Pujols t-shirt.} {My new Cardinals dress.} {Baseball print ribbons.} {Ok, so the Pujols 5 is still there.}

I love my new dress, but now I'll have to find a new Cardinals t-shirt to wear.

St. Louis is my favorite city. One of the reasons I love this city is because of its love and devotion to its St. Louis Cardinals. Having always been a baseball and Cardinal fan, its no surprise I ended up here in St. Louis.

One of my favorite things to do in the city is of course going to baseball games. This past week, I got to go to 2 games in 1 week. One with my new friend Bridget and the other with Jason. It was a baseball-filled week, but I enjoyed every minute of it.

I have been a baseball fan my entire life. For as long as I can remember I have enjoyed watching and playing the game.

I remember my parents taking me to my first professional baseball game when I was young. Then a few years later I went with my then boyfriend’s family. It was a blast. I love the atmosphere of a baseball game. I love the sights, the smells, and the sounds.

It was no surprise that I married a baseball fan. My husband played baseball in high school and in college. I noticed how much he loved the game. I found it endearing how he could care for a sport so much.

I started noticing things about baseball I had never noticed before. All of my life I had just watched baseball; outs, runs, innings and so on. I never knew or even noticed the statistics and strategies. Batting averages, RBIs, hits, wins, losses, saves; all of these strategic decisions were things I was completely unaware of. I had always just watched the game. To my surprise, the batter does not just walk up to home plate and start swinging away. He has a strategy. Does he need a base hit? Does he need to move a runner around the bases? Is he so good that the pitcher will intentionally walk him?

My husband spent hours trying to explain away my baseball ignorance. He finally gave up. I eventually read Buzz Bissinger’s book 3 Nights in August to help me understand the game better. It did help. Baseball is numbers, numbers, and more numbers.

I eventually looked forward to the end of baseball season when “summer guy” would go away and “winter guy” would emerge. When my husband and I watched the movie Fever Pitch (starring Jimmy Fallon and Drew Barrymore), I found myself relating to it a little too much. Thus the use of the terms “summer guy” and “winter guy.”

“Summer guy” is baseball obsessed guy. This is when I can say anything and do anything and my husband will not notice. He won’t listen when I talk. He won’t pay attention to what I do. If I need to talk to him, I had better not do it during a baseball game; he will not be listening. If he does pretend to listen, he will keep his eyes on the T.V.

“Winter guy” is when baseball season is finally over. My husband will pay more attention to his real life outside of baseball. He will strategically plan for spring training when “summer guy” will reemerge.

Silly me I thought, much like the female character in the movie Fever Pitch, that my husband’s obsession for baseball would eventually be redirected. Boy I was I wrong. He is now planning how our future children will enjoy baseball. He wants a room in our house completely dedicated to baseball and his favorite team.

Instead of trying to understand the game to its extent, I have gone back to just watching and enjoying. I ignore my husband when he complains about numbers and strategies. I want it to be like it used to be; when I just enjoyed baseball.

I will continue to anxiously await the return of “winter guy.”