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4.50 by 2 users |
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I'm watching the last game in the playoffs. Game 7. Ninth inning. I'm not much a of a baseball fan, but I'm intrigued by games that matter. I was at Dodger Stadium when Gibson hit the epic homer in the 7th game of the 1988 World Series. 
Seeing a close up of the catcher's glove -- beige brown leather, detailed and intricate webbing between the thumb and first finger, I suddenly remember the smell of the leather of a ball glove. And I smell the smell of working saddle soap into the leather of into a baseball glove.  I wasn't a jock as a kid. Never played Little League, let alone high school baseball. But I must have been given a baseball glove. Maybe more than one. Fifty years later, I think of my son, now 21. I never gave him a baseball glove. (Or did I? I remember him playing T Ball at age 4 or 5.
Did we get him a glove? Will he remember the smell?) Baseball was not a big part of our world together. Tonight I wonder if Eric and I missed some important experience by not sharing baseball.
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I think of my friend Tim, with two young sons. He was a Hall of Fame level player in high school and college. I know Tim's already taken Wes to A's and Giants games. Jack will need to wait, since he just passed his first birthday. I'm sure they will both get a baseball glove. Tim played ball at a very high level-- both high school and college. And he remembers it as if it were yesterday -- 40 years later. Still, what I remember is the smell and feel of the leather in the glove. Closing my eyes, it is the smell of the saddle (another rare and valued experience). The smell of the seats in a 68 Porsche 912. (A painful and expensive investment and indiscretion when I was 20 something.). 
Tonight, the smell of that leather, prompted by a very brief TV picture, is vivid and clear. The experiences that contribute to that memory have disappeared. I wish I had the science or the magic to retrieve these and other long forgotten memories.
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Recent Comments
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Mar 9, 2007 12:02:47 PM
sweet
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US
Drumtable is my place to pause and consider what I truly value. Some of it is light -- fine wine, wild mushrooms, and walks in the woods. Some of it is more important -- friends, family, values and other things we need to give life meaning. Those are the stories I hope to share.
Be in touch.
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