Play Ball! It's My Turn Again...

The last time I worked in professional baseball was for a few years starting around 1985. I was a Vice President of the Houston Astros organization. I think I attended almost all of the 180 game schedule, and coordinated the 1986 AllStar game in Houston.

I remember Jose Cruz, Nolan Ryan. Yogi Berra was a coach. That's about it. I would also chuckle as Yogi would hit the field in the Rainbow colors of the Houston Astros. Yogi was the consummate Yankee, and here he was in Houston...coaching! Not in pin stripes...but in 'rainbows'. How funny.

My young children would roller skate in the 'owner's box' during the games they attended. That 'box' was about 90 feet along, and ran just above the right field bleachers at the Astrodome. Free food too! Frankly, my children had little interest in the games themselves. They were there for one thing: to skate and eat.How much fun is that?

Well, it's about 25 years later, and I've owned my own management firm for a good many of those years. That being said, the closest I've come to professional sports is running a sports publishing firm in Los Angeles. Now, being the owner of this management firm, I can also take time-off to do other things that I consider 'likable'.

So, for six weeks (March/April) I'm going to work Spring Training in Arizona. Yep, I went and applied for a position and I got one. Now mind you, this is not VP of anything. It's managing the broadcast booth, showing people to their seats, taking tickets, etc. Hey, but that's ok. For once, I'm not doing it for the cash flow. I'm doing it because I just want to do it. And it is fun!

And that leads me to the current rationale of just doing things and working with people or companies, that I want to, because I just want to do it. For no other reason.

Call it maturity, mid-life crisis, or even immaturity. The fact is, I'm doing it for no legitimate reason, other then smiling, and having others smile at me. And the 'boss' can just wait for me to return, if ever.

"Hey, that's Smokey Joe Wood. And Mel Ott. And Gil Hodges!
Ty Cobb wanted to play, but none of us could stand the son-of-a-bitch when we were alive, so we told him to stick it!" Field of Dreams


Play Ball!