The Shooter Eldest Scores In a Washout

Saturday night, I took my eldest to Shea Stadium for the attempted Mets-Rangers game, as part of my quest to see as many ballparks as possible (this makes, I think, 18). The forecast of scattered thunderstorms was just a bit off, as constant thunderstorms kicked in and forced a cancellation. Add in a comedy of errors for trains and me forgetting to bring an umbrella, and it was kind of an ordeal, but time with my kid is almost always a win.

Shea seems like a nice enough place to me, but I'm suspicious of new yards; they always seem like more money for less baseball, and usually served up with a side order of corporate welfare. The trip up on the 7 train makes you feel like you are heavily invested in a New York trip, in a way that a ride to the Bronx and Yankee Stadium does not, and there is much less of a corporate crowd feel, especially since you can see the game for twenty bucks (that's hopeless cheap for New York).

Mets Fans seem highly involved in jersey wearing, with a 50-50 split in current and past players; as an ex-Phillies fan, it was kind of striking to me to see just how many Dykstra gamers were around. I guess he's the guy that bridges both fan bases. So I ask the kid whether she thought it was silly for people to wear jerseys, or if they did, should they pick a current or past player. And then she said something pure and simple, and perhaps not really true for adults, but nice anyway.

"Well, baseball players have feelings, too, and it must make them feel good to see people wearing their number."

And in that moment, you get it. Wearing someone's jersey is so much tied into what it says about the fan who is doing it -- that they've got the money to spend, and that they are doing it in this way, or that they have this odd fantasy life where they think they are like that player. But maybe it's more and different than that. Maybe it's just selfless, to show a player that you believe in them... and maybe that's why it seems like something you shouldn't do when you are older.

Because you learn not to believe. But you can always learn something different.