Wooden's World of Baseball

Sunday, April 04, 2010

The Last Sunday Afternoon of Spring

Well, no, not in terms of the calendar, climate or meteorology. But for a baseball fan, summer is not Memorial Day to Labor Day — It's Opening Day (or Night) until the rosters expand to 40 men on September 1st. Fall follows and lasts until the final out of the World Series. Then it's Winter until pitchers and catchers report.

Yes, that makes for a very lopsided year... 20 weeks of Summer, eight weeks of Fall, six weeks of Spring, eighteen weeks of Winter. This week, I got my tickets to the Potomac Nationals and now I've got my "calendar" posted next to my laptop here, as I pinned up the ticket brochure that folds out to 15" x 17", depicting last 4th of July's record crowd of 10,789 at "the Fitz."

This could be the final year there for the franchise, but I have my doubts that there's a greener pasture elsewhere. Sure, there are other places, but I don't see it happening until the PDC is signed beyond 2010 and especially not when there's a new team that's planning to move in just one county north. Most likely: A two-year renewal and no new changes. Second-most likely, a four-year renewal and some renovations.

As always, the plan is to see a game every weekend that Potomac's away, and complete the Carolina League circuit. Last year I got the two most difficult sites squared away. This year, I've got five chances to get to Winston-Salem, which I missed in 2007 due to the cold.

And the big road trip for 2010? Tennessee, baby. Inspired in part by my friend Shawn, I've booked motels in southwestern Virginia and northeastern Tennessee for late August to check out the Appy League and let the longest Potomac roadtrip (Aug. 26-Sep. 3) go unnoticed. In fact, the last game of the six that I hope to catch will be in Salem, VA.

Summer starts tomorrow!