In Beyond the Fence, there is an archetype called the Long Timer. These are the ballplayers who stick around for nearly twenty years, long after all their cartilage is gone, their wives have given up hope of a summer vacation, and their kids have accepted the fact that dad is a ballplayer.
As I was driving in to work the other day, I was thinking about ways Long Timers differ from the general population:
-They have the theme song to The Natural on their iPods, and they listen to it on the way to work. It makes them pumped up to teach sixth grade. (Those kids got the World History lesson plan of their lives that day.)
-All summer plans, from swimming lessons for the kids to vacations with the extended family, are scheduled around the baseball season. (Thanks to my friend Shaun for that one.)
-At Target, especially during the winter, they disappear from their families. When the family finds them, it's in the sporting goods department, and they're looking at batting gloves.
-They are eternally young. Sometimes, they dress like it all year long (think Grandpa in a track suit, like Rodney Dangerfield).
-Long Timers can watch a Field of Dreams marathon. All day.
-Long Timers can remember the names of every ballplayer they've played with, against, or in the same era of. However, they struggle to remember the names of most of their wives' extended family members.
-They have personal license plates with their uniform number on it. They may also have, not in any particular order of importance or commonality: a necklace with their number, sign their number next to their signature on their checkbook, play their uniform number in the lottery, decide to have as many children as their uniform number, name their dog after their number, or give one of their children a middle name that rhymes with their number (think "Kevin:Seven," "Nate:Eight," or "Jen: Ten").
Long Timers are truly a unique breed, but they are the threads that stitch town ball together.
As I was driving in to work the other day, I was thinking about ways Long Timers differ from the general population:
-They have the theme song to The Natural on their iPods, and they listen to it on the way to work. It makes them pumped up to teach sixth grade. (Those kids got the World History lesson plan of their lives that day.)
-All summer plans, from swimming lessons for the kids to vacations with the extended family, are scheduled around the baseball season. (Thanks to my friend Shaun for that one.)
-At Target, especially during the winter, they disappear from their families. When the family finds them, it's in the sporting goods department, and they're looking at batting gloves.
-They are eternally young. Sometimes, they dress like it all year long (think Grandpa in a track suit, like Rodney Dangerfield).
-Long Timers can watch a Field of Dreams marathon. All day.
-Long Timers can remember the names of every ballplayer they've played with, against, or in the same era of. However, they struggle to remember the names of most of their wives' extended family members.
-They have personal license plates with their uniform number on it. They may also have, not in any particular order of importance or commonality: a necklace with their number, sign their number next to their signature on their checkbook, play their uniform number in the lottery, decide to have as many children as their uniform number, name their dog after their number, or give one of their children a middle name that rhymes with their number (think "Kevin:Seven," "Nate:Eight," or "Jen: Ten").
Long Timers are truly a unique breed, but they are the threads that stitch town ball together.
