Someone recently asked me "What I Miss Most About Playing Baseball?"...
I hesitated for about a minute, smiled, and then answered with one word...."EVERYTHING!!"
That may seem like such a generic or broad stroke kind of answer, but it's true. For someone like me, who started playing the game of baseball around 5 years old and played my last game at the age of 35 years old (geez, thats 30 years of my life), I can honestly say that I miss EVERYTHING about playing the great game of baseball.
From traveling around the country to stadiums in small towns and big cities, to the thousands of fans who cheered for me and even the ones who booed me; walking up to the plate and digging in to the batters box, the battle inside of that 60 feet - 6 inch space that only baseball players know about, the teammates I had the privilege of playing beside and the opponents that I had the honor of competing against...all of the failures that hurt beyond words and the small tastes of successes that made all the struggle and sacrifice worth it.
Yeah, ALL OF IT. I miss every part of the game, everyday!
Sometimes I say to myself, "Man, I wish I could go back and lace them up and play one more game, make one more play, have one-more at-bat". Then I remember, that I was given so many more games, made far too many plays and had so many more at-bats than I ever deserved.
I'll never play the game of baseball again. My time has come and gone. And its no
secret that I miss everything about the game. But I'm beyond thankful to be able to miss it so much, knowing that not many people have had the chance to spend as much time with baseball as I have...and for that, I will always grateful!
I MISS YOU BASEBALL
- Ray Digmi