Thursday, July 10, 2008

Vantage Points Old and New


This afternoon I lucked into getting tickets for some of the best seats in the ballpark. And while there were many things I loved about these seats, one of the things I loved the most was the chance to watch from my favourite ballpark angle. For the past 2 years we've been sitting on the first base side and I've grown to like this. My formative seasons as a fan, however, were spent sitting behind homeplate. Just as Wallace Stegner suggests that landscapes make imprints upon on us, I think I have been "imprinted" by this angle of the game. I love the the colour of the grass, the contrast of the lines, the precisely anchored bases, and the strategic placement of the players. More than anything, I love that moment of hushed stillness right before the pitch. It's that split second when just about anything is possible.

Speaking of ballparks, the pulling down of Tiger Stadium began yesterday. I snapped some photos today while rushing to today's game.

1 comment:

Levi Stahl said...

At Wrigley Field, I've been sitting for ten years now in seats in the upper deck between first and home, nearer to first. I'm used to them; they feel like home in the ballpark.

But the rare times when I'm going to a game alone and there are likely to be a lot of no-shows--say, a rainy April day game {always against my Cardinals, because why would I bother with a rainy April day game otherwise?}--I sneak into seats behind home plate. It's such a different experience; you understand far, far better just how pitching works. If I'd never sat somewhere with that view, I simply wouldn't understand baseball as well.