Baseball is Passion

The passion contained in the hearts of athletes cannot be explained. It is that simple. But the truth remains that there is a sports vice gripping onto us from our youth--a truth that never leaves us.

The game of baseball is unparalleled in this. The mystique and sheer perfection of the game cannot and will not be escaped.

I have seen countless t-shirts that say "Baseball is Life." The irony is...baseball IS life to those who have been blessed to play the game.

Anyone who put on a uniform and laced up their cleats knows it--the finishing touch of the ball cap on the head--baseball is a game of great passion.

Will you ever meet someone who stuck around the game for a long time and never came back? Probably not.

For example, Greg Maddux joined the Cubs yesterday as an assistant to the GM Jim Hendry, after retiring in December of 2008, Maddux is back.

"I'm looking forward to working my way back into the game and am happy that the Cubs have given me the opportunity to do that," Maddux said according to mlb.com.

Front offices throughout professional baseball are full of former players, some who made it, some who did not. Either way, the game is still so predominant in their lives.

This game grips you and does not let go.

I was told by a friend after I graduated high school that the "baseball bug" sticks with us all and that I will see it. He was right.

Even something as simplistic as driving down a street and passing an empty ball-field causes all the memories to rush back. In a flash I can remember games I played in and the moments that made all the work worth it. Every blister and every ache culminated in those moments.

What causes an athlete to work that hard? You will be hard pressed to find a young athlete who is playing a sport merely with the hopes of a college scholarship or a future...there is a dream--there is a passion--that drives beneath the surface.

It carries on. It remains. It lives on. Where I sit right now, I can see my glove, four baseball scattered around the room and a couple of books as well. Baseball does not leave.

Baseball breathes life into one's soul. It brings out passion that we never knew we had.

More than an expression on a t-shirt...baseball truly is life. Some of life's best memories revolve around the game. Some things that will never leave us started with a game that involves a bat and a ball.

Baseball is life.