Re-introduction

I've never really said much about who I am or how I became a Tigers fan, but was just thinking about it because I saw another blog start an intro post.

So I thought I'd tell you a little about my baseball history, because I feel it's quite romantic.

My Name is Stephanie and I'm on the west side of Michigan. I live near the Grand Rapids area. I never was into sports, although my dad would regularly watch football and sometimes baseball. We're originally from Houston so my dad naturally roots for the Astros and the Cowboys (well, it used to be the Oilers, but they're non-existent). My dad actually made the netting that went behind home plate, to block foul balls. He tells me he'd get free tickets to games sometimes. He's seen some great players in action.

Anyway... whenever there was nothing on TV, I didn't mind watching a little baseball, but I never really knew there was so much to it. Just throwing and hitting, right?

In high school I met a boy. And we were sort of friends. After he graduated (three years ahead of me) we kept in touch. In 2006 we started to hang out, but I had a boyfriend. In 2007 we started to hang out even more and despite being in love with him, I still had the same boyfriend. So he decided to find himself a girlfriend. Yet, we still hung out.

And as this was all happening, he introduced me to the game of baseball. The real game. Not just the hitting and throwing.

Luckily for me, his girlfriend broke up with him. Luckily for him, I decided it was time to move on from my long distance boyfriend and finally give him a chance.

When we hung out, he'd take me out to eat for dinner, or even for dessert. The Tigers would be on (this was the in the second half of the '07 season). He'd take me to play catch, even though I didn't know how and never had tried before (he never once made fun of me). When I came over to his house to visit, I didn't mind sitting there with him while he watched the game. It just meant I got to spend time sitting next to him.

Eventually I had questions and I started to notice things about the game. How did Magglio hit the ball so conveniently? It was going to places were no one was guarding the field. It was going the opposite field for the runner to advance. Was he doing this on purpose?

And how did the pitcher conveniently get a ground-out? Fly-out? Can he really locate a 99mph fastball into 9 divided sections? How do they pitch to get the result that they want?

My friend of course loved to answer these questions. Come on. What male baseball nerd would not jump at the chance to teach a girl who wanted to learn more about baseball?

The answers he gave me intrigued me. Baseball was all about strategy. It was about math and science. Statistics. It was a game for intellectuals.

By August, the Tigers were out of the running for the playoffs, but my friend and I would (finally!) become an item. I was at his house almost every night for every game, even though the Tigers season was coming to an end. I even watched the playoffs and the World Series with him.

I still had so much to learn. So my boyfriend lent me a book: Baseball Between the Numbers. I took it to school with me in the fall. I'd attempt to read it every day. (Attempt... because it's a very dry read). I had people ask me at school what I was reading. To my boyfriend's delight, I would say matter-of-factly, "It's a statistical analysis of baseball." Keep in mind, I attend an art college.

It took me the complete off season to read that book. But I kept at it. I finished it. (I need to go back and reread it, now that I've followed baseball for a little over two years now. Now I "get" things. So it'd be nice to have a refresher on some stats.)

One of my favorite chapters was the one on catchers. I love catchers. The fact that they have to stay crouched like that, probably with achy knees. They can throw from home to any of the bases all from a squat. It's so awesome. I love the whole idea of them giving signs too. They have so much they have to learn. I love it.

During the off season, while I was trudging through the Baseball Prospectus book, my boyfriend gave me the book Moneyball by Michael Lewis. Something a little easier to read, not so fact and number driven. I loved it. It's now one of my favorite books ever. Having read that added a personal element to the game of baseball. Augh! I love this game.

And now I'm in on my boyfriend's inside jokes about Billy Beane and baseball. Now I can make inside jokes!

My boyfriend took me to my first game in September of 2007 in Chicago. The last game of the season for the Tigers, against the White Sox. I don't remember what happens in games much. I can't picture what happened in my head, but I know how I felt. I know I was excited. I know I was happy. However, I got a bad case of sun poisoning and fell really ill on the drive home.

During Christmas, I was given (one of) the first Miguel Cabrera jersey(s). No joke. I wanted a Maybin jersey, because he was new to MLB and so was I. I wanted to follow my own player through his own MLB journey. I felt connected. My boyfriend had my jersey ordered and was waiting for it to made when the trade rumors began. He had a feeling the trade for Miguel Cabrera was for real, so he called up the jersey place and had it changed. Sure enough, the trade happened. On Christmas day I opened up a box to see my very own Tigers jersey.

The next season would include me purchasing a subscription to MLB Audio and listening to all spring training games on my laptop with head phones, while at the same time, balancing a paint palette on my lap and multiple paint brushes in my hand. I read a lot of sports books. We'd go to 9 games out of the season, including on-field photo day for our anniversary. We'd witness some horrible losses. It was a bad season for the Tigers. And to be honest and fair, I wasn't the most pleasant person to be with on some of the trips to Detroit. The 3 hour drive out usually lead to conversations where my feelings would get hurt and I'd make it known. But I appreciated every game that I was taken to. I liked that he wanted to be there with me.

Now it's the new season. I know so much now. I know the significance of OBP, OPS, WHIP, etc... I can form my own opinions about baseball and they are actually fairly intelligent. We've already been to about 4 games. Next we're going to see the Tigers in Houston! Playing the Astros! We've already been to one on-field photo day this season, his third and my second. We've been to the World Baseball Classic in Toronto. We went to opening day in Toronto!! I was given a ball by Fernando Rodney. Got to have my picture taken with one of the nicest men in baseball: Andy Van Slyke (last season's pictures included signs, and the players went along with it politely). I got Josh Hamilton's autograph.

We have the whole summer and part of the fall yet to go. I have a good feeling about this season. But that's all I'll say. Because if anything, baseball has made me more superstitious... about sports anyway.

I am completely happy. With my boyfriend. With my new hobby. This is probably the greatest thing anyone has done for me: teach me about something new. Introduce me to something I could dedicate my time and effort to. It's because of him I have something to base my school projects on! I am inspired again. By both him and baseball.


Something my boyfriend has said recently is, "If you fail 70% of the time, you are a GOOD baseball player!" Now, I'm not sure if he took that quote from somewhere or not, but either way, isn't it the most beautiful thing? FAILURE is a success! (It's a little like failing a lot in love until you find the right one.)

Only in baseball.