| realization that there is always another game. That's probably your only salvation. The one real question in baseball, as in life, is, How long are you gonna play? Wayne Terwilliger, Lew Burdette, and Eddie Mathews became common threads in the infinite tapestry that is baseball. By virtue of stewardship of the Waterloo Diamonds, Jerry Klinkowitz also joins this weave. |
| Another wonderful thing about baseball, like memories, is that soon all traces of anger, resentment, and the hurt one experiences from your team leaving, your team losing, and your favorite player striking out with the bases loaded are filtered out, leaving only the constant themes of birth, laughter, joy, hope, death, and then, blessedly, rebirth. Nothing captures the joys of baseball better than Box 28. The gentle descriptions of Lee and the extended family are my favorite part of the book. If ever a narrative captured the feeling of a ball yard filled with people, this is one. Baseball is made up of, and has always had time for, the little dramas that exist behind the lines, the characters that make up the backdrop, and the bit players and hustlers who provide each ball yard with its own personality. Outside the yard, we may have little or no knowledge of where our seat neighbors live, but in the stands, we are believers, best friends, and witnesses to the truth... to the resolution that life lacks. During the World Series, the crime rate in the towns that are participating drops to virtually nothing. All of the town's people are drawn together. People who would normally have nothing in common suddenly find themselves bonded together in the heat of battle, so Box 28 becomes a microcosm of all that's right with the world. |
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