So, I got \u201cthe call.\u201d \u00a0One of my favorite columnists, Randy Krzmarzick, called and asked if I\u2019d write a column for him while he gets busy in the fields this spring, assuming spring would ever come. Randy gets these column breaks every spring and fall like Joe Mauer gets a \u201cscheduled day off.\u201d\u00a0 Minus the 23.5 million dollar a year contract.<\/p>\n
Now I have to admit, I don\u2019t get nervous much, but a little kaleidoscope of butterflies fluttered in my upper gastrointestinal tract as I replied, \u201dYES!\u201d. After hanging up, it dawned on me that Randy\u2019s readers may NOT want a pinch hitter. Being a fan of his, I forgot to think about having to sit in for his other fans who paid good money and look forward to his every other Wednesday Weeds. I\u2019m picturing them with their morning\u2019s first cup of joe, opening The Journal to get their bi-weekly dose of Weeds. It\u2019s a bit intimidating to view myself as Moonlight Graham pinch hitting for Harmon Killebrew.<\/p>\n
For those who don\u2019t know me, I am a baseball lover, fan, and player who happens to do chiropractic for a living. One of my earliest recollections came from my neighbor Elsie Beech saying, \u201cThat kid has been playing baseball ever since he was knee high to a grasshopper.\u201d<\/p>\n
My grandfather Harry Dieltz was a <\/u>local baseball-legend in western Wisconsin.\u00a0 I remember him sticking his finger hard into my adolescent sternum and sternly saying, \u201cDon\u2019t you EVER let a woman come between you and baseball.\u201d\u00a0 So, I married a baseball gal (actor, director, and teacher) from a baseball (tight knit, loving, wholesome, farm) family.\u00a0 Sandy and I started our own team and it\u2019s been \u201cPLAY BALL!\u201d ever since.<\/p>\n
Spring was a long time coming this year. Nonetheless, thinking of spring brings to mind the usual budding of the trees, the singing and return of the migrating birds (especially the baseball birds: the Cardinals, Blue Jays and Orioles), the cool of the morning, and the warmth of the mid-day air.\u00a0 But this time of year also includes baseball for me. \u00a0Hey, after all, they call it Spring Training!<\/p>\n
Reflecting on my youth in the late Sixties and Seventies, baseball ties in with the first signs of spring. The smell of the leather glove, the feel of the bat in your hands, the sound of the ball cracking the mitt, the taste of salty peanuts and sunflower seeds, the sight and smell of freshly cut green grass, the smell of hot dogs, brats, and burgers on the grill all indicated that baseball, I mean spring, was here.<\/p>\n
During school days, just as the first robin arrived, came the announcement from some kid that baseball cards were here! \u00a0There was only one card company back then, appropriately named Topps. There was the anticipation for the day of school to be over, and then racing to the grocery store or Ben Franklin as soon as humanly possible to see what this year\u2019s cards looked like.<\/p>\n
\u201cWill I get any Twins?\u201d \u00a0We would scrape up our allowance, lawn mowing, and paper route money to buy ten-cent packs of cards: ten pieces of cardboard heaven and one stick of the best tasting five-minute bubble gum ever known to man. Those first couple days would mean a hoard of banana bikes crowding the entry ways and sidewalks of those businesses.\u00a0 Many kids would stand around opening their packs and announcing, \u201cI GOT A TWIN!\u201c\u00a0 Then someone else, \u201cI GOT CAREW!\u201d \u00a0Of course, we all had to look and see what those cards looked like and then turn jealous. The feeling of lottery success came when you bagged your favorite players.<\/p>\n
Later, after opening many packs, you would hear kids say \u201cGot \u2018em, got\u2019em, need \u2018em, got \u2018em\u201d. \u00a0\u201cGot \u2018em\u201d meant you had doubles or triples, stock for trading with your friends. It was a sin of card collecting to clothes-pin your baseball cards to the bike spokes (that\u2019s what a deck of playing cards was for) or to scratch out or draw on cards, especially to indicate that a player was traded to another team. Old shoe boxes housed your cards, and many tightly rubber banded them together in teams. I never met a card I didn\u2019t like.<\/p>\n
Early spring in my youth meant the return of bikes out and about. In those days it was safe to bike anywhere. Our bikes were our transportation and you were sure to find a good majority of those bikes with baseball gloves hanging over the handle bars.\u00a0 We would ride about town looking to join any of the neighborhood games.\u00a0 There were games to be found all over town. Games of Wiffle ball, 500, tenny ball, hot box, pitcher-catcher, rubber coated and \u201creal\u201d baseball games. Our stadiums were back yards, empty lots, city parks, school yards, and even ball parks.<\/p>\n
Teams were picked by the \u201ccaptains\u201d (the oldest players) and everyone played who wanted to. Umpires were usually the captains. \u00a0\u201cKnobs\u201d indicated who would have \u201cfirst ups.\u201d\u00a0 Knobs meant a bat was thrown in the air from one captain to the other. Once caught by the handle, alternating captain\u2019s hands gripped their way to the top. The last one holding the knob had to spin it overhead and around in succession 3 times without dropping the bat.\u00a0 Then they would get to decide who\u2019s up first.<\/p>\n
Even if no one else was around, the back steps to the house made for a perfect catcher.\u00a0 The return of the ball off the steps made for a surprise pop fly, grounder, or occasional line shot right back to you. A good sturdy wall somewhere was second best. Garage roofs let a pop fly roll back down to be caught.<\/p>\n
Spring ending? \u00a0That\u2019s easy. \u00a0School was over, and the nanosecond that happened summer started. \u201cMom? Can we stay up late tonight? There\u2019s no school tomorrow!\u201d<\/p>\n
In the movie Field of Dreams, Moonlight Graham steps off the ballfield and into reality, outside of the markings of the diamond. He helps a choking girl who\u2019s fallen. The father of the girl says, \u201cThank you, Doc.\u201d \u00a0Moonlight turns to the father who brought young Archibald \u201cMoonlight\u201d Graham to the dream baseball field and says \u201cNo, son\u2026thank you.\u201d<\/p>\n
This may be my only chance to \u201cpinch hit\u201d for one of my favorite columnists. So, I tip my cap and say, \u201cThank You, Randy.\u201d \u00a0Hope I didn\u2019t strike out!<\/p>\n
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So, I got \u201cthe call.\u201d \u00a0One of my favorite columnists, Randy Krzmarzick, called and asked if I\u2019d write a column for him while he gets busy in the fields this spring, assuming spring would ever come. Randy gets these column breaks every spring and fall like Joe Mauer gets a \u201cscheduled day off.\u201d\u00a0 Minus the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[162],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-107713","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-weeds-by-randy-krzmarzick"],"aioseo_notices":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-22 19:06:12","action":"change-status","newStatus":"trash","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107713"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107713\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":107714,"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107713\/revisions\/107714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}