Never Underestimate A Lover Of Baseball Who Wears a Hoodie

I wrote various articles covering this experience and in January 2007, older son Harris joined me for my second camp, as we celebrated his 30th birthday.  We kept a diary, wrote a blog and prepared a front page article for The Globe & Mail’s Travel Section, which appeared on the first day of Spring Training, February 27, 2007.

So living in baseball retirement and still working during this Covid-19 pandemic, the pastime continues to be important. This spring I purchased a baseball hoodie that defined me in a phrase.  But, it was not just any team’s hoodie.

When it comes to clothing, I’ve never been comfortable shopping online. It’s not the tech challenge.  I just like trying things on first, and prefer to support brick and mortar retailers.

But as the Covid-19 pandemic became real, I saw a Facebook ad for t-shirts and hoodies with a message that really grabbed me.  It read: “Never Underestimate an Old Man Who Loves Baseball and Was Born In July.”  That’s me, I mused.

While I decided not to add to my 75+ t-shirt collection, I convinced myself that I needed another hoodie. But before making the purchase, there were two nagging issues:

1. The only colour offered was white.

I imagined watching a game (at home during the spring and summer for sure) eating a hot dog and inadvertently spilling mustard on my immaculate hoodie.

2. And, I’ve never subscribed to the word “Old.”                       

Baseball broadcasters tend to describe ‘older ball players as veterans’ and ‘rookies as youngsters’ and at this stage of my life, I am a baseball veteran (while certainly not passing myself off as having served in Canada’s Armed Forces).