I have to make a quick disclaimer. Baseball is not my favorite sport. Football is.
Now that that’s out of the way, do you know what today is? Opening day for Major League Baseball!
There is something special about opening day. Everybody is at 0-0. Everyone is a contender in their respective divisions. Each team can legitimately make October plans. At least for today.
At this time of year, my mind always wanders back to the 1950s movie Kill the Umpire starring William Bendix. It’s definitely my favorite baseball movie.
Haven’t ever heard about it?
Well, Bendix plays Bill Johnson, a former baseball player who hates umpires. His fanatical devotion to the game has cost him several jobs. And matters are complicated by the fact his father-in-law is a retired umpire. Since he has a hard time staying employed during the baseball season, his father-in-law forces him to matriculate in an umpire school. While he initially tries to get himself expelled, he ultimately comes to enjoy his new job. He becomes an ump in the minor leagues, where blurred vision, caused by using the wrong eyedrops, causes him to see everything twice, earning him a nickname as “Two-Call” Johnson. When he calls a popular player out at home plate, the crowd accuses him of dishonesty, leading to a near-riot during which the involved player is knocked out cold. Johnson must disguise himself as a woman and engage in several subterfuges to get to an important game on time, but his reputation is restored when the player he had originally called against publicly praises him for his honesty as an umpire. The crowd accepts this, although quickly reversing its opinion again after Johnson inevitably, makes another call they do not like. It’s one madcap adventure after another with such comedic heavyweights like Bendix, Ray Collins and William Frawley.
I don’t get to see it too often. It’s not on Netflix or Amazon Prime. A Roku search comes up empty. There is a version online at youtube, and a dvd is available at Amazon.
Baseball is a great summer diversion. When you hear about the season starting, you know the long days of winter are fading fast — and that’s coming from someone who appreciates the cold and white stuff.
When I was young, I couldn’t wait for the season. I was in awe of Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Juan Marichal, Sandy Koufax, et al in the late 50s-early 60s. I was heartbroken when the Dodgers and Giants migrated west, although I can say I did get to see some games at Ebbets Field and the Polo Grounds. I was initially a Giants fan back then, but joined the Yankee bandwagon when the team moved. I remember rushing home to watch the final game of the 1960 World Series. I missed most of the game, but got home just in time to watch the Yankees squander a 7-4 lead in the eighth inning and score two in the top of the ninth to tie the score at 9-9, only to watch Bill Mazeroski — not known as a power hitter — sail a Ralph Terry 1-0 pitch just over the left field wall in Forbes Field, Pittsburgh.
When the Mets came along in 1962, I switched back to National League allegiance. They were so bad (40-120 that first year), I guess I felt I could play for them. And they had such a list of characters in those early years … Marvelous Marv Throneberry … Roger Craig {18 straight losses in 1963} … Choo Choo Coleman … Ed Kranepool … Gil Hodges, Richie Ashburn and Don Zimmer (all well past their prime) … and the irascible Casey Stengel as manager.
I sort of lost interest in baseball after the strike year of 1981, but started to get back into it about 10 years ago after watching games with my dad, a staunch Yankee fan.
I still prefer football … especially games in the snow. But watching baseball gives you an opportunity to multitask between pitches and innings. Or, at least, let your eyes rest.
At any rate, it’s time to Play Ball!
THOUGHT TO REMEMBER: Your life can be what you want it to be.
Free Will
Heaven Shining Through is a story within a story. The underlining theme is the restoration of a relationship between Sam and her mother. It is told through the prism of a flashback of Sam’s life — her early home experiences, her wilder side, meeting the love of her life, Chad, her growth as a wife and mother through sorrow and blessings, and the presence of God in an ordinary life.
That’s where you potentially come in. I would like to form a pre-launch team of no more than five individuals to beta read the book, offer suggestions and comments, keep me accountable and true to my Christian beliefs. I will create a private Facebook group for the team and schedule just a few online “meetings” to discuss the book and its progress. Hopefully the team would also join a formal launch team as I get closer to publishing.
It is said Napoleon, after bringing much of Europe to his knees, proclaimed himself emperor. He ordered Pope Pius VII to be present to present the crown. However, his pride was so great he would not allow anyone to place the crown upon his head, so he placed it there himself.
Maybe you’re not there yet. Maybe you are in the middle of a difficult time and you don’t feel like celebrating. Hold on, friend. Keep going. God’s strong hands are holding you too.
We come to You, Lord, because prayer is the least yet the greatest thing we can do for each other. When two or more are gathered in 
The prompt word is developed at a Twitter party Thursday night and released at 10 p.m. From there, the creativity begins … all writing unscripted for five minutes (or so) on the prompt word. And, of course, we meet and greet at her place (in the Community section at 
Because these are slick advertising pieces, the actors portrayed live otherwise normal lives despite their maladies. And their illness seems to exist in a vacuum with other medical issues. I mean, you see asthmatics running around in fields of clover; people with arthritis tying junior’s shoes; cancer patients bouncing around a day after chemotherapy; those with psoriasis dancing, swimming and touching their partners {after treatment, of course}; radiant grandparents who are able to chase their smiling grandchildren and puppies around the park because they took the right medication; diabetics enjoying {occasional} junk food; and celebrities endorsing products. Off-label uses such as weight loss and blood pressure reduction are often heralded. Who doesn’t want to lose a couple of pounds or lower their blood pressure?
Mister Fix-It
Writing doesn’t have to be daunting and it doesn’t have to be perfect. It’s an exercise that sharpens the mind and mines the rich resources stored in our brains. Once the words flow, we can reconstruct them using the “rules” of grammar, punctuation, tense and context. That’s editing — which, by the way, is never done. I’ve already {hopefully} polished some of my text as I expand Heaven Shining Through from a novella to a novel. And I wouldn’t be surprised if, after it is actually published, I start saying “I wish I would have said this;” or “That could have been explained better;” or “What in the world was I thinking?” as I read it in print. {That happened after reading my “final” galley proofs, necessitating a few rewrites, much to the chagrin of my publisher.}
The Light 