Baseball

While I may sometimes find other sports more exciting and while football or basketball may surpass it in popularity among Americans, baseball will always be my favorite sport and my country's national pastime. During the most recent strike, I was often asked what I thought of the fact that there was no baseball. But of course the game of baseball transcends the major leagues. During the 1981 strike, I learned this, and devoted my attention to the amateur Saugerties Dutchmen, who were founded in 1980, and played in the Mohawk-Hudson Baseball League from its inception in 1982 until I went off to college in 1987. Not only does baseball at all other levels go on when the fat cats fight over their pie, but it's worth considering as an alternative to the marquee product even when such is offered. If you're in the United States, chances are there's a baseball team near you, whether it be High School, American Legion, College, Amateur/Semi-Pro or Minor League. (And even outside the US, baseball may be easier to come across than you realize.) And those teams are run by owners that will schedule doubleheaders and made up of players who will give you their autograph for free. Ticket prices range from a passing of the hat to a few bucks, and rivalries are often fierce and local. And if, like me, you follow sports for the drama rather than the displays of athletic prowess, the "competition" leaves nothing to be desired. Check it out.

Several sources of information on Amateur and Semi-Pro Ball can now be found in the amateur baseball section of Skilton's Baseball Links.