Who I Am

I’m Lyle.  I’m 35 years old, which hopefully means that I’m only in the middle of the third inning of my life.  I often use baseball terms because it’s something that I understand.  In a world that is largely confusing and overwhelming, it’s so much easier for me to think of it as one game at a time, one inning at a time, and even one pitch at a time.  When I think back on my life, I am blessed to have many wonderful memories.  Many of these include the game of baseball:  Playing for my brother in little league, going to Johnny Bench night with my family, putting on my college uniform as I was getting ready to pitch, or just playing catch with my Dad in the back yard.  And the memories that I look forward to making are laced with baseball themes like teaching the boys the proper mechanics to throw and coaching their teams and teaching them the subtle nuances and life lessons of the game.

See, baseball to me, fills up every sense that God has given us.  There is the sight of the brilliant green of a major league diamond set in contrast with the rich deep brown of the base paths.  It’s the taste of sunflower seeds that pop open in my mouth as I sit on the dugout steps.  It’s the feel of the raised stitches of the ball as they spin across my fingers awaiting the grip of whatever pitch is in my arsenal that day. It’s the smell of the leather glove that has been used thousands of times and the sharp, pungent odor of pine tar waiting to be used.  It’s the hollow crack of the bat when, by some hap-and-stance, I use a round bat to hit a round ball and hit it squarely.

I don’t want you to get the mistake that baseball is my life, because it’s not.  I am blessed to have a wonderful woman beside me who has two amazing boys that I dearly love.  Baseball is but a backdrop of life.  It sets the scene but doesn’t speak a word.  It is a vacuum in which I can drop real life things into and try to make sense of them.  It’s a childhood blanket that I can turn to when I want some comfort.  I don’t always need it.  In fact, I can go days and weeks without ever really contemplating the game. But when I need it, it’s always there.

I’m not what you would call a stat-head.  I don’t understand Sabermetrics.  I do, however, find value in the numbers.  Baseball without stats would just be grown men running around in field all day.  There is something so absolute as 3 strikes and your out.  The best lawyer in the land couldn’t change that verdict.  And the fact that it’s ok to fail as long as you keep trying.  In baseball, succeeding 3 times out of 10 makes you an all-star.  I’m not a team fan either.  I do love the Reds, but what I love about baseball is that it is bigger than any player, team, or league.  I am just as content sitting in a little league park watching little kids boot the ball around and someone sitting down on first base because they are tired.  And if it would happen to be my kid doing that, well there isn’t a luxury box in any stadium that is worth the price of that admission.

Who am I?  I am just a guy that is passionate about a lot of things.  One of those things just happens to be our national pastime.  We only have so much time on this planet.  Our earthly pitch count has a limit, we just don’t know what that is yet.  I know that, by the grace of God, I have a purpose for my time.  Since baseball comes so easy for me, I want to use that to teach the real important life lessons to anyone who will listen.