An Open Letter to Albert

Oh gravy------------- followed immediately by oh dear and oh my. And other words that shall not be repeated here.

After a busy morning at the studio I watched it fade in the rear view mirror about 12:30 today. B'bye, see ya! Destination? Busch Stadium. Not for onfield happiness with a bride and groom on their special day but for an afternoon of Big Fun. A fun of which I am so richly deserving!!

Do you remember when I was last on the field with a wedding couple? I hadn't been on the field before at a major league ballpark and my comment to Don the adorable field guy was "geez, it looks really tiny from down here! How in the world can you not hit the ball?" Don oh so patiently remarked that he felt it might have something to do with the ball generally traveling over 90 mph. I thought at the time that he was probably on to something. Good thing I didn't say that in the hearing of Bobbi, her years shooting inside the stadium would have made her give me 'that look' and maybe even fire my happy self!! But I digress.

In a perfectly lovely day, not too hot, a bit of early game cloud cover, and a packed standing room only house filled with Cards fans I stood waiting to get in, ticket in hand. The Royals were playing game three, Cards of course down two already. I just knew they were ready. In the light of reality usually caused by the passage of time--- they, sadly, were not.

Dear Albert,

You must have heard my squeal of glee when I blocked off time to go to the ballgame, my first so far this baseball season. Television games don't count you know! I was SO excited I could hardly stand it. I even bought a new red shirt because how in a million years can you even THINK about going to a home game and wear anything but? Even my earrings were red (although thankfully not baseballs) and I was so ready to go. Then of course you had that little boo-boo. I waited and hoped and thought good thoughts, certainly you would not be sitting on that hard bench for long! Surely you would prove the purveyors of medicine wrong and come back swinging. But that was not to be.

The gates opened at Busch today and I was so happy to be there! Among the sea of red, all thrilled to be part of an American summer afternoon, ready to see the Royals go down at last. I sat at a table under the sun with two nice ladies I had just met and had a hot dog, relish and mustard thank you, and a large diet Coke. I walked around, taking it all in. The Cards fans punctuated by a pretty good crowd in blue t-shirts. They were smiling broadly, I should have seen that as an omen.

Soon it was time to find my seat------- well located along the third base line low enough to have caught a t-shirt flying out of the hot dog aimed by Fred Bird. I didn't, but I could have! I sang the National Anthem, I clapped, I stomped and I was ready for baseball! Go Cards!

Albert, it became obvious pretty much right away that this was not going to be a pretty game. Not by a long shot. It was in fact rather ugly and I'll spare you the sports analysis by a woman who normally is most confident commenting on the uniforms and the food choices. I mean, you heard what I said upon my first encounter with the field! I knew you weren't going to play but I remained wonderfully optimistic that the team would rally, that they would play a great game.

That didn't happen now did it? And let me tell you I did my part! It was not for the lack of cheering and good thoughts that the loss was so dismal. Please come back soon. We all missed you. Most of all we missed that spark, that something that lit the team up and made them play better than they did. I'm not being greedy, watching the home run was fun--- we all loved it. Frankly, it was not enough.

I'm going back to work now but next time I come to the stadium, and it will be soon, I hope that you are out there swinging the bat, making something happen. And a win would be really nice.

I also hope that it will not be the last time I get to see that American game served alongside a great American beer.

But that is surely a story for another day. I'm coming back and bringing the whole BBP staff with me Albert------ you'll surely see me. I'll be wearing red.