Can you get excited for MLB?

Though hope springs eternal, not every MLB fan base can look onto the looming season with championship aspirations. By Jason Krakower 

          Jason Krakower is a junior newspaper major at Syracuse University. Somewhat of a baseball nut, Jason plays for the club team at SU (the university doesn't offer a varsity team) and loves to watch his Orioles each summer. Now, let's go to Jason.

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          For my first column at EP, I originally wanted to do a legitimate preview for the upcoming Strasburg-less baseball season.  Then I realized that walking into a sports site and spouting off some thoughts and predictions for people who don’t know me is kind of like Smalls wandering into the outfield, except I wouldn’t have Benny the Jet to hit one straight into my glove.

Oriole Park at Camden Yards, home to the O's and some of the best sights in pro baseball.

The season’s still over a month away, so I’ll get into that later.  First I want to tell you something about myself that should help you get to know me a little, as well as help you understand why I’m not as excited as John Kruk to jump into the season so quickly.

I’ve been a diehard baseball fan and player for nearly my entire life.  I’m also an Orioles fan.  I tell people that my first real sports memory is watching Cal Ripken, Jr. running a victory lap around Camden Yards after breaking Lou Gehrig’s consecutive games played streak in 1995.  There probably couldn’t have been a better moment for a young baseball fan in Maryland to watch at that time.

Toughness defined.

This is not that story.  This is my second real sports memory.

            I want (but really don’t want) to fast forward over a year later, to Game 1 of the 1996 ALCS between the Orioles and Yankees.  The Yanks are down 4-3 in the bottom of the 8^th inning, and rookie shortstop Derek Jeter steps to the plate.  The Orioles had an outstanding team in ’96, which included Hall-of-Famers like Ripken, Roberto Alomar, Eddie Murray, and naturally strong guys like Brady Anderson and Rafael Palmeiro.  If Armando Benitez could get Jeter and get through the next inning, the O’s would take a huge away game at Yankee Stadium and a huge step toward a first World Series appearance since 1983.

          Most people know what happens next.  Jeter hits a deep fly ball to right.  A kid whose name I can’t bear to say reaches down into the field and grabs it.  Umpire calls it a home run.  Yanks win in extra innings.  Orioles lose the series 4-1.  Yanks win the World Series for the first time in 18 years.  Orioles make the playoffs again in ’97, then never again.

That was tough to write.

           

Maier: Loved in NYC. Loathed in Baltimore.

           One thing that comes with being a huge baseball fan/player is that we tend to be extremely superstitious.  We think that every minor action will affect something…it’s kind of like Mild Athletic OCD.  So even though it probably isn’t true, I maintain that the Orioles broke when That Kid stole that ball.

             

          We in Maryland haven’t been excited for a baseball season in what seems like a decade, and I know that feeling seems ridiculous for everyone here in New York who expect a title every year.  Maybe not in Pittsburgh.  Thank God for the Pirates. (Ed note: as a Pirates fan,  not cool. Not cool.)

Anyway, I’ll do my predictions and previews for the season, but it’ll take some work – as always – to get myself psyched for it.  So for the time being, and speaking on behalf of all Orioles fans to That Kid…YOU’RE KILLING ME SMALLS!