Baseball Lullibies

Right now the Rangers are leading the Yankees 8 to 5. I hate the Yankees, and I just want this too much to watch. I am a true blue Texas Rangers fan. I will stay with them all season knowing it could end in heartbreak. I've never understood those people who are fans of whatever team is winning. And where do all those Red Sox fans that fill up half the ballpark at Arlington, come from?
Baseball has been a part of my life, I guess since I was born. My father, an Astros fan, lives and breaths baseball. I grew up with six older brothers, that's right, I said six, in a neighborhood full of families with multiple boys and a vacant lot right next door. It would have been nice to have a little girl to play barbies or dress up with, but I do look back fondly on those never ending baseball games. Of course, I was the audience. The baby sister of six boys could only watch, from a safe distance, in a dress that was probably pink. But really, I think they played every day. I'm sure they tell their kids they were picking cotton or mining coal, But it was baseball day after day.
My mom died from A L S in 1997. I remember when she began to show signs of the illness, she would watch the movie "The Sandlot" all the time, and when she tried to explain something she would say "it's like in that movie The Sandlot". I believe it reminded her of my brothers and the past and it just made since. It was comforting.
I have so many baseball memories with my own little family. From the time we almost died in a flood at the old Arlington stadium to the time we were almost killed by lightning at Mile High stadium watching the Astros play the Rockies. I will never forget how hot and sticky it was in ST Louis at the Cardinals game, when I turned and looked at Eric and Lauren eating ice cream out of those little batting helmets, and letting it run down their chins and necks. They were so happy, and I just wanted a bath.
Then there was family night at the Rangers game, back when Palmero was doing the Viagra commercials. You know, he said "I take batting practice, I take fielding practice, I take Viagra". Well that night, family night, they were all introducing their wives and his was very young and very blond. Just then Sarah turned to me and said "He takes batting practice".
Anyway, I love summer and I love baseball. My mind is filled with memories of hot mosquito ridden nights and Little League, and old black and white photos of boys in baseball uniforms, standing proudly with my dad. And sleeping with the windows open in a house lit only by the red glow of my fathers radio, the only sound, the AM static of a baseball game being played somewhere far away. It's like a lullaby. It's comforting.