Guest: Pitchers and Catchers Report

From my friend Andy Fuller.

Pitchers and catchers report. We can arise from our slumber.

Since the beginning of human civilization we have moved with the rhythms of the seasons. When most of us were tied to the land, we gathered and hunted and farmed and traveled as the seasons allowed.

When the industrial revolution transformed our lives in every conceivable way, the great manufacturing centers attracted people from all over the countryside with promises of a better life. Perhaps life in these cities was better. Maybe it was worse. One thing is certain – as more of us punched a timecard and fewer of us planted seeds, we started to lose our seasonal rhythm.

As we fell out of sync with the seasons, a game blossomed.

Baseball became enormously popular during the most significant developments of the industrial revolution. As the railroad and internal combustion engine irrevocably sped up all aspects of our lives, we turned to baseball to regain our rhythm – the promise of Spring Training, the lazy days of mid-season and the All Star break, the drama of the Fall Classic.

And so, 150 years later, we wait. We wait for the four words that will allow us to awake from our wintry hibernation. This Sunday we will hear them, for on Sunday the Minnesota Twins’ pitchers and catchers report.

We know it’s coming. We can feel it. It’s primal, instinctual. We know pitchers and catchers are reporting like we used to know maples and cottonwoods were budding. We know we will hear familiar voices during the radio sportscast like we knew that sunnier days were in the forecast. We know when pitchers and catchers report we can shake off the listlessness that builds over the unrelenting winter.

It’s time to wake up. It’s springtime. Pitchers and catchers report.