30 by 30: Wrigley and Fenway

The baseball season ended yesteday.  This sort of put the final nail in the coffin of seeing a game at Wrigley Field and Fenway Park before my 30th birthday.

I knew this particular goal was sort of stretching it when I put it on the list.  I'd be a little bit insane to think I would be able to fly across the country with two toddlers and my wife just to see a couple of baseball games.  For one we don't really have the type of money to spend on such frivolous things.  For two the other option was going on my own which would be completely missing the point.

So if I knew that I would never follow through with this particular goal, why would I put it on the list in the first place?

It goes back to the same reason why love baseball in the first place.

Baseball is a sport that celebrates what is happening in the here and now.  It does so though in the context of its entire history.  Every great occurence that you see on a baseball field is viewed through a prism of how it relates to every great occurence that came before it.  Baseball doesn't ignore its history.  It celebrates it.

This is an ideal that is becoming more and more rare in our world.  We celebrate the newest and latest breakthrough as if it is the greatest thing we've ever seen.  We immediately forgot about everything that has led to a breakthrough the moment we can have the newest thing.  We wait in line for the newset iPhone.  We go out to buy LED TVs because our plasma just isn't good enough anymore.

So I view Wrigley and Fenway as a breath of fresh air.

Here are two ballparks that have stood the test of time.  These are the two oldest ballparks in the country.  I'm sure Boston and Chicago could have built new yards for the Red Sox and Cubs, but you don't improve on the greatness that is already there.  The coolest thing about both ballparks is the fact that history has already happened and will continue to happen there.  I could sit in a seat that someone else sat in while watching Babe Ruth hit one of his 714 homeruns.  I could watch a game in the same place where Willie Mays once played.  This is reason enough that these parks should stand forever.  They're historical landmarks.

So going to the hallowed ground of Fenway and Wrigley didn't happen in the past year, but it's going to happen eventually.

STATUS: MAYBE NEXT YEAR