Spring Has Arrived!

This is the day I have been waiting for since October. Spring is really, truly here now. I cannot say it any better than this:

(excerpts taken from an mlb.com article by John Schlegel)

To connect with more than a century of history, to actually feel the flip of the calendar, to know exactly what time it is in your own life, three simple but distinct clues are about emerge, starting officially Thursday:

The smell of the grass.
The pop of the glove.
The crack of the bat.

With those sensory delights, baseball begins anew, and awakens us all to a new year with baseball in Florida and Arizona. And, just like every year, isn't it about time?

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If you've been a baseball fan long enough, you can take it all in by closing your eyes and imagining what's already been done, time and time again, year after year, but never before like 2010. It might be snowing outside where you are, but it's spring in your baseball heart.

At every camp, the emerald fields will be pristine, the ballplayers jogging early in the morning, running through drills -- all on a blanket of not frozen tundra or piles of snow but beautiful, green grass, sending off the unmistakable scents of spring. It's a scent so strong and so poignant that it can be smelled in places like Pittsburgh and Baltimore, right through this crushing winter's wind.

Ahhhhhhh.

At every camp, early in the morning as workouts begin, two lines will form in the outfield grass and the greatest players on earth will go through the same routine performed on every Little League field: playing catch, echoing in the morning sun with a glorious symphony of ball meeting glove.

Pop!

At every camp, batting cages will be buzzing with early-arriving hitters and pitchers running through their own rotations of bunting and batting practice, with more and more of that work moving outside as the days go along, position players descend on the camps early next week and time heads toward the exhibition season.

Crack!

And at every camp, one quality will be shared by everyone: sunny optimism.
Every team has it now. Every team is in it now.

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Wherever it all ends, it all starts with those first moments of camp Thursday, those first official steps on the field, those first lineups of catch, those first swings in the cage.

A new chapter in history is about to be written. The calendar is really, truly flipped now. It's that time of life for every baseball fan.

The smell of the grass.
The pop of the glove.
The crack of the bat.

Ahhhhhhh.
(taken from mlb.com)
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Welcome back, boys! Welcome back. I've missed you. The winter has been long and dreary, icy and cold. Knowing that today you're donning the red and white logo I've been raised to love, it feels a little warmer outside. The sunshine is just a bit brighter. And I'm certain the grass is definitely greener.