Mark Mann's Diamond Odyssey

Baseball haj #5 happening now— OSU v Michigan men’s baseball— bucks up 5-3 in the 6th— good hotdogs… and try to see any other OSU v Michigan for a $5 ticket!

Baseball haj #3 and #4– High school girls softball… Whitehall vs Wellington and boys baseball… Dublin Coffman vs Hilliard Bradley … I’m seeing Ohio State vs Michigan men’s baseball this weekend, and then I’ll have completed the high school and college part of the journey.

It’s interesting— I’m a pretty deep introvert ( odd for an actor, I know)…I once took the Myers Briggs personality test, and in all the categories I was pretty even— 51-49 kind of thing. Except for introvert/ extrovert which was 100 introvert, 0 extrovert. All this is to say I have gotten into conversations with strangers at every game, and………….enjoyed myself! I don’t talk about myself or my project, I just ask questions and enjoy hearing their takes on things. It’s why, I’ve come to realize, I’ve taken this project on…

This week will be dicey— I have two high school games to attend— boys baseball and girls softball, and the weather is predicted to be mostly rainy, and this is the last week for high school sports.

Reminds me of back in the day when I did a lot of outdoor theatre— that was the only time I ever cared about the weather, but it swung in either direction. If the play was good and/ or I was good in it, I prayed for good weather. If, however neither of those things were true, I did a rain dance all day till curtain.

But most of the time, I’ve lived by the code of Woodrow Call in Lonesome Dove: “ it’s only weather.”

Baseball Haj #2 May 3 AAA Columbus Clippers -10 Iowa Cubs-2...

Knocked off the AAA level of baseball by combining work and Haj--the Columbus Clippers had a Puppy Palooza night, where the fans could bring in their dogs to the ballpark...the Franklin County Dog Shelter, where I work, set up a canopy and 2 tables to hand out literature, and we brought along 4 dogs.

Pictured is Fifi, a Golden Retriever/ Dachshund mix, who was the star of the game. Everyone...I mean everyone--came to look at her. For her part, she was sweet and affectionate with everyone, rolled on her back for pets, and if you sat down she got in your lap. The other dogs were Yumi, a german Shepherd mix puppy, Clooney, a frisky Chihuahua/ Terrier mix, and Rosa, a full blooded young chihuahua. They all got their share of attention and treats.

I spent most of my time at Huntington Park doing doing what doesn't naturally to me, which is approaching people to compliment their dogs and ask after the dogs' ages, personality, back story, etc. I felt a little like Harold Hill from The Music Man...people love being asked about their dogs, and everyone was in a great mood, even though the weather was chilly and windy.

I got to watch a little of the game, just enough to see the Clipper load the bases in the 2nd inning, then their number 9 batter whacked a grandslam home run to deep left-center. I figured that was enough baseball for one night, and returned to the dogs.

The Baseball Haj has begun! Yesterday I spent a chilly afternoon at Buckeye Field on the Ohio State campus, watching a game between the OSU women's softball team vs. the Minnesota Golden Gophers.

Minnesota shut the Buckeyes out 7-0, and held them to 3 hits. It was the last home game of the season for the 30-16 OSU team. I struck up a conversation with a woman who was a retired coach for Bishop Hartley, and we had a great time bitching about the OSU men's basketball team, dissecting the playing strategy of the Minnesota women, debating the need for field hockey players to wear kilts ( she was for them, I was against them)...

I loved that, at the beginning of the game, before the national anthem, the pitchers and catchers gathered at the pitchers mound, the infielders gathered at 2nd base, and the outfielders gathered at centerfield, then a huge group of young girls (8th grade and under, I learned) ran onto the field and stood with the OSU players at the positions the girls played on their own school and rec league teams, and together they faced the flag as the anthem played over the PA system.

Then the kids all ran hard back to their seats in the stands, top speed. I focused onto one little girl, who looked to be 6 or 7, who lead the pack speeding toward the third base side of the field, until the older and longer-legged members of the gang passed her by. She never stopped charging ahead, and the whole thing reminded me of the scene in Lord of the Rings when the Rohan army charges ahead on foot, and the Hobbit is running with them for all he's worth and getting passed by all the taller fighters. It made me happy to see her determination.

Another cool thing is if you get a foul ball in the stands, you don't get to keep it like in the major leagues--an usher tracks you down and exchanges a buckeye for it. The kids who got fouls were just as excited to get the buckeye as they were to get the ball. Just try that at Great American Ball Park!

One down--a bunch to go!

Where it all began...my Little League team, the Athens Medics, were the Yankees of our league. We rarely lost, and when we did, it was because the game was rigged!

I'm the scowling kid not wearing his hat, because hey! I'm no sheep--I go my own way!

Welcome all! I have a hankering to watch every level of baseball--and not just baseball ( if they play on a diamond, imma watching it)--

and write about it.

My plan is to write a chapter, or essay, or article about each game I watch, and collect it into a book at the end of the summer. Right now the plan is to publish on Amazon, but who knows what'll happen along this summer odyssey of mine.

So far I've identified 15 different levels of baseball, and more may present themselves as I go. I'll be watching tee-ball games, wiffle-ball games, senior softball games, vintage baseball games, major league games, minor league games, and along the way collect stories about the people I meet, and rummage through my past for anecdotes to pad--er, enhance--the stories.

I'm open to any experience along this journey, and I expect--I hope-- I'll find America hiding in plain sight at the ball diamonds this summer.