Diamond's (I mean Mothers) Are a Girl's Best Friend

Since it is Mother's Day this is a post about the women that have helped shape my life personally and in a baseball sense.   My grandmother was an amazing woman.  She was one of 12 children whose father was an Arkansas Minister.  She embodied beauty, strength, courage, passion, and love.  I believe there isn't anything my Grandmother Bobbye could not do.  She was a wonderful cook, an amazing seamstress, loved birds, had a fantastic garden always had a full cookie jar and loved baseball.  When I was younger I remember her making hot dogs, pickles, potato salad and the whole family sitting around the TV to watch the Mariners play. She lived in Seattle and got to witness some of the best Mariners teams.  They had A-Rod, Griffey, The Big Unit, Edgar Martinez, John Olerude, Brett Boone and my Grandmother's personal favorite Joey Cora.  It said so much about her character that on a team laden with superstars she loved Cora, a player not many people probably remember today.  One season we got matching Cora jerseys and there are pictures of us smiling so happy supporting Cora.  I still have mine to this day and I think of her whenever I wear it.  She was the first woman I knew that truly loved baseball and in the latter years of her life she moved to Oakland and we got to watch many Athletics games together.  While I never got to go to a game with her we had many great times in front of the TV or radio and for the World Series we bought baseball designed paper plates and threw a World Series dinner.  The year Bill King, the famed Athletics radio announcer passed away was also the year my Grandmother passed away.  I remember that season's opening night when they paid tribute to Bill King I wept not just for the loss of King but also for the loss of my Grandmother. There was a moment of silence as Kings broadcast chair and microphone sat on the pitchers mound and I openly wept tears of sorrow and joy.  For me the game will always be tied to my Grandmother. 

My Mother is of course the most important woman in my life.  While it was my father that initially started taking me to games my mother has endured and helped my obsessions for as long as I can remember. My mother much like her mother is a fabulous cook, seamstress and nature enthusiast.  She is a nurse and has always been the most caring and giving person I know.  The year I turned 16 my mother and I took a road trip to Seattle even though my grandparents no longer lived there.  Why might you ask did we go there? To see the Athletics play the Mariners for 4 games of course! My amazing mother drove all the way from Oakland to Seattle with me in the passengers seat for a girls baseball road trip.  I was knee deep in my Barry Zito obsession at this time and it was on this trip that my life changed forever when I got to meet Zito not once but twice.  My mother and I arrived at the ballpark so early that  we were the first ones in the stadium and we got to know all the local baseball card collectors, fanatics and crazies.  I taught my mother to keep score on this trip and we bonded in ways I will never forget.  While eating at Pike Place Market we saw Cory Lidell (RIP) and his family enjoying the nice day.  We waited outside the Athletics Hotel for a glimpse of a player and trailed Zito for several blocks before he went into a restaurant.  It was a crazy trip and the most fun I have ever had on vacation.  Since my mother is very handy with a sewing machine she made me a sundress out of Athletics fabric and when I out grew it turned it into a bag to hold my scorebook and pencils.  She simply is the greatest mother a girl could ever ask for and has been outstanding in accepting my love for the game. 

My Aunt is the third woman that has really had an impact upon my life. While I never saw her as frequently as I did my grandma and mother I was always so excited when she would come to visit.  She lives in Arizona, works in the photography field and is a huge Diamondbacks fan.  When my favorite player Eric Byrnse was traded to the diamond backs she gave me a Byrnse shirt, which I love to wear.  We always talk on the phone about our two teams and each week she sends me clippings from the Arizona papers about Byrnse and his stats.  Now the Diamondbacks have Dan Haren as well so I get lots of updates on my favorite former Athletics from my aunt.  

It has been really wonderful to grow up with so many amazing women surrounding me and especially ones that love baseball the way I do.  I am the woman I am today because of them.  While my father instilled in me a love for the game the three strong women in my life constantly remind me that baseball is a sport for women and not just men.  Diamonds are a girl's best friend after all.  So Happy Mother's Day to not only the three women I love but to mothers everywhere.