Winter Ends on February 12th

The end of winter is but eight days hence.The calendar may lie but I know better. On 2/12/25 pitchers and catchers report to the Yankees training camp.

The disappointment of the Series now hardly registering. The departure of Soto but an asterisk soon to be removed. The presidency of Donald Trump a minor distraction. Oh, sorry, how did that last one get in there?

I never really understood why Spring was measured in metrics other than fastballs and sliders, home runs and strikeouts, stolen bases and fevered dreams. With the arrival of possibilities and renewed hopes. When the days get longer and the shortcomings get lost in the contemplations of the greatness of tomorrow.

On the first day of the rest of my baseball life no errors will have been committed, no arms will have been damaged, no egos bruised nor losses accrued. It is a blank slate to be filled, at least in that moment, with sugar plums and majestic homers.

For Cole, Judge and those toiling under the hot sun and the burning glare of a million desires, it is but the beginning of another campaign. But for me it is something far greater. Baseball, the Yankees, is not mere sport. It holds not just my attention but my heart. It is my old friend returned to give more meaning, greater focus, to each hour and every day.

In a universe that now is often far too bewildering to me, that finds me many times unmoored and uncertain, I am most grateful that Spring is but a moment away. A time when troubles are to be measured in missed signs from the third base coach, not from leaders of an increasingly hostile world. When losses are spoken of in 0 for 4, not oh my God. When opportunity for salvation comes almost daily.

So I will slog through the next week, fending off the worst of the noises, ignoring the demons and sidestepping the potholes. And I know that when I awake on 2/12 the world according to those who wrestle me in my sleep, will be gone. Replaced by Spring on the diamond and a renewed spring in my step.

The end of a long hard winter but eight days away. I can feel the warmth already.