The Rookie and Memories of My Grandmother

My grandma Lorraine with her Great Granddaugher Ella

Growing up I loved baseball. I loved watching it, playing it and learning about its history. My parents got me a giant encyclopedia about Major League Baseball when I was 8 or 9 and I read that thing front to back multiple times. My favorite player was Will Clark of the San Francisco Giants and my favorite team was the Pittsburgh Pirates. As like most kids I wanted to grow up to be a professional baseball player or maybe an announcer. I was never good enough playing baseball to make it past the Little League level but I still had fun. Baseball themed movies have always been a favorite of mine too, especially ones based on true stories.

In my sophomore year of college I had a class with a friend that I knew from high school. One day before class my friend Scott mentioned that a friend of ours that graduated with us was going to be in a Disney movie about baseball called The Rookie. After doing some research I found that The Rookie was about a High School teacher/ baseball coach that use to play baseball as a kid that missed his chance at the major leagues because of an injury. To motivate his players to try harder he agrees to go to a try-out if they make it to the championship. When his players don’t just make it to the big game but win it, he goes to an open try-out for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. I won’t go in to much more detail about the movie but let’s just say I was interested in it from just reading the initial premise. I knew I would be seeing the movie as soon as it came out

As a child my love of baseball was fueled by one of the most important and influential people in my life, my grandmother Lorraine. My grandma Lorraine was my mom’s mom. She would babysit me when I was little and introduced me to so many different things in the world. One thing I would do a lot with her and my grandfather was to go camping. While camping we would go fishing and ride four wheelers. My grandmother is the one that taught me how to do both. She taught me how to bait the hook and cast the line. When we weren’t camping one of my favorite things to do with my grandmother was to play card games. She taught me to play so many different card games that I still play to this day. Card games were one thing that all her grandchildren had in common.

My grandmother and I watched a lot of movies and TV together when she would watch me. I still remember watching Alvin and the Chipmunks movies over and over again with her, they were my favorite. My grandmother loved to watch The Price is Right and the soap opera Another World. After spending so much time with her watching those shows I grew to enjoy them almost as much as her. She loved to guess the cost of the showcase showdowns and got pretty good at it. She also loved to do crossword puzzles. She would read the paper every morning and save the crossword puzzle to do later.

I also have many memories of my grandmother that involve Baseball. Before we had the Colorado Rockies her favorite teams were the Milwaukee Brewers and the Minnesota Twins. I was never a fan of the Twins but I did like the Brewers and that is because of her. My favorite Brewer was Paul Molitor. To this day I still have my old Paul Molitor baseball action figure of him sliding on my desk at work. It reminds me of my grandmother every time I look at it. In 8^th grade my grandmother surprised me with tickets to see the Colorado Rockies take on the Atlanta Braves in the second ever playoff game for the Rockies. I still remember taking the bus from the Park and Ride on 225 and Parker road down to the stadium. Funny thing is I drive by that Park and Ride every day because it is close to my office. Once downtown my grandmother and I walked around the stadium while waiting to pick up our tickets. The Rockies ended up losing that game but it was one of the happiest and most memorable moments in my life. It was freezing cold that October night and I remember that all of the concession stands were sold out of hot chocolate on the third level where our seats were. After the game I stayed the night at my grandparents’ house before getting up early the next morning so they could take me to school.

The Rookie was released in theaters on March 29.2002. I was planning on spending that weekend with my grandparents at their house in Aurora. Since I knew I was already going to be there I asked my grandmother if she would like to go see the movie with me. After telling her a little bit about it she said yes. Early in the afternoon of March 29 I bought us two tickets at the Arapahoe Crossing movie theater and we got in line for the movie. I haven’t been to that theater since seeing The Rookie but I can picture the seats we sat in as the other moviegoers sat around us. The movie is probably one of my favorite baseball movies I have ever watched. When my friend Matt first appeared on screen briefly as one of the high school baseball players I pointed him out to her. After the movie we talked about it and how we both enjoyed it.

That was the last movie my grandmother and I saw together in the theater. We would watch more movies together over the next 9 years but those were always at her house. I have missed my grandmother every single day since she passed just over two years ago and will continue to do so for many more years. When I watched The Rookie earlier this year I watched it with a smile on my face the entire time. Not because it is a good movie but because it was a movie that my grandmother and I enjoyed together.

I love you grandma Lorraine. Thank you for everything you did for me and taught me. You will be in my heart always and forever.