TRYING NOT TO LOSE HOPE FOR 2020

As I continue to watch reruns of old baseball games and get hooked new series and movies I would never have considered, I am trying not to lose hope for 2020. No one expected the coronavirus to strip away the rest of spring training.  And all of us, fans and players alike, are looking toward the future.  While we wait for the smells and sounds of the ballpark, here are some nuggets of others who have been impacted by the abrupt halt of the start of the season.

Source: The New York Post

Yankees minor leaguer and last year first round draft pick from New Jersey, Anthony Volpe, "was in the middle of his first professional spring training last month when Yankees minor leaguers were quarantined after a player tested positive for the coronavirus," reported The New York Post. Volpe was hoping to make up for lost time this spring after being sidelined with mononucleosis last year.  Now he's staying safe and healthy and working out in his backyard back at home in Watchung, NJ.

Source: NJ.com

"At this time a year ago, Volpe was a key cog for Delbarton, which won New Jersey’s Non-Public A state title. It was a team that included pitcher Jack Leiter, the son of former big league pitcher Al Leiter. The Yankees drafted Jack in the 20th round last year, but he went to Vanderbilt," reported The New York Post.

Jack Leiter is another young player who has been impacted by the pause of the season.  He and his team, Vanderbilt University Commodores, were set to defend their collegiate world series championship this season when things came to an abrupt end.  Coach Tim Corbin is trying to help his team stay positive and keep perspective.

Source: Vanderbilt News 

“It was a tough turn of events, really, for these kids to grasp,” Corbin said recently on MLB Network’s MLB Tonight show. “Some of them still don’t – they come into the office and they’re in wonderment of what’s happening. So you just try to explain it to them and how these things will reverse themselves in time,” according to Chip Bishop Vanderbilt University Commodore Sports.

We are but six degrees of separation or in this case, as recommended by President's Coronavirus Task Force, six feet wearing a mask. We all facing much more than the loss of a baseball season.  The new normal will change the way we do things and experience life for a while, and Corbin helps to put it all in that context for his players and perhaps all of us as well.

Source: SI.com

“There’s people with greater issues than losing a baseball season. We just have to put good perspective on it and we have to do what we need to do, that being good citizens and just try to follow the order of people who are smarter and more educated about this situation than us.”

So as I finish watching epic film The Ten Commandments, instead of watching the Yankees, I remain hopeful that we will get through this and baseball will return in some capacity this year.  And perhaps we will all appreciate it more, including players and owners, and not get caught up in things that take the joy out of the game.

--Suzie Pinstripe
BYB Managing Editor
Twitter: @suzieprof