Guys, put your thinkin' caps on. On second thought, you won't have to think too hard. And gals, bear with me - you may find this guy-thing interesting.

A young man came up to me the other day, and told me that he'd just gotten back from going to his first Major League baseball game. He's twenty years old. I remarked to him that ... in my opinion ... there are two things a young man will never ever (emphasized) ever forget. One of them I can't talk about ... here. And, the other is ... a young kid's first-ever MAJOR LEAGUE baseball game.

I was 11 - sixth grade in Alexandria, Virginia. Baseball games were mostly "day" games back then, and my dad had taken off work in the middle of the week to take me to my first Big League game.

I still vividly remember the wooden stands of old Griffith Stadium. It's long-gone, now. The land became part of the campus of Howard University Medical School, on Georgia Avenue, in the center of Washington, D.C. - the only thing remaining of the ballpark is a plaque where home plate was.

I can still picture the jagged outfield fence ... and I can hear the "live" organist helping introduce the players, who wore those thick and heavy woolen uniforms and "real" leather metal cleats (I had to have a pair, immediately).

What memories! Mickey Mantle's homerun in that first game for the opposing New York Yankees ... and a couple of weeks later, Boston Red Sox' Ted Williams throwing his bat for what seemed to be a hundred feet - straight into the air - after striking out. He homered the next time up ... and in both games, my beloved Washington Senators lost. From that point on, however, the lowly "Nats" would be my team. They now play in Minneapolis, and I still follow the Twins.

I hope the kids of today experience the same magical feeling that I did way back then ... and I know that James Earl Jones' character was right in "The Field Of Dreams", when he said:

"The one constant, through all the years, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers...erased like a blackboard, rebuilt, and erased again. But baseball  has marked the time !

It reminds us of all that was once good ...
... and it could be again."

Now. About that other thing that a young man will never, ever, forget .....