Parade 03-27

S U N D AY, M A R C H 2 7 , 2 0 1 1

“After all that’s happened, I have an even greater appreciation for my wife, my kids, and the fact that I get to play golf for a living.”

Phil Mickelson THE GOLF GREAT ON WINNING, LOSING—AND HOW FAMILY KEEPS IT ALL IN PERSPECTIVE

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Personality Walter Scott’s

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book to give my fans an honest account of some of the misconceptions and rumors about me,” she says.

“It’s a forthright memoir with snapshots of my life.”

Q: Did Matthew

McConaughey always want to be an actor?

—Emily Misch, Atlanta

A: Nope. “When I was in

Q: I read that Barbara

Eden has written her autobiography, titled Jeannie Out of the Bottle. Any word on when it will be available? —Colandreo, West Palm Beach, Fla.

A: It hits bookshelves on

April 5. And though Eden, 2 • March 27, 2011

—Barbara Brads, Magnolia, Del.

A: Record-keeping was

‘I disregard time.

You don’t see me wear a watch. I don’t have birthdays.’

—Mariah Carey, on getting older (she turns 42 today)

egf Q: What bedtime

songs does Britney Spears sing to her two young boys?

—Brad Smith, Glenview, Ill.

A: The pop star’s sons,

WALTER SCOTT ASKS…

Big Time Rush The quartet—from left, Logan Henderson, 21; James Maslow, 20; Carlos Pena, 21; and Kendall Schmidt, 20—is up for two 2011 Kids’ Choice Awards: Favorite Music Group and Favorite TV Show. Watch the awards next Saturday on Nickelodeon.

P Barbara Eden

ble plays in baseball, but how many triple plays have there been?

spotty in the early days, so an exact number is hard to come by. But the Elias Sports Bureau, official statistician of major-league baseball, says it’s around 680. The most recent one was against the Oakland A’s by the Seattle Mariners on Aug. 9, 2010.

P Matthew McConaughey

college at the University of Texas, I was going to be a criminal-defense lawyer,” says McConaughey, 41.

Seems his early ambitions helped prepare him for Hollywood: He got his big break playing an attorney in A Time to Kill and stars as one again in The Lincoln Lawyer, in theaters now.

Q: I’ve seen lots of dou-

What’s your wildest fan encounter?

J: I think the craziest thing is when we meet fans who cry.

L: We’ve also had fans write their Twitter names on our bus.

C: Someone almost threw up on us. He was a cool little dude.

How do you battle preshow jitters?

C: We usually sing random songs, rap, jump up and down.

J: We just try to psych ourselves up.

What plot line would you want next on your TV show?

C: I would love to get a girlfriend. Please!

K: I want us to go on a camping trip. I can imagine an episode where we would try to survive in the woods.

L: Lions and tigers and bears—oh, my!

Have a question for Walter Scott?

Visit Parade.com/celebrity or write Walter Scott at P.O. Box 5001, Grand Central Station, New York, N.Y. 10163-5001.

P Chuck Norris

Q: Does Chuck Norris

still practice martial arts? And is he still interested in running for political office?

—Derek Rierson, Madison, N.C.

A: Norris, 71, spars with

friends but no longer competes. He does help others prepare for competition, though, as head of the United Fighting Arts Federation, which trains and accredits black belts. As for politics, he’s happy to limit his participation to voicing opinions in a column at wnd.com.

Sean Preston, 5, and Jayden James, 4, get customized musical creations. “I make up stuff and freestyle as I go. It’s different every time,” says Spears, 29, whose new album, Femme Fatale, is out March 29. The nighttime jam sessions seem to be rubbing off on her kids. “They both dance and sing,” she says. “It’s adorable!”

P Britney Spears

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76, says looking back on her past caused mixed emotions, she feels good about the overall experience and is looking forward to the future. “I wrote the

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Get away with murder? Over her dead bodies.

DANA DELANY

PREMIERES TUESDAY MAR 29 10|9c Sneak peek at abc.com/BodyOfProof

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your guide to health, life,

Parade Picks

P Books THE DRESSMAKER OF KHAIR KHANA by Gayle

money, entertainment, and more

Tzemach Lemmon, nonfiction ($25)

P Television MILDRED PIERCE HBO, March 27, 9 p.m. ET/PT

Toward a More Perfect Garden

I

t’s that time of year when backyard gardeners ache to till the earth, planting fruits and veggies they can munch on all summer long. As it turns out, that urge couldn’t be more American. According to Founding Gardenegf ers, a book by Andrea Wulf out this week, George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison were almost as obsessed with what to plant as they were with how to govern. During his years at Monticello, Jefferson tried his hand at 170 types of fruits and 330 varieties of herbs and vegetables, including lettuce, peas, spinach, peppers, eggplant, asparagus, and okra. While he brought some of these with him to D.C., Jefferson wasn’t the first White House gardener. That honor goes to John Adams, who plowed and fertilized a parcel of the land in 1800. And any visitor to Mount Vernon knows of Washington’s passion for plants. Besides nurturing his ornamental gardens, he tended grapes, apples, peaches, cherries, and plums. Even Benjamin Franklin got into the spirit of things, arranging for the exchange of seeds and roots between France and America. The founding gardeners were also quite happy to get down and dirty. While in London, Adams once jumped into a mound of fertilizer, declaring proudly that his dung pile at home was better. Now that’s patriotism! —Joanne Kaufman

bring a sexy edge to this series based on the Arthurian legend, and Joseph Fiennes lends gravitas as Merlin.

Kate Winslet should clear a shelf now, as she’s likely to receive every award going for her portrayal of a divorced Depression-era mother who becomes a successful restaurateur but struggles to win the respect of her daughter Veda. Todd Haynes (Far from Heaven) directs this five-part miniseries, which hews more closely to the novel by James M. Cain than the 1945 film version did. Guy Pearce, Evan Rachel Wood, and Melissa Leo costar.

CAMELOT Starz, April 1, 10 p.m. ET/PT Jamie Campbell Bower (the Twilight films) and Eva Green (Casino Royale)

An Afghan family finds a way to survive in Kabul under Taliban rule in this aweinspiring true story. With nothing but an idea and the tenacity to see it through, teenager Kamila Sidiqi starts a home business with her sisters that grows to support both the spirits and the finances of an entire neighborhood. Fans of Three Cups of Tea are sure to embrace this powerful and humbling book.

P Music GEORGIA CLAY from Josh Kelley ($11) Ex-popster Kelley sounds happily at home on his country debut. Highlights include the title track, cowritten with his brother, Lady Antebellum’s Charles Kelley, and the sweetly lilting “Naleigh Moon,” about the daughter he adopted with his wife, Katherine Heigl.

PARADE POLL

WOULD YOU LIE ON YOUR TAXES IF YOU KNEW YOU WOULDN’T GET CAUGHT?

74% 26% NO

YES

We want to know! For more questions, go to Parade.com/poll

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Report INTELLIGENCE

4 • March 27, 2011

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®

Ask Marilyn What is the difference between a philharmonic and a symphony orchestra?

—Connie Fair, via email

None, really. Both of them play the same kind of music (baroque, classical, romantic, and modern) with the same instruments.

The only difference, and it’s a slight one, is in the connotation of the names.

“Philharmonic”

By Marilyn vos Savant

sounds a bit more formal and implies that the orchestra arose from a society of music lovers.

“Symphony” refers simply to the works that are played.

To ask a question, visit Parade.com /askmarilyn

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The latest handheld Nintendo system has a 3-D gaming screen—no special glasses required!

WHY WE LOVE IT

Along with the 18 new titles in 3-D, it can also host your old 2-D games. It’s Wi-Fi enabled, too.

WHERE TO GET IT

Major electronics retailers ($250) PHOTO: COURTESY OF NINTENDO

TASTE FOR YOURSELF. For a free sample of all six varieties go to facebook.com/nescafeusa

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17

Manner Up! Modern etiquette made easy

Q: I frequently get asked to lunch by younger business acquaintances (not from my office) who are looking for advice.

When the bill comes, I feel obliged to pay, but all these lunches are really adding up!

What’s proper here?

—Josh D., Miami

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A: The answer may seem obvious: The person who asks you out pays. But there is something else at work here. Being a mentor is worth the price of lunch. (I’ve had colleagues come back to me years later and say, “I remember when I asked you out and you paid.” In several instances, those youngsters are now in a position to do me a solid.) On the second go-round with someone, however, he/she really does have an obligation to pick up the tab; after all, you’re a mentor, not a headhunter.

And if you find that you’ve become the go-to person for every eager newbie in your industry, suggest meeting at Starbucks. —Judith Newman Send your questions to Parade.com/mannerup

© PARADE Publications 2011. All rights reserved.

R

What were Easters like growing up in England?

I remember watching The Muppet Show one year—and liking too much chocolate. Anything that helps put chocolate in your tummy is an embraceable holiday.

ussell brand is

known for big hair, tight pants, bawdy humor, and making life a teenage dream for his wife, Katy Perry. But this 35-year-old British comedian is a romantic at heart—he’s even keeping tabs on the royal wedding (“I wonder what she’ll wear?” he muses). In April, he has two big movies opening: He’s the voice of E.B., the next Easter Bunny, in Hop, and he stars in the remake of Arthur.

Brand talks to Mary Margaret about life on this side of the pond.

Does the bunny in Hop look like you?

I think there are some facial expressions and fac dental similarities. Other de than that, it’s a creation th of tthe brilliant animators.

PARADE Have you gotten used to

living in Los Angeles?

I passed my driver’s license test! My friend Danny says I drive like I’m at a funeral: sensible and calm.

How do you unwind on Sundays?

I hang out with my wife. I like to read, play with our cat, and watch English football. I have a pair of West Ham United slippers and some stripey thermal long johns I romp around in. Very comfy stuff.

What about your tight pants— are they ever hard to get off?

Never too much trouble. You can have zippers fitted at the ankle— they can be helpful. If you have trouble getting pants off, that’s excessive. Once it’s restrictive, you’re out of fashion and into bondage.

What’s the best thing about being married?

Having a friend, having consistency 6 • March 27, 2011

Russell Brand This bad-boy Brit has mellowed— he’s into cats, kids, and keeping fans laughing

in your life. I didn’t come from a big family, so building a family is important to me. Some of my friends have children, and they take your life to different places. That’s something I want to be as involved in as possible, especially once they start laughing and doing stuff.

Do you like making kids’ movies?

I do. Children live in a world

where there is a lot of imagination and freedom, and that’s a nice place to inhabit as a comedian.

What would we be surprised to know about you?

That I’m really kind of shy and normal when I’m at home. All the showing-off stuff is about work.

Was it hard playing a drunk in Arthur now that you’re sober?

It was difficult, yeah. That was one of the areas I had to work on a lot.

I carried a bottle of booze on set and smelled it while we were doing those scenes. [Director] Jason Winer and I had a code for the level of drunkenness in a particular scene: from one to four, one being a little buzzed and four being sloshed. But it’s not a tragic portrayal of a drunken man; it’s not like Leaving Las Vegas.

You worked with Helen Mirren on both Arthur and The Tempest.

Did you bond through humor?

She could get along with anybody, but, yeah, I think we connected with humor. She has a beautiful work ethic and doesn’t make a fuss about anything. I’ve never met anyone more worthy of the title Dame.

Now that you’re doing films, is this the end of Russell the comedian?

No, I love stand-up more than anything. If you’re talking, why not make people laugh?

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I couldn’t be any

luckier

After a roller-coaster couple of years, Phil Mickelson is counting his blessings—and looking forward to a fantastic (and fun) 2011 season

By KATE MEYERS

PHOTO: ISTOCK PHOTO (GOLF BALL)

I

•

Cover and opening photograph by KWAKU ALSTON

t was phil mickelson’s first pga tournament of

Mickelson says. “It came at a perfect time.”

2011, and after battling it out for four rounds and closing In fact, the lows had been devastating. A year earlier, in May of the tournament with four birdies on the back nine, he was 2009, Amy, then 36, was told she had breast cancer. Less than two outgunned by a single shot. On the last hole. By a skinny months later, Mickelson’s mom, Mary, got the same diagnosis. guy named Bubba. Yet throughout the entire nail-biting day at the Mickelson returned to golf early on, but the family’s world had Farmers Insurance Open, Mickelson flashed that sweet smile and been turned upside down. “A good friend of ours said the hardest did the kinds of things he always does: handed a golf ball to a little thing to accept is that your old life is in the past and there’s a new girl who was missing two front teeth, wrote the word “sorry”—a normal,” Mickelson says. “When we looked at it that way, it was like frown inside the “o”—on one of his golf gloves for a spectator he’d a little bit of the pressure was off because it would have been almost hit in the back with an errant drive, and signed a sea of autographs. impossible to get it back the way it was before.”

Second is not where he wanted to finish, but no matter. Life is sweet, Amy and Mary now have good long-term prognoses, but last April’s even on a not-so-sweet day at the office. collective sigh of relief didn’t last long. In June, just before the U.S. Mickelson will be reminded of that next month, when he pulls into Open and six days before his 40th birthday, Mickelson woke up with Magnolia Lane for the 2011 Masters. Because it was excruciating pain in his right ankle, hips, and left index there, at Georgia’s Augusta National last April 11, that finger. “It happened three days after I told Amy that my READY TO PLAY he won his third Masters, a victory he and his wife, Amy, body had never felt this good—strong, loose, and lim“If I’m not having fun on the golf course, celebrated with one of the longest hugs in PGA history: ber,” he says. Mickelson played through the pain and I’m not going to play an in-it-for-life embrace that was more about two peostiffness for weeks (“If I stopped [moving] for 5 or 10 well. You have to enjoy it,” says Mickelson, ple loving each other than about winning. minutes, everything would lock up. And every morning who heads back to “It was an emotional high, and we had been through I would just crawl out of bed, it hurt so bad”) before he the Masters in April. so many emotional lows over the previous 11 months,” got a definitive diagnosis: psoriatic arthritis, an immune

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March 27, 2011 • 9

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I

n this era of golf, mickelson’s

name will always come after Tiger Woods’s. He is the anti-Tiger, though not because he’s gracefully weathered the obstacles life has thrown at him while Tiger is still stinging from self-inflicted wounds. He’s the anti-Tiger because on the course he plays a mildmannered, sometimes bumbling Clark Kent to Woods’s Superman. And fans love him for it. He never looks chiseled, never seems invincible, and—despite 38 PGA wins—has never been No. 1 in the world. He’s been faulted for taking too long to win his first major (in his 12th year as a pro) and for making too many suicidal shots at critical moments. But throughout his nearly 20year professional career, he has had the same caddie, the same manager, and the same wife.

Bones recalls the day in 1993 when Mickelson told him he had just met a young woman named Amy McBride: “I knew within 10 minutes that she was the woman he was going to marry.”

Mickelson kind of melts when he recalls that first meeting, which included playing tennis and talking about how neither of them wanted a 10 • March 27, 2011

THE 2010 MASTERS

Mickelson celebrating with Amy after the final hole.

“She’s the greatest wife a guy could ever hope for. We were just meant to be together.”

serious relationship. “I tried to deny it. Three or four months later, I just knew I wanted to be with her.” After 18 years together, that’s still true. “Phil is so in love with Amy,” his mom says.

“He’ll stand there just staring at her like he’s meeting her for the first time, and she’s the same way with him. It’s neat being around them.”

David Feherty, CBS golf analyst and a former tour professional, has walked many courses with Amy. “Before she got sick, she was omnipresent: Wherever Phil was, that’s where she would be.

I’ve watched her out there trudging through the worst weather imaginable with her umbrella.”

Mickelson will tell you that his favorite day is one on which he and Amy have a date. “I didn’t

need all this to happen to know how lucky I am to have her in my life,” he says. “She constantly challenges me to be a better person, a better husband, a better father, a better golfer.”

By his own account, the golfer struggled with his game much of last year (but still ended 2010 fourth in the Official World Golf Ranking), and he’s eager for a new start. “I’d like to make 2011 the year I thought I would have in 2010.”

Golf can be a cruel game, but Mickelson has proven his resilience. Case in point: the 2006 U.S. Open at Winged Foot, when he stood on the final tee with a one-shot lead and proceeded to unleash a series of cringeworthy shots that resulted in a double bogey and cost him the tournament. Sheer agony, but here’s Mickelson’s story of what happened after: “My daughter Amanda and I [found a quiet] corner to snuggle, and she said, ‘Are you okay, Dad?’ and I said, ‘Well, I’m a little disappointed.

This was a tournament I dreamt of winning as a kid, and I haven’t yet.’ And she said, ‘Well, second is pretty good, Dad. Can I get you a piece of pizza?’

“It was kind of a bigger-picture perspective,” he says, beaming with fatherly pride.

Two days later, Mickelson called Bones to suggest that they take their families to Disneyland.

“This was a guy who had had a pretty bad day at work, who was a big focus of the sport world for the next couple of days, and he decided to go to a place where there’s 100,000 people walking around. His mind-set was: ‘It’s time to move on.

I know my wife loves me, I know my kids love me, I can’t wait to tee it up next time.’ It stung— and then we went to Disneyland.”

Fun is part of Mickelson’s work ethic. In his book One Magical Sunday, he recalls the time when he was 8 and his father made him put his clubs away after he slammed one down in frustration. It didn’t appear, Dad said, that Phil was

What Is Psoriatic Arthritis?

UP TO 30% OF PEOPLE who have the skin condition psoriasis also have psoriatic arthritis (PA), an

immune disease that affects the joints—and many don’t even know it, says Dr. Christopher Ritchlin, professor of medicine at the University of Rochester Medical Center. Yet early detection is critical, Ritchlin warns, because the disease, if left untreated, can cause irreversible joint damage in just two years. Mickelson, who says he had no idea what PA was before he was diagnosed, credits his recovery to his own doctor’s swift intervention. “If you’re experiencing the symptoms I had—pain, stiffness, and swelling in the joints—see a rheumatologist. There are a lot of treatment options that can be effective.” For more information about PA, go to oncoursewithphil.com.

PHOTOS, FROM TOP: HOW/GETTY IMAGES; SKIPPER/REUTERS/CORBIS

disease that attacks the joints and has no cure.

Mickelson is quiet for a moment, taking stock of all that’s happened in the past two years. Then he says, “Amy and I have always said we wanted to grow old together. We just didn’t know old was going to be 38 and 40.”

He can almost make light of it now, but the news about his wife was devastating. “Early on, he told the press that sometimes he’d be driving and just start crying,” says Jim “Bones” Mackay, Mickelson’s caddie going on 20 years. “That’s an amazingly powerful thing for him to say. Part of why he’s successful is that he plays completely without fear. He’s a bulletproof kind of golfer. So for him to say that speaks to how incredibly scary this entire experience was.”

Says Mickelson’s mom, who learned of her own cancer two days before she took the three Mickelson kids (Amanda, 11; Sophia, 9; and Evan, 8) from their home in San Diego to visit Phil and Amy at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston: “He always takes charge and takes care of. This time, he tried, but he couldn’t make it all better.”

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having any fun. One hole later, Phil asked if he could play again. “Dad,” he said, “I think I can have fun now.”

And for Mickelson, fun usually involves taking chances.

“The reason he’s so magnetic to fans is that Phil has this beautiful flaw,” Feherty says. “He’s capable of mercurial brilliance, but at any given moment, he can make the sort of mistake the guy sitting at home would.”

Maybe Mickelson can handle that unpredictability because he’s so predictable off the course.

He’s the husband who always calls his wife after a round. He’s the dad who’ll fly home on a Saturday night (as he did last month at Pebble Beach), even when he’s in contention to win the next day (as he was), so he can attend his daughter’s dance recital. “My family has reduced the effect of my career on my self-esteem,” he says. “When I’m with them, they make me feel special regardless of how I play.”

The Mickelsons’ return to the Masters should present a happier version of the new normal, whether it ends in another celebratory embrace or not. After all, Augusta is where Mickelson’s had some of his sweetest golfing moments. “Phil is like the human equivalent of that golf course: You have to watch every single shot,” Feherty says.

“You never know what’s going to happen.” Translation: If you’re not perfect at the Masters, you can still win. And if there’s one guy who’s capable of stunning imperfection on the golf course, it’s Mickelson.

To hear more from Mickelson, including his thoughts on how Tiger Woods’s game compares with his own, go to Parade.com/mickelson March 27, 2011 • 11

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Cartoon Parade

“Really? Dr. Oz said that about me? On TV?”

“Ork, it creeps me out when you kiss with your eyes open.”

GARY McCOY

CHARLES BARSOTTI

“They’re great with kids, but not all of the defects have been bred out of them yet.”

RINA PICCOLO

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By Roger Rosenblatt

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Take Me Out to the Ball Game Spring is here, and Americans’ thoughts turn—once again—to baseball

W

hen the game

was over, I stood with a bunch of kids outside Yankee Stadium, waiting to get autographs. The Indians’ Bob Feller burst through the door, a losingpitcher’s scowl on his face, and plowed through us, muttering his irritation. Offended, I reported it to my dad, who suggested I write a letter of complaint to the New York Times. I was 10, and it was 1951. I can’t recall if the Times ran my letter, or even if I mailed it. But the incident suggests what an innocent time that was, long before big money divided fans from the stars, when players were expected to sign baseballs and chat with kids in the street.

Yet even now, when a so-so reliever costs $5 million and the stadium serves quiche, baseball retains most of its innocence. Here we are, older and jaded, and still giddy as the season begins. Nothing in American life excites us this way. Of course, my “we” and “us” assume everyone loves the game, but why not? Baseball is America. It’s competitive. It’s green.

And it’s such a well-made invention.

Like the Constitution, baseball has balances between institutional order and individual passion. For over a century, its rules have suffered no major changes. Sixty feet and six inches is still sixty feet and six inches; the bat is the bat; the ball, the ball.

Yet within that sturdy sameness, the individual goes to town. Robin-

14 • March 27, 2011

son Cano flips the ball to first like a 95-mph fastball. Mariano Rivera locates his cutter anywhere he wants to. The Pirates’ Andrew McCutchen runs like a sprinter, and the Cardinals’ Albert Pujols hits everything a country mile. Baseball is the only major sport in which the person, not the ball, does the scoring. Huge Adam Dunn of the White Sox has batted a career .250, while Seattle’s Ichiro Suzuki (170 pounds?) has batted .331. And every feat seems all the more amazing because it is accomplished within the confines of an orderly universe.

The Irish writer Sean O’Faolain said that the most hopeful word in the English language is “and.” And.

Yankee great Mickey Mantle before Game Five of the 1964 World Series (which the Yanks lost to the Cardinals in seven)

And here we go again, longing for the world of pitchers and catchers and balls and strikes. And jobs are hard to come by. And mortgages are hard to pay. And the world may be full of terror and tears. And yet...

There are two seasons to baseball and two seasons of emotions: the heady optimism of spring and early summer and then the dispiriting time not long after the All-Star game, when everything that was heaving with promise comes to a hard end.

From April to August, baseball is Mickey Mantle as a boy with peach

fuzz, an Oklahoma twang, and knees that worked. From August to the Series, it’s the man with bloodshot eyes and a sunbaked neck, and the foolish yearning to play one year too many.

No sport cherishes its memories like baseball. Will you ever forget the picture of Willie Mays’s back as he ran down Vic Wertz’s drive in the 1954 World Series? Will you forget Ted Williams’s last at-bat, how he shot around the bases after his home run and then refused to acknowledge the Boston fans, contemptuous to the end? And Stan Musial’s shy smile?

And Bob Gibson’s glower? And you—will you ever forget you— tossing a ball with your mom or dad in the yard, the two of you connected by nothing but a baseball? You played “catch,” not “throw,” because in no other way were you so completely catching each other.

B

ob feller died last

year. I no longer wait outside Yankee Stadium, and I go to maybe three games a year. Yet I go.

And I always go early, to watch batting practice, and fungo, and the games of pepper. It is then that we can see the players not as tycoons but as kids; then, as the game is about to begin, that we perch on the edge of our seats, all in it together, one game, one country. And Derek Jeter is breaking toward second. And Minnesota’s Joe Mauer is rising from his crouch and pegging the ball low and on the firstbase side of the bag. And Jeter goes in headfirst. And there’s so much dust. And the umpire cries, “Out!” Out? Are you kidding?!

Award-winning writer Roger Rosenblatt is the author of Until It Moves the Human Heart and Making Toast.

PHOTO: AP PHOTO

Views

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