It’s baseball season again and now that we’ve played a few years, we’re starting to get serious. Practices are longer and we now have kid pitchers who throw the ball for part of the game. Coaches take notes on little pads of paper and I look around wondering which of the neighborhood kids might play professionally one day. We’re not a baseball family-we are all still learning a ton about the sport. I try and practice with them but the guys think I need to buy a pitching machine because my pitches are impossible to hit. It’s fun to picnic in the park and throw the ball around though and I think we’re all getting better at throwing and catching this year.
I’ve been reading the kids a new book about baseball illustrated by an artist we love from the Larry Gets Lost Series. John Skewes is an amazing Seattle-based illustrator and I love his art. And this story “A Ticket to the Pennnant” is a historical tale of baseball in Seattle by Mark Holtzen, a Seattle-based teacher, and it tells of a team that we had way before the Seattle Mariners. I love the reference to Borrachini Bakery, one of Seattle’s oldest bakeries and reading this reminded me we need to revisit again soon. I love learning about the city and it’s fun to teach my kids about history while talking about a sport they love.
(PS. I was given a copy of a Ticket to the Pennant to review but was not required to post and these thoughts and ideas are my own.)
Terumi Pong is a Seattle-based family travel writer and mom of twin teenage boys. She loves coffee and pastries, shopping local and looking for greener ways to live. She is also known as Scout’s mom (Scout is a 5ish pound little black yorkie-poo)