Tonight's adventure was to the opening game of the South Atlantic League baseball season where the Hickory Crawdads hosted the Greensboro Grasshoppers at L.P. Frans Stadium in Hickory, North Carolina. I spent a good deal of time shooting the normal baseball action photos, like I normally do and then I decided to look for some candid opportunities.
I turned around and saw a young man with his father watching the ball game from the front row of seats along the first base line. Three-year-old Brendon McCoy was enjoying the game quite a bit. He brought his baseball mitt with him in hopes of catching a foul ball during the game.
As I think about Brendon and his own adventure to this game, I am reminded of what baseball, and professional sports in general, is all about. It's for the fans. Dreams and ambitions are spawned for young people such as Brendon at these events. These athletes (single-A league) have their own dreams of becoming major league athletes where the big money is handed out. They probably sat in the stadiums, much like Brendon does, when they were young. These guys also spend a good amount of time doing public relations work such as autograph sessions, fan appreciation events, and summer baseball clinics for the local youth athletes. Some of them even seem to enjoy it. They still dream of the day where the big leagues call them up and they can put all the fan appreciation behind them. It's a sad thought sometimes.
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