two loves

friday night we met up with an old coworker of mickey's from the dot-com days. he's married now with a kidbot who is super fun. the occasion for our reunion was baseball -- mariners vs padres, at their house, because...wait for it: they're bigger baseball fans than perhaps moi. she's the heart and soul behind a mariners fan site that was picked up by the seattle newspaper. their kidbot's middle name is ichiro, and at two years old, he knows names of several players. way cool.

it was fun to get together for a night and chat about all things baseball, with people who genuinely love it. from random stats ("how many ways to get out in a game?") to history, to cheers and jeers for our beloved team (several jeers directed at a "tall cool drink of ugly," her nickname for one said mariner, who'll remain nameless, but points to anyone who can guess).

lining their bookcases were "summerland," "brothers K," and other modern baseball classics. the one i saw missing was "mostly true," by molly o'neill, sister to paul o'neill of yankees fame. received for my bday and just cracked this week, it combines two of my three favorite hobbies, food and baseball, in a touching, amusing and genuine memoir from the only daughter in the o'neill clan. those who don't like baseball won't probably love the book, but coming from a somewhat rabid baseball household, the book resonated with me.

this morning i just finished the book, and the last few pages brought tears to my eyes, for a number of reasons. certainly the end of the book was sentimental as it recounted the 2001 world series, during which o'neill's father passed away and brother paul retired from baseball after winning game 5.

mostly, though, it was one of those books that, upon its conclusion, you feel a sense of loss and emptiness, as though you've said goodbye to a dear friend forever.