In a couple of weeks, the smell of hotdogs will be wafting slowly past our noses, and we’ll be dressed in our mukluks, fur-lined gloves, and Inuit parkas, excited for the sounds of the crack of the bat, the roar of the crowd, the chattering of teeth, and the call of “play” from the umpires as the 2020 baseball season begins its campaign. Somebody, please tell me why baseball seems to keep starting earlier, often beginning in cold weather cities, that have open stadiums.

Being a retired teacher, I was often under the constraints, if you will, of the alphabet, having begun my career using the older method of A-B-C grading, and teaching my students to organize things in alphabetical order, or find entries in dictionaries, and/or encyclopedias, a little faster. Some of you younger readers might not know what those last two last items are/were, so you can ask your grandparents. I’m sure they will be able to help you.

That being said, I thought I’d compile my salute to baseball according to the alphabet, naming past players I remember from days gone by, in my alphabetical way.

¯Henry Aaron

¯Babe Ruth

¯Roberto Clemente

¯Dizzy Dean

¯Ernie Banks

¯Bob Feller

¯Lou Gerhig

¯Rogers Hornsby

¯Monte Irvin

¯Jackie Robinson

¯Sandy Koufax

¯Lou Brock

¯Mickey Mantle

¯Nolan Ryan

¯Orlando Cepeda

¯Gaylord Perry

¯Dan Quisenberry

¯Rocky Colavito

¯Stan Musial

¯Ted Williams

¯Bob Uecker

¯Arky Vaughn

¯Willie Mays

¯ Joe Xavier (was a Triple-A player in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Ironically, my father’s name is Joseph Xavier Lombardo (RIP Pop), as my grandparents were devoted to St. Francis Xavier. My Uncle’s middle name is Francis. Many people called Dad, “Joe X,” for Joe Xavier.)

¯Carl Yastrzemski

¯Zoilo Versalles

I’m sure many of you have your own A-B-Cs of baseball and can come up with your own unique lists. I’ll be willing to bet you might have some bumps in the process with the letters Q, X, Y, and Z, but with research, you can do it. A confession: I knew of all but one of these ballplayers by their names and really only had to research hard for one, the letter X. That’s where I discovered Joe Xavier. I never knew of this ballplayer before my research, but if it makes this legit, I knew him, not as a ballplayer, but as a dad, so I give myself credit for knowing all the people on my list without having to look them up.

One of the great things about baseball is that you can create “greatest” lists, lineups, and in the middle of researching and learning more about America’s pastime, you might even find out someone with the same name as your father who played the game which you love so much because he instilled that in you. It’s kind of like Ray Kinsella researching Terrance Mann and finding a character in one of Mann’s narratives having the same name as Ray Kinsella’s father, “Field of Dreams.”

Baseball’s a game rich in history, and steeped in nostalgia. It’s a game of nicknames. It’s a game of songs and movies. It’s a game of hopes and dreams. It’s a game of fantasy.

Baseball is a game that can be played “smaller” on sandlots/playgrounds. I remember games of Lazy Man, Home Run Derby, Ghost Runners, and Pitcher’s Mound is First Base, played on a baseball diamond, with bases, and a home plate. It let us be our own coaches, umpires, even baseball broadcasters from time to time. It allowed us to be our player heroes, those guys in the list above, and let us create mental scenarios like being up to bat, with two outs, in the bottom of the ninth, with bases loaded, and our team down by three, in Game Seven of the World Series, and let us imagine our own ending, crystal-clear, and vividly, in our minds.

Baseball’s a game of statistics. It’s a game celebrated on cards with bubble gum, I’m old. It’s as easy as see the ball, catch the ball, throw the ball, hit the ball, yet so complex in its strategy.

So, enjoy the upcoming baseball season. Celebrate it with the memories you have of the people you remember playing it. Make your own lists about the game. It really is as easy as A-B-C.