MICHAEL KIRAL / L’Observateur / Febuary 17, 1999

With a steady breeze blowing and the temperatures dipping into the 50s Saturday, it was hard to believe that spring was just around the corner.

But forget the groundhog or the nutria, for baseball and softball fans, the crack of the bat is the true harbinger of spring.

The St. Charles Catholic Lady Comet Jamboree opened the softball seasonin the River Parishes Saturday and the regular season officially opened Monday. Jam-borees open the baseball season this weekend and the firstgames that count will be Monday.

College baseball and softball seasons are in full swing. River Parishesnative Mackey Waguespack became South-eastern’s all-time leading home run hitter last Tuesday and Hahnville graduate Weylin Guidry pitched for LSU Saturday.

Major League baseball camps open in a couple of weeks with locals such as Gerald Williams, Thomas Pittman, Carl Schutz, Courtney Mitchell and Lenny Webster make the trek to Florida and Arizona. The first of manybaseball publications are hitting the racks, giving their previews of the upcoming season.

But previewing a baseball season is like forecasting the weather. You canhave all the facts but anything is possible at anytime. The winds can befickle, blowing in a storm or making for a bright, breezy day.

Who could have dreamed a year ago that the River Parishes would end the softball season with two state champions – Lutcher and St. CharlesCatholic? That Riverside and St. Charles Catholic would play for the Class2A state championship? That the New Orleans Zephyrs would capture the Triple A World Series title? Who could have predicted the events of the 1998 Major League baseball season? Mark McGwire hitting 70 home runs? Come on. McGwire andSammy Sosa both breaking Roger Maris’ season home run record. Couldn’thappen. David Wells pitching a perfect game? That was about as likely tohappen as the San Diego Padres playing in the World Series.

Baseball became the National Pastime again in 1998. The home run chasebetween McGwire and Sosa took us away, if just for a little while, from the Bill Clinton-Monica Lewinsky scandal.

And on one night in St. Louis last September, baseball showed all that isright about sports. That was the night McGwire lined a shot over the leftfield wall in Busch Stadium, eclipsing Maris with his 62 home run of the season and rounded the bases with the exuberance of a Little Leaguer hitting his first dinger. The night McGwire came back to the dugout andgave a bear hug to his son then went up to the stands to hug the Maris family.

Baseball was back. And so it is again this spring waiting to provide morememories.

Let’s play ball.

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