The Major League baseball All-Star game is tonight in St. Louis (although it's 5:00 a.m. on Wed. morning where I am right now). I remember watching the All-Star games growing up, always rooting for whatever team Sam rooted against. He was usually for the American League. I always rooted for the National League, and whatever beloved Cubbie happened to be on the team that year. Dad surprised Sam and I with tickets to the game in 1977. It was held in Yankee Stadium. Mom stayed home. Dan didn't, and still doesn't, enjoy baseball. His sport is football. He stayed home with Mom. Dad, Uncle Larry, Sam, me, and my cousins Bryan and Tommy drove from Winston-Salem, North Carolina to the Bronx, New York. We must have looked like quite a bunch driving along the highway. It was my first trip to Yankee Stadium, and yes, it was incredible. Every baseball fan should see a game inside Yankee Stadium; although the new stadium just can't ever be the same as the old one. The National League won that game. Johnny Bench signed my Cubs hat (which is ironic looking back), and the four of us kids got to have a conversation (albeit a 20 second one) with Carlton Fisk. It was a little boy's dream vacation.

Dad, Sam, and I drove over to Atlanta in 2000 for the All-Star game at Turner Field. It wasn't the same as that trip in '77. It was still baseball, but the players' approach to the fans had changed. There are still players who will mingle with the fans, but there are also too many of them who have forgotten us. It's sad, because my own son really enjoys baseball. I want Aaron to have those heroes that will walk over to sign a mitt or a baseball instead of walking past without a single glance.