It's just a game. And Jayson Stark seems to have never forgotten that.
The ESPN.com scribe writes his columns and stories with enthusiasm that ordinarily only comes through the eyes of a 7-year-old who's seeing his first Big League game at a Big League park. Along with that joy, Stark brings the wisdom of a 65-year-old sage who's seen so many Spring Trainings he knows the kid with the golden arm needs more seasoning and that the veteran shortstop is just a step slower.
Stark combines the heart of a fan with the head of a general manager.
That's why Stark will one day be in the baseball's Hall of Fame.
It's also why you should pick up his new book, "Worth the Wait: Tales of the 2008 Phillies"
Stark's book isn't without its faults.
It's basically his columns from the 2008 season, touched up with the hindsight of 20/20 vision. There are times that sentences get clunky. That tense gets murky.
But you're more than willing to forgive Jayson.
We call him Jayson because, well, he comes off as a friend in this book. Only, one who has a key to the clubhouse.
Stark has the authority to come off as a close friend because he's probably the foremost authority on the Phillies of the past 30 years.
Before moving to ESPN, Stark was a fantastic beat writer for the Philadelphia Inquirer. He covered the championship team in '80 and the ragtag bunch from '93 that captured the pennant and imagination of the Delaware Valley.
Of course, he also was around teams that stunk. Stunk as in fish left out in the August heat for 14 days.
So he knows about The Pain. It's something that comes with being a Phillies fan.
And it all comes through in the book. Whether it is in the retelling of Jimmy Rollins breaking out of a slump or the night Shane Victorino became a Liberty City legend.
The book's best part comes in its introduction when Stark paints the picture of Parade Day and gets the reaction from the players.
As fans, we are used to the players forgetting what it was like to be a fan. They distance themselves from us. Updike wrote when he chronicled Ted Williams' last game, "Gods do not answer letters."
Pinch hitter Greg Dobbs, on Parade Day, was most certainly a god. He'd come up big so many times the previous two seasons. He was a crucial cog in the Phillies Championship.
But Stark gets Dobbs' reaction to the parade: "It really blows your mind. You know, for the most part, we're in kind of our own little bubbles as athletes. But ... I saw grown men and women crying as we were passing by. Literally crying. You know, I'm just a baseball player. That's what I do. I don't hold myself up on any pedestal; I play baseball. And then here I am on this float ... with people looking me in the eye and thanking me, with tears flowing down their faces, for bringing them a championship. That's beyond anything I ever imagined. I get goosebumps just thinking about it. That's an experience that's going to live with me for the rest of my life."
This god might not have answered letters. His responses were delivered to your front door.
That's the beauty of Jayson Stark. And this book.
They make it incredibly fun to be a fan.
And, really, is there anything else we could ask for?
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