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Fan Confidence: the Baseball Bucket List

By soco

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The most literal photo/article combination.
The most literal photo/article combination.

Pop culture loves nostalgia.  It loves nostalgia because it is inherently a narcissistic culture.  From the 80's revival (soon to be 90's) going on right now, to grown people actually reminiscing about plastic video game boxes, pop culture is always looking inward on itself because it lacks the ability to have perspective.  It celebrates, after all, what is popular.

The bucket list, the idea, not the awful movie, seems in many ways a practice in nostalgia.  Let's make a list of things I need to do to feel accomplished!  It's a very ends-based thought process, but it should instead be means-based.  In other words, to use an overused parental phrase, "it's not the destination that matters, but the journey."

So with that in mind I thought I'd share my baseball bucket list, and perhaps encourage others to talk about things they'd like to experience with baseball.  Ultimately, though, it's about who you experience these things with.

A selection from my bucket list

 

  1. See all 30 teams in their home stadium (3 of 30)
  2. See a game at ASU's Packard Stadium (completed)
  3. Go to an All-Star Game (completed)
  4. Go to a World Series Game
  5. Get an autograph directly from a player (completed)
  6. Catch a foul ball
  7. Play a full season of vintage baseball
  8. Teach a kid how to play baseball
  9. Teach a kid how to score baseball
  10. Visit all of the D-backs minor league affiliates
  11. Visit 2 oldest ballparks, Rickwood and Bisbee
  12. Go to College World Series
  13. Visit Baseball Hall of Fame
  14. Visit Negro League Museum
  15. Attend a doubleheader
  16. Sit in scout seats
  17. Sit in a luxury suite
  18. Attend SABR Convention
  19. Have a paper published in a SABR journal

 

It's not going to kill me if I don't accomplish most or any of this.  Some of it is out of my hands (such as catching a foul ball).  Others are longer shots, or based on significant monetary contributions (luxury suite).  I figure if I can cross off a few over the years as I watch baseball, then that will be excellent.  

If you want ideas on what to put in your own baseball bucket list, there's an extensive book that lists 162 things baseball fans should experience.   Snooping around on Google found a few blog entries with some other ideas: here, here, and here.

What's on your baseball bucket list?

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