Pizza or steak tonight?

Maybe it’s me, but every time the catcher approaches the mound to talk with the pitcher, I have to wonder what they are talking about? Is it the height of his pitch, how to scare the batter, or better yet, “which restaurants are good here wherever we are playing?” I bet sometimes it’s food talk.

There have been countless times when I have been at sporting events when you know the team is just killing time. Maybe they are waiting for the relief pitcher to warm his arm up, or perhaps the goalie to get his pads on, who knows? They do. The one event I do remember was when I was a kid and the St. Louis Blues were playing--- they had only suited up one goalie for the game. I mean, what could possibly happen, why do have two goalies? All it means is more laundry after the game and who needs that? Then slap shot hit Jacques Plante, the Blues goalie, in the head. He was knocked out cold.

So what do you do? Of course, you as the defensemen skate out to center ice, drop your gloves and start pummel the unexpected winger from the other team. For good measure, and just to make sure your goalie is ready to play, why not have other members of the team get into it? This really happened, and probably took 20 minutes to clean everything up. A few minutes later, Glenn Hall was good to go in goal.

One thing about being a photographer, and this is just the way it is, but you really don’t use all of your senses when you are shooting pictures. Because of this, I am not always in tune with what’s going on around me. You certainly use your eyes, and you for sure use touch—but taste, hearing and smell are pretty much in a holding pattern. Okay, if someone is eating a hot dog or popcorn, you for sure can still feel the hunger pangs. But it’s funny you really do tune everything out. That’s why I try to catch the unexpected pictures, like a pitcher and catcher talking, because I think there is a story to tell when looking at it.

The photo above was taken at Miller Park in Milwaukee, WI a few years ago. The game was going into 2+ hours, and you just knew both teams, especially the L.A. Dodgers were ready to call it a night. Of what I recall, both teams were out of playoff contention and had pretty much called it a season. They were just going through the motions and looking forward to time off. I didn’t have the opportunity to yell out to them, but if I had, I would have let them know there were some great restaurants in downtown Milwaukee…then again, they probably wanted to have a brat and you can find those at the concession stand.

Thanks for stopping by.