My boyfriend loves me, immensely so. But he has a second love, one that he loves arguably as much as me- honestly he might love it more than me, his second love is baseball.
Baseball has been a part of his life, his whole life. He lives and breaths baseball. I’ve grown up around the sport but there was plenty of things I didn’t know when it came to dating a baseball man and here a few of them.
1. Baseball is life to him
Baseball has been a part of his life since he was probably 2 or 3 and could hold a glove. He can’t remember a time in his life without it.
He knows the history, knows the stats of his teams, knows the stats of lots of the key players past and present, if you go over to his place during the season chances are he’s got the game the on- it’s life.
2. Expect for him to nerd out on you
He knows everything about baseball- the past, the present, and he thinks he can predict the future. He’s going to have moments when he randomly launches into a story about why this happened and why this is called this.
He is full of all kind of useless baseball knowledge that will make your head explode and none of which you will remember. But it won’t keep him from doing it.
3. He gets personally offended when he feels like someone has disrespected baseball
Whenever he feels like someone, be it a player, a coach, a manager, whoever, has disrespected the game, he gets personally offended, like someone just insulted him.
You won’t just hear about it that one time either, no, you’ll hear about it for a while. Until he gets over the hurt that he feels, deep in his soul.
It won’t make any sense to you at all. You’ll think he’s being ridiculous, which he is, but he’s a baseball man.
4. Don’t get upset if you feel like he loves baseball more
Baseball has been his love a lot longer than you have. Baseball has been his love since he was 3. Baseball has always been there- through other girlfriends, through both good times and bad, through everything.
Baseball will always be there. It’s nothing personally and he really, most likely, probably doesn’t feel that way, it’s just they’re almost one in the same, him and baseball. Like he needs baseball.
5. He is crazy about “his” team.
He is absolutely crazy about his team, and after dating him for probably only a couple of months, you already knew which one it was. He probably has at least one hat with the logo, and a shirt or two. There’s no denying you were eyeing that old, beat up, ball cap, and wanting to claim it as your own.
That’s something a real baseball lover isn’t going to let you do, well at least not right away. But if you want to score yourself some extra girlfriend points you could buy yourself a super cute shirt with his logo on it; it’ll be the best money you’ve ever spent. He would be pretty excited to see you take interest like that. He knows his teams history, and he’ll nerd out and tell you about it. He knows their best years. He has ideas of what could make them even better and you know he’s going to tell you all about it.
6. He knows his team’s full roster
You can bet that he knows all the players on his team, the positions they play, and maybe not their exact batting average, then again maybe so, but if he doesn’t know their exact batting average, he knows the key hitters and what the line up is.
He knows the players, their numbers, and he knows the moment a trade is made. You’ll hear about it and if he’s excited or not, and why he approves or disapproves of that decision. He’ll stay in tiny coach mode all year round.
7. During baseball season, there’s another woman
I hate to be the one to tell you this, but if your man is a true baseball lover then during baseball season, there’s another woman. Her name is baseball. She is on your boyfriend’s television at the house distracting him there, when y’all go our to eat she’s there, the dirty whore is even on his phone.
You honestly can’t escape her. God forbid that your boyfriend be like mine and umpire too, then there’s seriously no escaping her then. She’s just always around. Always winning.
8. Fantasy baseball is the devil
Whoever invited fantasy baseball has their own idea of cruel and unusual punishment or was the devil, because seriously fantasy baseball is the devil.
He has to change his players and check his scores and who he’s playing. It’s seriously like he’s coaching, add that to a man who is already obsessed with baseball, and it’s an awful combination. It’s just an excuse to be that much more involved in baseball. It’s like a crack addict.
9. They are really easy to shop for
You don’t have to be in their world or understand their world to be able to shop their world-those are entirely different concepts. Men who love baseball will eventually find themselves in position of a baseball bat signed by a team, or a ball signed by a famous pitcher.
They don’t think to put those belongings into display cases to keep them safe and that’s where you come in. Also another awesome gift, tervis tumblers, and just about every MLB team has one. If it’s a spring time, look at going to a minor league game or even a major league game, sometimes you can find cheap tickets.
You can get him a neat book about baseball. When he starts talking about the history notice what he likes talking about, those things give you lots of clues about what to shop for. If you just randomly surprise him with a book, or poster, or a cup with a his favorite baseball legend on it, he’ll be speechless and appreciate it, you noticing what he likes.
10. Planning a date for him is a piece of cake
It is probably one of the easiest things in the world, to plan a date that makes him happy. You just have to put a little bit of thought into it. What does baseball involve? Hitting the ball, throwing the ball, and catching the ball. Well basically. So going off of those fundamentals- You can play catch which would be cute and fun. You can plan a date out at the batting cages.
You could play whiffle ball with some friends. Or y’all could go watch a game. You have a little cousin your close to? Take him to the game. Minor league team play close by? Go watch.
Most of the time you can get seats, that yeah, they aren’t the greatest but who cares? He’ll still love it. You suggest doing things like that and he’ll think that he’s in nirvana.
11. Baseball is a part of who he is
There is no separating baseball from him. It is ingrained into him, and you cannot have one without the other. There is no separating the two, and you wouldn’t want to.
I know the nerding out is a bit annoying at times, but if you want him it just come with the territory. You have to learn to just smile and accept it because that’s him. If you love him, then you have to learn to love that too. It’s just the way that it is.
12. Baseball makes him happy
Don’t take it personally when he says things like he needs baseball to make him happy. It doesn’t mean that you aren’t enough, it’s just he is a rare breed of men who love the game- insanely much.
You’ll notice a difference if he’s gone without doing anything baseball related for a long time and then he goes to the batting cages, he’ll be happy again. It’s seriously like it’s a drug for him.
13. The word diamond means something completely different to him
He is in love with a diamond almost as much as any girl, the difference is, his has grass and dirt and 18 men playing, 9 on each side.
Girls idea of a diamond is nice and shiny and we wear it on our left hand. Baseball men are in no more of a hurry then any other man to put one of those on your hand. No matter how much they may love their own diamond
14. They never really grow up
Baseball men, like most men, never really grow up. They’re like peter pan, or that’s how they see themselves. They still want to be a part of baseball as much as they can- whether that means going to the batting cages, playing fantasy baseball and coaching that way, actually coaching a team, or umpiring, they never want to completely let it go.
In their mind they’re still that young boy who can do it all. You take them to the batting cages, and they still want to go to the fast pitch baseball, when they know they can’t do that anymore. It’s not that they can’t see it and hit the ball, their bodies can’t take it the way it use to.
They don’t want to accept the fact that they’re out of shape and older. They will spend all day showing you that they can still do it for the sake of pride, even if they’ll pay the price later on. They still see themselves as that young, eager little boy who wanted to prove himself. Somethings never change.