My Favorite Moments from the 2022 Season
A memory box of live looks that left their impression on me
Photo Credit: Trey Wilson | Richmond Flying Squirrels
To lift the curtain a little bit, when I first conceived of this venture, it wasn’t out of any specific desire to spread my opinions far and wide. I wasn’t really attempting to start a new career. No, this site sprang from a simple quest for joy. I was in a place in my professional life that, while decently lucrative, frankly wasn’t making me very happy. Over the course of many conversations about how to change that, my wise and wonderful wife finally asked the perfect question: where are you happy?
“Perfect” because I happen to have an odd facility for sense memory — if I find I’ve misplaced a coffee mug or water bottle, I can often close my eyes and summon up a memory of the last time I felt its weight in my hand, and then go retrieve the thoughtlessly discarded item. So, faced with my wife’s query, I closed my eyes and tried to summon a sensation of happiness and what instantly came to my mind was an image of standing by the backfields of Indian School Park watching minor leaguers taking batting practice in the spring. And from that sense memory, tied to the simple concept that life is short and we should fill ours with as much joy and positivity as we can, There R Giants was born, and I began sharing my thoughts for the both of you who are reading right now — yes, you two! Thanks so much for coming along!
I mention all this because, as we move into offseason content full of “wrap ups” and “Best of” lists and all, it seems only appropriate that I take a moment to count up my greatest moments, measured in the only currency that matters: the things that brought me the greatest joy this season. Now, not all of the things that bring me joy in this work are “moments,” per se. Walking into the Richmond stadium on a Tuesday and being flooded by the sensations of the stadium waking to a new week — grills firing up, players stretching outside the clubhouse, bats meeting balls in the pregame work routine — always gives me a sense of buoyancy. And being taken out for beers by dedicated readers fills me with genuine sense of gratitude at your generosity and the true bond that we nutty Giants’ prospect followers share.
But those kinds of happiness that float over this entire project don’t condense easily into listicle form, so for today, we’ll confine ourselves to a list of My Favorite Baseball Moments of 2022. My only rules: 1) I had to see it live, and 2) I didn’t need to do any research — these should be moments that impressed me enough that they pop spontaneously to mind as I’m writing.
These moments are generally chronological in order, though I did save my very favorite moment of the year for the end. And so I present to you today, a season constructed of memories…
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