Is This Anything?

With the winter meetings over, baseball news in these parts will disappear until the middle of next month, when the Cubs hold their fan convention. There’s also the possibility of a White Sox trade out of the blue, which is how Rick Hahn likes to do things. (Prediction here: Gavin Sheets to the Padres for a second baseman.) Otherwise, nothing. So, I now have time to consider the story of Olivia Pichardo, the first female baseball player to make an NCAA D-I team; Pichardo made the Brown University Brown Bears as a walk-on this fall. From what I saw, she has a nice left-handed stance. Clare probably stopped playing baseball around the time Pichardo was born. In all that time, no female baseball player has managed what Picardo’s done. To me, this means Clare would’ve face a whole lot of heartbreak trying to be Olivia Picardo. Too soon, my child, too soon. Knowing my daughter, I think she’ll be checking to see how Pichardo fares, come spring. As hard as walking on can be, getting playing time is harder still. A young mother watches a young ballplayer. Somehow, this will affect my grandson. Will Pichardo produce the first crack in baseball’s grass ceiling? Time, which moves both achingly slow and whiplash fast, will tell.