America’s Favorite Pastime

Baseball. A trademark sport for the USA since 1839. A common sport every American has heard of and has tossed the ball around at least once in their lives. Many have gained popularity from the sport like icons such as Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson, etc. and many fans have made the sport a necessity in their lives. But if you aren’t an avid fan of the sport, how much do you really know about it? What is baseball all about? That is a question we sought to unveil while interviewing CB East baseball team member Matthew Rowland.

Baseball teammates always seem to have a good rhythm and melody with one another to have good flow and progression on the field. This rose the question: how do these large teams’ bond to achieve that flow? “As a team, we go on away games and these away games involve long bus rides, and these bus rides is just a time to talk to each other, laugh, joke, all that sort of stuff,” Matt states. The bonding time on the bus for any team involved in high school sports and most likely professional sports is a crucial time for the team to get to know one another while confined in the tight and humid buses. “These guys have become some of my closest friends during the season, and I’m so grateful for them,” says Matt. The friendships created in a high school sport are friendships that the athletes will cherish and remember for the rest of their lives.

Many of the boys on our home team have been involved in the sport for a large portion of their lives. They grew up surrounded by their sport and have many fond memories from it. When asked about his favorite personal memory of the game, Matt replied, “I have to say my first home run. That was an elating feeling.” Getting a point in any sport is incredibly significant for any player, and especially a home run. A home run is decently hard to achieve, especially at the level our East boys play at, so anyone who can achieve this skill must feel this “elating” feeling Matt spoke on. So far this season, we have already had three home runs by our Patriots Chase Harlan, Max McGrady, and Jack Mislan.

There comes a time in many athletes’ career when they ask themselves if it is still worth it to continue down this path. Especially with the added pressure of school, college talks, and social life, the question of perusing a high school sport lingers in many athletes’ minds. That is why it’s so common for these athletes to find inspiration in a peer, mentor, celebrity, etc. “My biggest inspiration is Ryan Good. He is one of my coach’s, strength trainer; he’s the guy who really got me into baseball, the first person that really believed in me, and made me fall in love with baseball,” Matt answered when asked this question. Through the motivation of his coach and the fact someone believed in him helped him pursue his career in baseball and still affects his life in a positive way to this day.

Baseball is one of the most well known sports in America, and thanks to Matthew Rowland we are able to know a little more about the inside of this famous past time. If you are reading this article, stop by to the next Patriots baseball game! Get to see Matt (number 15) and the rest of our amazing team in action!