I can't even begin to tell you how many Independence Days I have spent at ball parks over the years – Crosley Field, Riverfront Stadium, Great American Ball Park.
Some were just dusty sandlots where I was playing as a kid or, as a grownup, coaching other kids in Knothole baseball, teaching them to play the greatest game ever invented and how to behave like good sports doing it.
But last Saturday was the saddest of them all.