I'm not the first person to embark on The Baseball Road Trip Of A Lifetime. And I certainly won't be the last. While visiting all 30 MLB ballparks is not a novel idea, the experiences are my own, and I'm enjoying them thoroughly. The memories will most definitely remain with me forever.
One of those before me was Jason Guindon. At the age of 26, while pursuing his Masters in Education, and teaching in beautiful British Columbia, Jason set off in a van with his best friend Adam. It was Jason's childhood dream to visit all 30 Major League Baseball stadiums and, before life got a little too busy, he was off to realize that dream.
Jason loved baseball. It was one of his passions in life; so much so that he was instrumental in creating the first Canadian University Baseball League. McMaster University has Jason to thank for setting up its baseball program. Today, baseball is indeed part of the Ontario University Athletics association, and the winning team each year takes home the Jason Guindon Memorial Cup. In October 2008, the trophy went home; the McMaster Marauders celebrated their first OUA baseball championship. And there's no doubt Jason Guindon was watching from above.
You see, Jason never made it to the end of his baseball road trip of a lifetime. More than twenty games into their trip, Jason and Adam tragically met with a car accident in Texas. Adam survived; Jason, sadly, did not.
Jason has constantly been in my thoughts -- every few hours, everyday -- since his cousin, Stacey, sent me an e-mail last week. She told me reading Stealing Home leaves her smiling "ear-to-ear," and that she can hear Jason's voice when she thinks of him, he undoubtedly enjoying his journey as I am enjoying mine. Stacey wrote that she's cheering me on, hopeful that I will make it home safe; that my stories are touching to a family that remembers their own doing the same thing. Her e-mail left me in tears, and not knowing how to respond.
Were Jason alive today, I know we would have made great friends. There's probably so much he could have told me before I hit the road. And, because it feels like the right thing to do, I'd like to dedicate the rest of Stealing Home, the rest of my own baseball road trip of a lifetime, to Jason Guindon's memory. Jason would have been only 38 years young three days ago, on May 14. And I sincerely hope to finish the journey he wasn't able to.
Thank you, Stacey, for being in touch. Your e-mail is one I will never, ever forget.
And you know those baseball Gods I'm always talking about? That have blessed me on my journey? I've no doubt Jason is one of them.
