Guest post: Baseball cards, Dad and Target Field

Paul Polivka, 45, is a lifelong resident of Minneapolis and has loved baseball since childhood. Howard will be writing infrequently for the next couple of weeks, so if you would like to submit a guest post, email him HERE. My first vivid memories of following baseball go back to 1974, when I was nine years old. My Dad bought me my first pack of Topps baseball cards, which I quickly grew fascinated by. The seemingly endless stream of statistics for each player mesmerized me, from the abundant numbers on the back of Harmon Killebrew's card to the scarceness of stats on Glenn Borgmann's card; they all were valuable to me. Obviously, I had to go see these players in action. My Dad had brought me to my first game at the old Met a year or two earlier, but this was the year that I started to fall under the spell of the game. I knew these players now, from Rod Carew's lofty batting average to Tony Oliva's declining numbers and being told by my Dad that injuries had taken away Tony O's magic. I knew their faces, hometown, and the year they were born. I knew more about these players then I did about some family members. I was hooked. I continued to collect baseball cards into the early 1980s, each season starting with my Dad buying that first pack in late March. I also continued going to games with my Dad at the Met, followed by our first game at the Dome in 1982. As young adulthood came, the lure of buying a new season of baseball cards faded, even though Dad still offered to buy that first pack. However, my love of the game only grew as my Dad and I continued to see games together at the Dome. My Dad passed away in 1996. After his passing, to reflect on the time we shared as father and son, I went to the back of my closet and went through my old baseball card collection. Though the cards themselves, with their faded pictures and ever present stats, flooded me with fond memories, it was the memory of my Dad buying those packs of cards for me that was the true treasure. At the home opener this year, as his name graced the Memorial Wall and his spirit filled my heart, my Dad and I attended our first game together at Target Field.