I found it equally revealing that to dream you are on a baseball field indicates that you need to pay attention to opportunities that are coming your way.
Now, I ask you, at 76 years of age, what "opportunities" could possibly be coming my way? As for the sexual innuendos...All I can think of are words from the unforgettable Meat Loaf song "Paradise by the Dashboard's Light" from the 1977 album "Bat Out of Hell." It is a duet between Meat Loaf (his real name was Marvin Lee Aday) and singer Ellen Foley that chronicles a young couple as they debate whether or not to “go all the way tonight”.
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| Meat Loaf performing with Ellen Foley. |
The raucous, fever-pitched song is also notable for an extended sequence in which then-New York Yankees play-by-play announcer Phil Rizzuto ostensibly narrates a baseball game. This play-by-play over a car radio serves as a metaphor for the young lovers going “around the bases”. Here is Rizzuto's description of the play on the field.
"Ok, here we go, we got a real pressure cooker
going here, two down, nobody on, no score,
bottom of the ninth, there's the wind-up and
there it is, a line shot up the middle, look
at him go. This boy can really fly!
He's rounding first and really turning it on
now, he's not letting up at all, he's gonna
try for second; the ball is bobbled out in center,
and here comes the throw, and what a throw!
He's gonna slide in head first, here he comes, he's out!
No, wait, safe--safe at second base, this kid really
makes things happen out there.
Batter steps up to the plate, here's the pitch--
he's going, and what a jump he's got, he's trying
for third, here's the throw, it's in the dirt--
safe at third! Holy cow, stolen base!
He's taking a pretty big lead out there, almost
daring him to try and pick him off. The pitcher
glances over, winds up, and it's bunted, bunted
down the third base line, the suicide squeeze is on!
Here he comes, squeeze play, it's gonna be close,
here's the throw, there's the play at the plate,
holy cow, I think he's gonna make it!"
As the play-by-play concludes, Ellen asks Meat Loaf: "Do you love me, really really love me? I got to know right now before we go any further, do you love me, will you love me forever? Will you make me your wife? What's it gonna be boy?..." And Meat, now in a complete frenzy, replies "Let me sleep on it Babe. Babe I'll give you an answer in the morning."
Apart from reading between the lines, the rest is left up to the imagination of the listener. Any way you look at it though, it is a pretty sexy song that involves the game of baseball and I've always loved it.
Now, "why in the world would an article on baseball dreams catch your interest in the first place," you might well ask?
Well you see, I have several recurring dreams about playing baseball. That in itself is not too surprising because I spent the first third of my life deeply involved in the game of baseball both as a player at an advanced level and later as a manager and coach. Without exaggeration, the game was my life. I just cannot fathom why I dream about it all these years later, however.
In the dreams that have been repeated literally hundreds of times over the past 40 years, I am an aging over-the-hill wannabe on a baseball field. In one dream scenario I find myself in the outfield when the ball is hit in my direction. It is a fly ball that I would have normally caught with ease, but in this instance my legs weigh a hundred pounds each and I am running in slow motion -- very slow motion. When I finally do catch up to the ball that has come to rest on the grass, I cannot throw it back to the infield because my arm is stiff beyond belief and I cannot lift it beyond my shoulder...I end up tossing it awkwardly underhand to the nearest player.
In the other dream, I struggle frantically to put on my uniform before a baseball game but, once again, each piece goes on in slow motion. Try as I may, I just cannot hurry. I'm still not completely dressed as the game begins and it seems like I am never going to make it onto the playing field. As the game progresses, my baseball glove suddenly disappears and then I get lost trying to make my way out of the dressing room. I never quite make it and enviously watch the final inning from the stands, feeling very removed from the game in which I was once so actively involved.
So what are these dreams trying to tell me? No question that I am too old to engage in the game of baseball...That I can no longer make plays on the diamond...That I would have trouble getting to first base even if I did hit the ball. I came to grips with the reality of being an over-the-hill athlete many years ago. If I were to have a goal now or a "dream", it would be to hit a home run and to dash around the bases one more time. Now, that would be real gratification.
But what about the sexual innuendos and the "opportunities" I should be looking for? Surely none of this applies to my current advanced stage of life, as one dream expert would have me believe.
Or does it? Know what?...I'm not really sure. Now you've got me thinking!
Is there a parallel between baseball and sex in one's life? Is one synonymous with the other? Or can you have one without the other? I'm not even going to explore that possibility in this post. The truth would be just too painful. Some things have to remain sacred in a man's life.
Like Meat Loaf, I'm going to sleep on it...!
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