Warning – If you are not a baseball fan – you should still keep reading. This is really not just a baseball article.

For those who read my columns (both of you) I apologize for having written nothing since November 16. But with my annual seasonal affective disorder kicking in, my motivation just has not been there. Well, seasonal affective is over now, because this week we celebrate that rite of spring, that moment in which hope indeed springs eternal, that moment when we know the gray, brown, bleak days of winter are almost over, that monumental day when all is right again in the world – the reporting of pitchers and catchers to Spring Training, and the end of “the void.”

Let’s face it, we have been successful in escaping an abundance of snow this winter, but that does not mean it’s been all sunshine and premature crocus blooms. After all, Philadelphia did record snowfall for seven out of eight days at one point this month, totaling a whopping 1.1 inches, and while that’s not a lot of snow, it is a lot of clouds, and a lot of cold. I actually do believe this winter has been exceptionally gray, and exceptionally raw. Am I depressing you yet? Fear not… last week the truck full of sunflower seeds and bubble gum, wood bats and baseballs made the trek down I-95 to Clearwater, FL, and by this Friday all the players will follow suit, and the light at the end of the proverbial winter tunnel will be turned on.

The Action News sports reports from the Carpenter Complex will begin today, and the MLB Network will be in full prognostication mode as their broadcasters continue to warm their microphones by the baseball hot stove that will stay fired up for a little while longer. But this reporting to spring training is not one of the top 5 great days of the year solely for baseball purposes – there is much more going on here, people! After all, whether you look forward to summer nights at the ballpark or summer afternoons on the beach, the start of spring training means that in the game of Simon Says, we all just took one giant step forward toward the summer. I know, I know… slow your roll – it’s still only February. I realize that we still have many raw days and probably more gray and brown slush to come before we can break out the Coppertone 45, and there will still be Charles Dickens days when “the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade,” but when you turn on those sports reports, and see the warm wind blowing through the Florida palms, you’re going to feel that itch of spring fever taunting you.

Healing Powers

Spring weather does people wonders. According to a 2010 volume of Human Diseases and Conditions, Seasonal Affective Disorder “ strikes people who live in the northern state of New Hampshire about seven times more frequently than it does people who live in the southern state of Florida,” so if we can’t actually go to Florida this week, perhaps tuning into the spring training reports can at least help us mentally and emotionally transport ourselves to a happier place. After all, that is the unique power and influence that baseball season, and more specifically, spring training can have over us.  Check out this treatment method for Seasonal Affective Disorder:

Following a correct diagnosis, a medical professional may recommend that the patient begin light therapy to treat seasonal affective disorder. People with SAD sit in front of special bright light boxes or wear light visors for a period of 30 minutes to two hours every day, glancing occasionally at the light. To be effective, the light must enter the eyes and not just fall on the skin. Occasionally, people report eyestrain or headaches from the light devices, but they usually experience no other negative side effects. When natural daylight increases, people with SAD discontinue light treatmen (Ferrra).

It seems that, in concept, this treatment could be done in a much less costly way by substituting the “light box” with the a TV tuned to the MLB Network. Stare at that for a couple hours, watch the sun shining on the green grass, and know that in only a matter of time, the same thing will appear outside of our windows. Spring Training does indeed have healing powers, my friends, so if you do not happen to be a baseball fan, look at those television reports not as interesting sports news, but rather as cheap therapy that requires no health insurance and has no negative side effects. And maybe… just maybe… you can learn a little more about the great sport of baseball as well. Here is a better description of the treatment outline above:

Following a correct diagnosis, a baseball professional may recommend that the patient begin light therapy to treat seasonal affective disorder. People with SAD sit in front of a flat screen, LCD or HD TV or wear Ray Bans or Oakleys for a period of 30 minutes to two hours every day, glancing occasionally at the sky and palm trees above the field on the MLB Network. To be effective, the light must enter the eyes and not just fall on the skin. Occasionally, people report eyestrain or headaches from TVs, but they usually experience no other negative side effects, and let’s face it – those side effects are much better than frostbite, chapped lips, and the flu. When natural daylight increases, people with SAD discontinue light treatment by spending the day on the beach or at the ballpark (Manero).

An Escape

Ok – Moby-Dick allusion time! Along Ishmael’s journey in Moby-Dick, Melville explains that “For as this appalling ocean surrounds the verdant land, so in the soul of man there lies one insular Tahiti, full of peace and joy.” Escaping into these first days of pitchers and catchers is tantamount to finding one’s “insular Tahiti” amidst the cold, gray landscape of the Northeast. Whether it’s the pop of the catcher’s mitt that summons the insular Tahiti or just the warm, semi-tropical scenes, there should be enough in the spring training atmosphere to warm the souls of anyone, similar to Ahab’s first appearance on deck when “the red-cheeked, dancing girls, April and May, trip home to the wintry, misanthropic woods; even the barest, ruggedest, most thunder-cloven old oak will at least send forth some few green sprouts, to welcome such glad-hearted visitants” (Melville).

So, give it a shot this week- turn to pitchers and catchers reports and then full squad reports to bring the light and warmth into your days that will be just the right ingredients to erase any winter doldrums that have taken up residence in your soul. That is what spring training can do – for both those who love the game and those who are oblivious to it. The calendar might not say spring, but the baseball calendar does now say “Spring Training,” and to me – that is plenty good enough.

PS – For now…keep your snow shovel on your porch too. Sorry.

 References:

“Seasonal Affective Disorder.” Human Diseases and Conditions. Ed. Miranda Herbert Ferrara. 2nd ed. Vol. 4. Detroit: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 2010. 1466-1467. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 12 Feb. 2013.