Ah spring, and a young man’s fancy turns to baseball, I think.

It’s been a long time since my thoughts turned to baseball, but I guess this year I’m going to try and give baseball another chance.

There are basically two reasons, two miracles: the Chicago Cubs won the World Series in 2016 for the first time since 1908, and the Houston Astros in 2017 for the first time ever. With those two miracles, it’s about time I recalled the days of my youth and took another shot at becoming a fan.

There was once a time when I was a big baseball fan. I had a mega collection of Topps baseball cards and sat in front of the TV every Saturday afternoon with my dad to watch the game of the week (in those days, there were only three television channels) on NBC with Hall of Famers Pee Wee Reese and Dizzy Dean handling the play-by-play and the color. Every so often, Dizzy would break into a chorus of “Wabash Cannonball.”

We sat in front of the tube and watched players like Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, Whitey Ford and Yogi Berra, Don Gibson and Lou Brock, Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale, Bobby  Bonds (Barry’s father) and Willie Stargell.

When the Colt .45s (now the Astros) came to Houston and the south had its first major league team, we had additional exposure the National Game when WBRZ in Baton Rouge carried the games. I guess  I’m one of the few folks left alive to say he saw the progression of the Astros from a AAA team in the St. Louis organization called the “Buffs,” to the Colts (I actually saw a game in Colt Stadium in the shadow of the Astrodome) to the Astros.

I guess in a way, I became an Astros fan, as did a lot of people in Louisiana, and we all waited to see that first World Series win.

But eventually my interest in major league faded. I don’t know why, but I guess one reason was it made me feel old. Not because I was watching the sons of the players I idolized as a child, but because I began watching their grandsons. And that can make you feel old.

Also, there were two other changes, Astroturf and the designated hitter. And there was this thing about aluminum baseball bats in the college and lower ranks. The Astroturf I could live with, but I have always felt the introduction of the designated hitter and aluminum baseball bats to be the decline of civilization as we know it.

But after watching games while I was on vacation last week inspired me to put aside my objections to the game and sit down and start watching baseball again.

So I’m going to try and get back to watching “America’s Game,” and see if I can recapture that fervor I once had for the game. Besides, I need some way to keep interested until football season.

John Surratt is a staff writer for The Vicksburg Post. You may reach him at john.surratt@vicksburgpost.com