Saying “I Love You” With Baseball

Sung J. Woo

我的父親不是個愛表達情感的人，我想我也不是。我為棒球而狂，是紐約大都會隊的死忠粉，而我的父親——他最喜歡的兩項運動是高爾夫和釣魚，雖然在我看來那根本算不上運動。其實，父親對我來說也只是個“熟悉的陌生人”。他唯一一次陪我打棒球——當他一次次拙劣地用手掌心徑直接球時，我甚至難堪得想鉆進地縫。直到1985年的那天，紐約大都會在世界大賽上竟出乎意料摘得桂冠。雖然口口聲聲陪我看球的父親早已打起盹來，但那又如何呢？我們一起看了這場比賽，而他那沉重的接球聲也將永遠刻在我的腦海。

Football may be America’s most popular sport, but baseball is still where our hearts lie, especially this weekend when the season starts anew. Back in 1985, my own heart was firmly with the New York Mets1. New York Mets: 紐約大都會隊，美國職業(yè)棒球大聯盟球隊之一，隸屬于國家聯盟東區(qū)。. Most of my friends were Yankees fans,which was precisely why this immigrant teenager fell for the Mets:2. Yankees: 紐約揚基隊，美國職業(yè)棒球大聯盟球隊之一，隸屬于美國聯盟東區(qū)，是世界上最著名的體育俱樂部之一；immigrant: 移民的；fall for: 迷戀，愛上。They needed my help. They won my loyalty when they lost the division to the St. Louis Cardinals that year, proving once again that misery loves company.3. 然而，他們那年在分區(qū)比賽中輸給了圣路易斯紅雀隊，同時也贏得了我的衷心，這再一次證明了什么叫做禍不單行。division: 賽區(qū)；St. Louis Cardinals: 圣路易斯紅雀隊，美國職業(yè)棒球大聯盟球隊之一，隸屬于國家聯盟中區(qū)。

My father, on the other hand, did not care about baseball, and truth be told, I wasn’t entirely certain he cared about me. He’d left South Korea for America when I was a toddler, and seven years passed before my mother, my siblings and I followed him here.4. toddler: 初學走路的孩子；sibling: 兄弟姐妹。By’85 our family had been reunited for four years, so I probably should have known him better. But I didn’t.

The problem was, he didn’t talk much and wasn’t the touchy-feely5. touchy-feely: 過于情感化的。type,and I guess I wasn’t, either. We spent many hours at the Oriental gift shop he owned at the Jersey Shore, where we sold silk kimonos and ceramic vases and trinkets from the Far East.6. Oriental: 東方的；kimono: 和服；ceramic: 陶瓷的；vase: 花瓶；trinket: 小玩意，小裝飾物。But that added up to just being in the same place at the same time.7. 但這最多就是我和他在同一個地方、同一個時間里出現。In a way, my father was like a co-worker at a job, a familiar stranger I saw every day.

Two recreational activities8. recreational activity: 娛樂活動。he enjoyed were golfing and fishing, neither of which I considered a real sport. On our days off during the summer, he’d drag the whole family to the piers to fish, and whenever I cast a line, I’d swing the rod like a bat, much to his chagrin.9. 趕上我們夏天休息的時候，他就會帶我們一家人去碼頭海釣，然而每當我拋出魚線時，我都會把釣竿像棒球桿那樣一揮，這讓我父親著實懊惱。pier: 碼頭；rod: 釣竿；bat:（棒球）球棒；chagrin: 失望，懊惱。Back at the store, I listened to games on my Walkman, oblivious to customers who waved their arms to get my attention.10. Walkman: 日本索尼公司生產的個人隨身音樂播放器，后泛指各類隨身聽；oblivious: 遺忘的，不注意的。

Watching those slick major leaguers turn double plays on television made me want a glove of my own.11. slick: 嫻熟的，靈巧的；double play:雙殺，指在棒球比賽中一系列連貫防守動作造成兩名進攻球員同時出局；glove: 手套。To my surprise, my father said he wanted one, too.

“You?” I asked. “Really?”

“Yes,” he said. He was on the portly side and not exactly graceful, but then again, one of the pitchers on the Mets, Sid Fernandez, was even fatter and threw one heck of a curveball.12. portly: 肥胖的；pitcher: 投手；one heck of a...: 很棒的；curveball: 弧線球。So I thought, Why not?

We bought two gloves, and that evening, he suggested we go out to the courtyard in our apartment complex and toss the ball around.13. apartment complex: 公寓大樓；toss:投擲。I’d already practiced catching and throwing in gym class at school, but I could tell this was a first for my father, because every time he caught the ball, it landed squarely in his palm instead of the webbing.14. squarely: 徑直地，不偏不倚地；webbing:（棒球手套）拇指與食指間的、由皮革編織的擋球網。If you’ve ever caught a ball with a baseball glove, you know how much this hurts.

But my father caught ball after ball this way. Slap!15. slap: 啪地擊打。Slap! He winced16. wince: 畏縮，退避。.After about five minutes, I told him I’d had enough. It wasn’t out of mercy,but for my own self-interest. Neighborhood kids were watching and would no doubt tease17. tease: 取笑。me later for having an old man who didn’t even know how to properly catch a baseball.

My father took the glove off and shook his left hand. His palm was as red as a beet18. beet: 甜菜根。.

Dad, who passed away 11 years ago, never told me he loved me. But that sound of the baseball landing in the soft flesh of his hand, over and over again—it spoke its own tender language, though at the time, all I felt was shame.

In 1986, the Mets owned the best record in baseball. We squeaked by the Houston Astros’ Mike Scott, he of the gravitydefying split-finger fastball, and then it was on to the World Series.19. 我們險勝休斯敦太空人隊，接住了邁克·斯科特那一反地心引力的快速指叉球，然后進入了世界大賽。squeak by: 險勝，僥幸成功；Houston Astros: 休斯敦太空人隊，美國職業(yè)棒球大聯盟球隊之一，隸屬于美國聯盟西區(qū)；gravity-defying: 違反地心引力的；split-finger fastball: 快速指叉球，是棒球中的一種球路；World Series: 世界大賽，是美國職棒大聯盟每年10月舉行的總冠軍賽，是美國以及加拿大職業(yè)棒球最高等級的賽事。The World Series! I was beyond excited, and then I was beyond inconsolable20. inconsolable: 極度傷心的，無法安慰的。. I watched the first five games of the series alone and I suffered with my team. In a blink, the Boston Red Sox were a win away from taking the title.21. 轉眼之間，波士頓紅襪隊只差一場比賽就能最終摘得桂冠。in a blink: 一眨眼；Boston Red Sox: 波士頓紅襪隊，美國職業(yè)棒球大聯盟球隊之一，隸屬于美國聯盟東區(qū)；title:桂冠。Saturday would be the sixth game, and even though Saturdays were the busiest days for the store, I had to stay home.

“My team needs me,” I told my parents.

“That’s ridiculous!” my mother said.

“It’s OK,” my father said. “We’ll manage.”

It was 10 at night when my parents returned, exhausted. My mother headed straight for bed, but my father hung around.

“Why are you here?” I asked.

“I want to see the game,” he said.

I said nothing. I was mad. I was mad at my parents, for no real reason except that I was an insufferable adolescent and they were often in my field of vision. I was mad because the Mets were losing. And I got madder still when I caught my father nodding off22. nod off: 打盹。. He was falling asleep because it was now past midnight and he’d had a long day, but in that moment, I was so indignant23. indignant: 憤慨的。. My team was one strike away from losing everything, and it felt as if it was his fault.

Then, as we now know, the impossible happened in the bottom of the 10th inning: two runs to tie,24. inning: （棒球的）一局；run: （棒球中的）得分；tie: 打成平局。then the ball rolled between poor Bill Buckner’s legs.

I jumped out of my seat as Ray Knight scampered home for the improbable, ridiculous win.25. scamper: 飛奔；home: （棒球）本壘；improbable: 不大可能的；ridiculous: 荒謬可笑的。My father blinked and clapped26. clap: 拍手。.

It didn’t feel like it at the time, but you know what? We watched that game together.