Reaching for the Stars (One Sixty-Two: Day 33)

Writer’s note: One Sixty-Two is a season-long series of blog posts connecting baseball’s major-league players to life’s universal themes. Just as there are 162 games in a season, so there will be 162 posts in this series. Let’s play some ball.

Day Thirty-Three: Hunter Pence, Houston Astros

Every year around the start of the baseball season, Katie and I sit down and look at the logos of each major-league team. She loves art much more than she loves baseball, so our passions meet as we sit down and analyze the different designs on each of the 30 teams’ ball caps and uniforms.

Katie has always appreciated the classic, interwoven “NY” on both the Yankees’ and Mets’ hats, as well as the Olde English “B” of the Boston Red Sox. She’s got a soft spot in her heart for the connected “KC” on the Kansas City Royals cap, as she sees the logo and recognizes the first letters of her first name and her sister’s. (I think she also likes the fact that the K for Katie is on top of the C for Chelsea. You know those big sisters.)

Some caps and uniforms move beyond mere letters, featuring designs that are more likely to attract an 8-year-old’s attention. Katie loves the detailed drawings of birds on the Orioles, Cardinals and Blue Jays uniforms, as well as the nautical design on the Seattle Mariners’ cap.

This year, though, Katie’s favorite logo was none of the above, and it was an easy choice for her. She picked the snazzy, space-age star atop the Houston Astros’ caps. It was a choice that will surely impress her uncle, as my brother has been wearing Astros caps since he found one in the Baseball Hall of Fame gift shop in Cooperstown, N.Y., at age 6.

We have Super-8 video of Eric running around the backyard wearing his bright orange Astros cap. Flash-forward some 15 years, and we have video of Eric walking across the stage for his college graduation, his tassel attached not to a graduation cap, but rather to yet another bright orange Astros cap.

The kid was never a big Astros fan; he was always a die-hard Yankees guy. I think it was just the novelty of this team, from thousands of miles away, with a really cool cap and some neat players – J.R. Richard and Jose Cruz from one generation, then Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio from another.

This year’s Astros don’t wear an orange cap – they’ve got a more reserved, black cap these days. But the star is still there, and it is orange and white. The ‘Stros don’t have much of a team these days, either, as they’ve got the worst record in the National League. But with a young, slugging right fielder named Hunter Pence, and some other budding talent, there is hope in Houston for the years ahead.

As for now, though, most of baseball’s stars are shining for other teams. The Astros turn to their logo, and hope it’s a sign of things to come. Katie, I’m afraid, won’t notice either way. She’s more interested in copying the design. Artists are busy these days.