Play ball!

It's time to do a few deep knee bends, break out the glove and toss the old pill around. Ignore the biting wind coming down off the mountain; forget the frozen snow bank in the corner of the parking lot. They don't know what they're talking about. The groundhog says six more weeks of winter? And he calls himself a Phil. Ha!
It's baseball season. No matter how cold it is, that means it's springtime.
Down in Clearwater, Fla., the Phillies are doing wind sprints, taking their practice cuts, and heating up the big talk. And, with apologies to our New York-area alumni, I am psyched! The defending division champions (again, sorry, New York Met fans—tough break!) play their first Grapefruit League game in just a couple weeks. In fact ... why, look at that! We've scheduled the Lehigh Florida Swing for that very same week!
Closer to home, the Lehigh baseball team plays the first game of its 2008 campaign this week, with my son, Logan ’11 on the team for his first Lehigh season. It looks like Lehigh's got a great team this year, and I'm looking forward to an exciting season. To me, nothing says spring at Lehigh quite like a 6-4-3 double play.
Spring training—like spring—is about fresh starts. Everyone is tied for first, and anything can happen. It reminds me of our own spring ritual, commencement, when we send our newest alumni off to a world full of possibilities. It's an exciting time, and it's right around the corner.
We've just started taking reservations for this year's Reunion Weekend, and for the second year, we're combining Reunion and Commencement into a single weekend-long event. Come join us! Welcome a new Lehigh class to the alumni fold, and let them know you've got their backs. Their enthusiasm can be infectious.
In a less metaphorical vein, many of the regional alumni clubs host baseball outings through the spring and summer. They're a fun, low-key way to get involved in the alumni club scene.
And don't forget, the beauty of Lehigh away games is that they give all you further-flung alumni a chance to reconnect. It feels great to cheer the Brown and White to victory, and the teams love to hear alumni yelling for them when they're out on the road. Check out the schedule for a game near you, and help Lehigh be “the team to be beat” in 2008!
Warmly,
--Chris Marshall ’88, ’11P
Alumni Director