Our institutions are a source of great pride, be they museums, fine public buildings or orchestras. Athletic teams are institutions on another level, a collection of human beings who have the talent to achieve what we, the common people, cannot. We secretly wish we could be them. We like to think their investment in us is as great as ours is in them. But even if that is not so, they wear our city's name across their chests.

Baseball is part of what makes a community. When we learn who these athletes are, about their backgrounds and dreams, we become even more invested. We want them to achieve greatness the way we want our own children to prosper. When they do, we cannot help but scream inside and out.