I went to a Red Sox game last week and reminisced with my friend about how we came to love baseball as kids and how much we still love it today. Summer is really all about long, hot days and laidback nights with friends and hanging out, and for me it also means watching as many baseball games as possible. Some people don't understand baseball or think it's too "slow," but they just don't get it. The people that do get it, however, are those diehard fans that already have next year's rivalry games marked down. If you're one of those people, the following will also be signs that baseball is your life.
1. You brought your glove to every game as a kid and maybe still bring it to games sometimes.
2. You've sat in basically every section or have seen your favorite team play from every angle of your home field.
3. You still have t-shirts from your favorite World Series team from 2004.
4. You can name every starting player and member of the pitching rotation from that same team.
5. You have stayed up as a kid until the wee hours of the morning to watch your team clinch the World Series.
6. You've cried when your favorite player was traded, even as an adult.
7. You've gone to spring training at least once.
8. You love a good hot dog and soda at the game, especially those Fenway Franks.
9. You used to score the game when you went to watch your team play.
10. You even scored the game as you watched from your couch in your house.
11. You know the difference between a forward-facing "K" and a backward-facing "K."
12. You have a few players around the league that you can't stand. Examples include, but are not limited to, Alex Rodriguez or Manny Machado.
13. You have players around the league that you love and secretly wish were on your team. Examples include, but are not limited to, Bryce Harper and Mike Trout.
14. You've signed your name somewhere in your home team's ballpark, maybe on the Pesky Pole if you're a Sox fan.
15. You respect other teams around the league almost as much as your own.
16. You have a shirt or hat from at least one other MLB team.
17. You thought that you would be playing in the MLB when you were little and people would ask what you wanted to be when you grew up.
18. You love a good baseball fight.
19. You live and breathe to see teams turn double plays with such ease.
20. You had a giant collection of baseball cards when you were a kid that you treasured more than money.
21. You dressed up as your favorite players for Halloween for multiple years in a row.
22. You always guess and pray that some of your favorite players didn't do steroids but possibly did.
23. You've made eye-contact with your favorite player before. I see you, David Ortiz.
24. Getting tickets to games is still like the best gift you could ever receive.
25. The seventh-inning stretch is extremely important to you.
26. You know that night games are way more fun than day games.
27. You feel betrayed and abandoned when your favorite player is traded to your rival.
28. You can reference trades between teams going as far back as 2004 without consulting any Internet source.
29. You follow your team on social media and enter all of its contests.
30. You kept ticket stubs from almost all of your games in your wallet or hung up in your room somewhere.
31. You know that baseball games are best enjoyed by bringing a friend or a loved one.
32. You have the same t-shirt in three different colors for the same player.
33. You can't believe the people who show up to games without a single shred of team gear on. Why did you come?
34. Your camera roll is filled with pictures of your team's ballpark, stats, pictures of your favorite players and ticket information or the schedule.
35. You watch the Homerun Derby every year without fail.
36. You know that the All-Star Game is used solely to determine home-field advantage for the playoffs.
37. You know about your team's history and some of the players that have left their marks on the game- or maybe the game has left its mark on them.
38. You couldn't live without baseball.
