A Perfect Night in My Home State

As a kid growing up in a small town in Iowa, there wasn’t a whole lot to do.

We were too small of a town to have a swimming pool and the closest one was nine miles away. That’s a bit too far for a ten-year-old to ride his bike, swim all day and then ride back. Believe me, I did try it once. I was completely worn out before I tried to ride back home. Luckily, one of my friends’ dad drove me home with my bike in the back of his truck.

The one thing we did have as kids was baseball, and I played it every year. Little League, Babe Ruth, and High School. Graduating the same year a certain baseball...