Mom’s melanoma treatment was showing positive results, so taking advantage of the moment, we left her in Shooney’s care and headed out to Goodyear, Arizona to visit Juniper and Big B during Spring Training. We relished the anticipation of visiting our family, witnessing Big B live his dream, and exploring a new town. The trip was looking like a home run before we even touched down at Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix.

I always imagined spring training as a casual event  where laid back teams of grown men participated in pick-up baseball games on diamonds set within chain link fences and studded with simple aluminum bleachers. How surprising to find instead, a mini stadium  outfitted with all the requisite fold-up arm-chair seating, concessions, and fan fare to please 10,000  fans. I was astonished to learn that Phoenix and its environs were home to ten of such  complexes.

Goodyear Ballpark

The Goodyear Ballpark is fairly new, having been opened  in 2009. It is shared by the Cleveland Indians and Cincinnati Reds, and so includes all the offices, practice fields, and amenities needed to support each team. Studded with palm trees and stadium lights, the sprawling campus rises out of the Sonoran dessert and is guarded at the entrance by a tall, white, oddly shaped sentinel festooned with red lacing circling its swollen mid section. We had trouble interpreting its meaning, and Big B was not much help: provenance of the stadium adornment was understandably not on his radar, so he was unable to offer any insight. The gift shop clerk confidently informed us that the monument represented the compressed shape of a baseball when it comes into perfect contact with a bat. Hmmm. I was doubtful. I suspected that nobody wanted to admit it was really a phallic symbol paying homage to a time honored, manly pastime where big sticks and balls played pivotal rolls.

Loaded down with t-shirts and bottles of official ballpark mustard, we headed home to put McGator and Lil’ B down for their naps. I was still curious about the origin of the ballpark monument, and spent the afternoon Googling its mystery.

The Ziz

Prized as a work of art by the city of Goodyear, the sculpture was created from fiber glass and concrete by renowned sculptor  David Lipski, and dubbed “The Ziz” after a giant, mythical bird found in Hebrew folklore. It’s height of 60’6″ reflects the exact distance from home plate to the  pitcher’s mound. It’s shape was inspired by a series of works  created by  Romanian sculptor Constantine Brancusi in 1923 entitled “Bird in Space”. Brancusi’s vision was to create the elongated  body of a bird in motion, without wings or feathers, and Lipski chose to pay tribute to the Romanian artist by recreating that silhouette for The Ziz. The theme of flight is a nod to Goodyear’s key role in aviation. The city began as humble cotton fields planted by the Goodyear Tire Company to provide the component fibers needed to produce the airplane tires outfitting World War II fighter planes.

The Eye of the Beholder

I looked at The Ziz with fresh eyes. The contours of a bird in flight gracefully emerged from

the nonsensical tower that was just standing there,  and I appreciated that more thought went into The Ziz’s creation than what I had originally assumed. What a shame its purpose was not more prominently displayed, so that others might  also be enlightened. I brought the story of The Ziz up at dinner, thinking it would inspire great conversation. My family quickly set me straight:

• McGator: The wings are the most fascinating part of the bird. Why would you take those off?
• Juniper: Mom, that’s your take away from Spring Training?
• Big B: There was a sculpture at the ball park?
• Shooney: Mom, please stop talking!
• Bo: Sorry I’m late. What’s up?
• Big B: do you have a photo of it?
• Juniper: Mom, do you even remember the game?
• Shooney: Mom, please don’t re-tell  this story to Bo!
• Big B: Nobody is thinking about art when they go to the ball park.
• McGator: I can’t believe that guy took the wings off the bird!
• Bo: What’s for dinner?

The Zest

Well. That’s what you get when you try to think outside the diamond in a sports loving family. And yes, Juniper, of course I remember the game. It was a beautiful evening, Lil B was gurgling happily on your lap, the stands were full, and Big B, living his dream, strode handsomely to the  mound and pitched against the Seattle Mariners.