Summer means popsicles and running through the sprinklers. It means no school and camping trips. It means the beach, sunburns, and fireworks. And, for me, it also means baseball.
How can you not be romantic about baseball?
That line is from Moneyball, a baseball movie about the Oakland Athletics starring Brad Pitt. I love that line, because, for me, it’s the truth.
God bless “the boys of summer” because they make fireworks happen! My team is the Houston Astros, and I attended my very first game when I was five years old. My dad and my uncle Billy took me and my younger sister. It was perfection because not only is the game easy to understand, I got to jump up and down, and yell, and cheer, and sing and no one told me to be quiet. (People were forever telling me to be quiet when I was younger!)
Anyway, to me, baseball is romantic. I’ve spent my anniversary at baseball games. I love to relax, eat peanuts, drink a coke, have some ice cream, and keep score in my playbook while I watch those boys make magic happen.
In fact, I love baseball so much, I write it into my romances.
My most recent release, THE RAIN LILY takes place in Houston, and my hero, Keaton Hayes, is a pitcher for the Houston Buffaloes. The Buffaloes were a real team, and they won the championship in 1905, which is when THE RAIN LILY takes place.
I surely enjoyed researching this team and others. Baseball has been around since the late 1840s and started in New Jersey. Houston had a team in the 1880s, but they were called the Mud Cats at that time. The team had a few name changes, even calling themselves the Magnolias because Houston was nicknamed “Magnolia City” for a good while. Eventually, they settled on the Houston Buffaloes, naming themselves after Buffalo Bayou, the city’s main source of commerce. If it hadn’t been for the winding bayou that curves its way through our city, there’d be no Houston.
Even though baseball isn’t central to the plot of THE RAIN LILY, it makes the story richer. It gives insight into Keaton and who he is as a person. I love it when characters have outside pursuits within a romance novel. Often, that’s when you learn more about the time period and people’s daily lives.
Loving the game is in my blood. Even though most of my family lives in Texas, and we do love football, it’s baseball that’s always been our sport. No matter what. In fact, when I was researching my family, I found two pictures of my great-grandfather that I’m sharing with y’all. These photos are the only ones we have of him, and until I saw them, I never knew what he looked like. He died when my grandmother was six, and I’ve always been curious about him. He was a farmer from Kansas.
Here’s the other picture I have of him. Isn’t he sooo handsome?
Thank you for letting me gush about baseball today. I’d love to hear what summer activities you enjoy! Comment below, and three people will win a copy of THE RAIN LILY!
You’ll love Adeline, a lively, bold young woman who’s fighting to get back to the person she used to be, and Keaton, an elusive bachelor who challenges her not to hide in the shadows.
ABOUT KARA:
My love of reading began when I picked up my first Rudyard Kipling book at age four. Somehow my enthusiasm for the written word turned into a writing career. Becoming an author was not something I planned on, but now that I’m here, I intend to write stories that make readers smile, cry and laugh. I hope my books help you connect with life, with love, and take away the stress of your day.
The books I write include strong family bonds, loyal friendships, mischief, humor, a little bit of suspense, plenty of steamy romance, and happy ever afters. After a little bit of trouble, the characters get everything they want!
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