Going Yard

Tonight is MLB’s All-Star game, affectionately known as the Midsummer Classic to baseball enthusiasts. This was must-see TV for me growing up on the farm where we only had a few over-the-air channels but thousands of baseball cards to pass the time. I couldn’t wait to sit down in front of the tube, adjust the antenna and watch my heroes with the rest of the world. Baseball was everything and the All-Star game had all the hype and pageantry this Kansas kid could handle.

Forty years ago, the 1986 All-Star game featured a starting pitching match-up made in baseball heaven of Roger Clemens vs. Dwight “Doc” Gooden. The “Rocket” vs. “Dr. K". Pure gold. My beloved Royals were even coming off their incredible World Series championship from 1985, so Dick Howser was managing the American League squad with Frank White and George Brettt by his side.

It’s unlikely I’ll tune into the game this year. When the Royals aren’t competitive, baseball is barely on my radar. If KC somehow gets in the race, I’m sure one of my group chats with my back homies will give me plenty of notice to get caught up on Salvy and the fellas. Plus, my personal pastimes have changed. Watching live sports used to play a larger role in my life but these days I find myself gardening, working on a song, writing, reading a book, thumbing through old pictures — as I age, I have a much harder time just passively watching sports, especially if my family is uninterested. There’s just too much else to try.

Gardening has provided some much-needed natural joy and trust to my world over the last several years. Sowing small seeds that welcome prancing pollinators gives me a delightful boost of endorphins and a greater sense of purpose in an enormous universe that often feels incapable of feeling positive influence from a single human being. Growing things is an antidote of sorts to those feelings of helplessness for me and I’m rewarded for the efforts with produce and pomp.

Nature heals. Its beauty and uniqueness bring us into the moment, which is where our minds desperately need to be for restorative respite from our 24/7 TikTok of the modern world that incessantly pings us with emails, texts and low-interest offers to keep us punching that clock and paying those bills. It’s really quite unfortunate how little time we’re allowed to celebrate the beauty that surrounds us because of the capitalistic demands of our day-to-day grind.

The good news is more Americans are finding time with nature through gardening. An estimated 71.5 million U.S. households tend gardens these days, representing 185.9 million people fueled by younger enthusiasts seeking stress relief and fresh produce. Gen Z gardeners increased time spent by 65% in 2024, and millennials now comprise 29% of gardeners. In a society where technology is ubiquitous, more of us are discovering that time and life with the land is good for the soul.

Like life, gardening is a series of trials and errors. Embrace the potential for failure, get your hands dirty, learn from your mistakes and keep planting away with good intentions. Not every seed will grow but you’ll get better and better the more you try. And no life or garden is too small to give it a go. Live in an apartment, find a window for a houseplant or a community garden plot near you. Live on an acreage, maybe it’s time to forgo all that mowing for a natural prairie project. Live in the city with a backyard, a raised bed of dirt with rich Iowa soil can sure produce quite the salsa summer garden. Or just till up the sunniest part of your yard for more native grasses to help water runoff. Many municipalities will even reimburse you for some of these efforts helping conserve water. Bottom line, it’s your adventure. Soil, seeds, sun, water and you.

Growing zinnias has become an absolute treat for me. My Dad is a zinnia master and encouraged me to get started a few years back. Now every year we have a dazzling display of color murmuring in the wind as bees, birds and butterflies blissfully bounce from bloom to bloom. These are my All Stars in 2026, and they don’t have to spend years in the minors developing.

Zinnias are super easy to sow and grow. They love to shine and just need a friendly hand, some sun and water to bring the magic of nature to you all summer long. You can even save the seed in the fall by harvesting the flower heads to plant the following spring. If the soil is turned over enough for the new seeds, a greater power will mostly do the rest.

As I was reading and enjoying the nostalgia about the 1986 All-Star Game, I relearned it was the last game Dick Howser ever managed. He felt ill before the game and broadcasters noticed he was having trouble sending in signals to the players. He was later diagnosed with a brain tumor and passed away at the tender age of 51. I’ll be 51 this year. I had no idea how young he was when I was ten.

The AL won the 1986 All-Star Game game 3–2. In the 7th inning, Royals Hall of Famer Frank White hit a pinch-hit home run to give the AL the lead in what would become Dick Howser’s final career victory. What a tragic turn of events for Howser to go from winning the World Series, to managing the All-Star Game to losing his life to brain cancer in what must have felt like seconds flat. Tragedy sure can distort time. All the more reason to have habits like gardening that can ground you during tough times.

As I was writing this story and rediscovering this Royals lore, I remembered that my good friend Brent McClure sent me a few Royals bobbleheads earlier this year as he was doing a bit of spring cleaning. I decided to open those boxes to grab a few pics for this story. As I carefully removed each bobblehead from its home of two decades, I was ten years old again—back on the farm, poring over my baseball cards and in love with the game. I tapped their heads and they all nodded back at me with enthusiasm. Instead of relegating Dick, Frank and George back to their cases, I arranged the agreeable boys of summer on a bookshelf for my continued enjoyment. I also asked my wife for a quick “going yard” photo shoot for this story. She obliged with expertise and a darling smile. It was fun to be ten again (if but for a moment).

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