Seriously?
Baseball is the be-all and end-all of your life?
Yet another example of “Bread and Circuses”.
At the end of his essay, Giamatti addressed your valid concern:
“Of course, there are those who learn after the first few times. They grow out of sports. And there are others who were born with the wisdom to know that nothing lasts. These are the truly tough among us, the ones who can live without illusion, or without even the hope of illusion. I am not that grown-up or up-to-date. I am a simpler creature, tied to more primitive patterns and cycles. I need to think something lasts forever, and it might as well be that state of being that is a game; it might as well be that, in a green field, in the sun.”
God made the earth for us to enjoy, and it’s tough to remember it’s not supposed to be enjoyed for its own sake, but because of Him. For a lot of us, baseball’s one of those attachments that’ll be tough to leave behind some day. But it helps to think of it as an “illusion”, fully knowing that it is.