for love of a useless thing that brought joy

When he first arrived, he had a purpose: to gather information about the flora and fauna of the planet they had been sent to explore.

That mission was useful, as were the tasks assigned to him and his shipmates, and he performed them faithfully and in accordance with expectations.

Then, he discovered the game of baseball.

The others declared it "a useless thing", not a subject that would further their goals or enrich their knowledge.

And, even knowing what the others said, he disagreed and followed his heart.

Baseball - specifically, the playing of the game - brought him great joy, like nothing else ever had.

He became known to the people of Earth as Josh Exley and he played for the Roswell Grays.

He was the best hitter on the team, dinging balls over the walls routinely for home runs.

He was beloved by his teammates and adored by their fans, white and black alike.

And why was he playing on the Negro Leagues?

When he had forsaken his mission and taken up ball playing, he became an outlaw to his fellow shipmates, a person to be tracked down and eliminated.

So, he had done his homework and knew no one would seek him out as long as he stayed out of the big leagues and off the media radar.

For a while, his plan worked, allowing him to bring joy to others and to have joy in his life.

Eventually, however, he was found by the assassin, a shape-shifter like himself, after a night game in which he had scored his 61st home run and won for his team.

The assassin did not care about such useless things and plunged the pick into the back of the baseball lover's neck, the one spot for ending their lives.

And the alien known as Josh Exley did die, but not in a pile of green goo that would be expected in such cases.

No, he died in the lifeform he had adopted during this period of joy: he died as a human.

Of course I wept; I cried as though he had been someone I loved dearly.

"The Unnatural" - get the reference? - is one of my favorite episodes of "The X-Files".

I don't know if the World Series game added to the experience for me this time or not, but I do know s6e19 has one of the most cherished moments between Mulder and Scully.

It's her birthday and, to celebrate it, and to celebrate the brief time on the field of the baseball player he'd just found out about, he has her meet him on a local diamond, with a boy to pitch for batting practice... and he teaches her how to play.

And although she had never given much thought to the game, she was hooked by that first contact as her bat hit the whirling leather sphere.

Magical, just as the alien had found it to be.

Baseball - the game spread round the world by our military and our best export, ever.

Now, there's the end of this game in the World Series to watch -

more baseball, until the summer comes again.

i thank You, God.