At the Ol' Ballgame....With My Child

I’m hooked and I don’t care. I knew I would be. It was just a matter of time.... a few years...... until he was old enough. My brother tells me it will be over in a wink and I am sure he’s right, but I like winks and this one heightens the anticipation of much fun to come. Baseball has been in full swing for a couple of months and we’ve had WAY more fun than I ever expected. It doesn’t hurt that Jeff is the coach thus in control of the could be insane practice schedule and that we are playing with good friends and that we practice 3 minutes from home and that we get to play games on a real field. Even if our team lost every week-- and, thankfully, we have not-- I think we would be having just as much fun. (Don’t think I believe that for a minute. I am just supposed to say that.)

When we played T-ball, I knew Brighton liked it. It was simple and a great introduction. As he is still being introduced to this great game, he loves it more with each practice and game. He gets almost excited about baseball as he does reading books! Ha! OVER the top, turbo-chatty, hyper-dance-around-the-kitchen EXCITED. Reading gets a somewhat less enthusiastic response, but I’ll live. The league we are playing in this year is a tad more organized and from what I hear, slightly more competitive as the boys get older, which could prove disastrous for me. I’ll just add it to the list of one more area of santification... Oh, I have behaved and will continue to, as long as we win. KIDDING. I have cheered for the other teams on occasion. At this Pee Wee stage, it is an exciting moment when a five or six year old scoops up the grounder, throws the ball to first and the first baseman CATCHES the ball before the runner makes contact with the bag. It’s a triumph, I tell you. That play right there wins and loses Pee Wee baseball games. You can’t help but cheer for WHOMEVER makes this happen. Coaches’ chests auto-inflate---- like their boys make that play all the time----- or sometimes in a moment of forgetfulness, the coaches jump up and down like school boys. Most entertaining, I assure you.

We have NOT won all our games and some innings, my friends and I have thrown up silent prayers for it just to be over, but overall they have done really well. Basically, in this age bracket the name of the game is to keep the other team from scoring their possible 5 runs per inning. (Inning is over if the team scores 5 runs.) Holding a team to 4 runs in one inning can win the game.

I think it has surprised ALL of us- Moms and Dads alike- how much we have enjoyed the season and how worked up we can get. One morning I thought of just how many Pee Wee games were going on that particular Saturday across the nation and how many parents and friends were cheering or wringing their hands. The game I was watching was important to about, maybe, 50 people?? And why? For the simple reason, he is MY child, their child and so it goes. We cheer and wring because the child is, simply, ours. I knew I was in a mess when, oh, by the 3rd or 4th game, there were 2 outs, 2 boys on base and we were losing by one. Brighton was next in the line up. My heart started racing, my palms were sweaty and I had to get up...........to pace. Pee Wee Ball!!! Pacing! I have a strange, yet familiar feeling it won't be my last episode of pacing. And all because it is my child.

The following pictures show you where he likes to spend a lot of his time-- just for a little added drama.

I just happened to catch this grin when his sister yelled at him from the stands.

So after he made this stop, he actually made the throw to first, his friend Asher caught it and this is what B did next......

"Two away, everybody! Two away!"

"I see great things in baseball. It's our game - the American game. It will take our people out-of-doors, fill them with oxygen, give them a larger physical stoicism. Tend to relieve us from being a nervous, dyspeptic set. Repair these losses, and be a blessing to us." ~Walt Whitman