At The Baseball Game

I love watching baseball games. I can't remember a time when I didn't. I got to know Eric in High School when I was the baseball team manager and he was a player on the team. He was shy, but he'd always wander over to my spot on the bench to see what the score was. At the time I didn't realize that he was a stats guy, that he always knew what the score was, but he just wanted to talk to me. Silly kids. Anyway, a love of baseball goes way back....for both of us. We watch a lot of games during the summer. Here is a typical one.

Billy has been playing outfield quite a bit on this team. He catches sometimes, but mostly plays out in the field. This team has 12 players and they keep the playing time equal...so they play a full game and then play a half game. Last night was a half game for him...in left field. He didn't get any action out there.

This was Billy's first at bat. His hitting has really been coming around the last few weeks. He looks pretty confident here....

....and then a pitch comes in high and inside...right at his head! He turned and got out of the way enough to protect his head...whew....then he laid there a little while. Then he got up and gave the pitcher the nastiest stink eye I've seen in a long time. He wasn't a happy camper...

...but he was a base runner. He took a lead.....

...they tried and failed to pick him off.

He took a bigger lead....

...and when the time was just right he took off...

...safe at second. We do a lot of baseball laundry around here.

He made it to third...and there he stayed until the end of the inning.

In between innings I asked him if he was ok. He snarled at me that he was fine. Alrighty then. Before too long it was his turn to bat again. He's looking pretty serious. And still a little cranky. He fouled one off. Then....

...the pitch came in and with a mighty swing and the crack of the bat he was off....

...running to first...I peeked to see where the ball had gone, it was headed to the fence at center field....

....running to 2nd.....

...oh...he's not slowing down...

...headed towards 3rd...

....the ball is coming....the boy is diving head first....

...and sliding foooorrrreeeeevvvveeeerrrrr......

...into 3rd. The ball got there, but the 3rd baseman caught it but was behind the base.

Billy got there in a small cloud of dust....

....the ump got there in time to make the call....

....SAFE! He was in with a 3 run triple.

Hey pitcher....that will learn ya for tossing a ball at my boys head! And then Billy ended up stranded at 3rd base. And then it was his turn to sit. Sigh. They won the game 6 to 2. It was an exciting game. And I'm glad that Billy wasn't hurt. They play the same team again tonight, at home. Hopefully the fun will continue.

Having a boy that loves the game has been pretty wonderful for us. I watch and take pictures....and keep the uniform washed. Eric helps to coach and keeps the book and the stats. The down side is that our other son Brian isn't interested and isn't a part of it at all. We would never push him into playing a sport if he doesn't want to. He played when he was little but didn't enjoy it....and that's perfectly fine. The hard thing has been to keep an equal balance of time with them when one boy is so active in sports and the other boy is mostly interested in things that are more solitary. I do know that it's not right to spend more time with one child than the other, but it also doesn't seem right to not be a part of something that the other one is so passionate about. It's hard sometimes, and not fair. But I think that the key is that they both know that time spent watching a game doesn't equal love....and that supporting what they love, and loving them both more than anything else in the world are the things that balance it all.