All American Sport

This evening I made a detour on the way home from work to a T-ball game. The rush of wonderful baseball memories flooded over me going to, while at and going home from the game.

My draw to the game was my four and half year old great nephew--Matthew. Until his mom signed him up for the team, Matthew hadn't put a glove on his hand. I doubt he had swung a bat even. Only a hand full of players on the team had played before. The coaches did a tolerable job in getting some basics in before this first game. Watch the ball. Get the ball to a base. Hit and run to first. One foot on the base, the other a step toward the next base. While in the field, put your hands on your knees so you are ready to go after the ball. And, again, WATCH THE BALL!

Needless to say these little boys need more experience running. Playing in the yard and riding tricycles and chasing friends around help strengthen those leg muscles and give more endurance.

The game took me back 26 years to when Wally signed up and played T-ball the first time. That baseball elation kept me on an upper for six or seven years attending his games. I think I may have missed three games he had over those years.

That first team for Wally had only one boy that had played on a team before. Sure you, too, can remember these wonderful moments: The child that hits the ball and runs to first; coach yells "Keep going" so the player runs on the white line (as instructed in practice) to the outfield instead of turning to second base. And there is always the batter that hits and runs to third base. Many of the players don't throw the ball, they chase the runner down.

I remember the night Wally was in the outfield, scooped up the ball and knew he could outrun the batter. He ran all the way in with everyone yelling "THROW THE BALL." As he got just past the pitcher, he heard everyone and stopped, then he looped the ball to the catcher.

Those early baseball years were also full of lots of learning for the players. Of course the skills were developed and honed. Understanding of the game and its objectives were learned. Then there was a shift to strategy with bunting, stealing bases, throwing out the lead runner.

But the greatest growth I witnessed in those ball players was loyalty, support and camaraderie. Wally had a girl on his team for several years. She got hit by a pitch in practice one day and was skittish at the plate after that. But the boys encouraged her every time she got up to bat. I never heard one of them put her down when they lost a game because of her outs. The night she was finally able to swing the bat at a ball instead of jumping backwards, the team and all the parents in the stands went crazy for her. It was bedlam. I can't tell you if she got on base or was thrown out. It didn't matter. The boys gave her the game ball that night even though one of them had hit a home run--home runs usually garnered the game ball. I like to call it building character.

When Wally went to high school and chose NJROTC over playing baseball, I had withdrawal. Heck, he was a great first baseman. At 6 feet 3 or 4 inches with size 13 or 14 shoes, he could put one foot on first base and reach half way to second base! And run? Boy, could he run. A friend of his on another team playing third base commented after a game, "I could hear Wally coming-clomp, clomp, clomp-around second and right at me."

My love for baseball began when I was eight years old; that's when my parents bought our first television. On Saturday afternoons Daddy would sit down in the living room floor and turn on the baseball game. I'd join him. Mom loved watching the World Series every year. In fact her favorite player was Whitey Ford. Do you remember him?

In 1970 C and I moved to Cincinnati, home of the Reds. That summer the Reds moved out of their old stadium and into Riverfront Stadium. We got to some games there. And to be a name dropper--we witnessed Roberto Clemente (Pittsburg Pirate) hit an inside the park home run. I remember C saying "He was rounding second before that ball started coming down."

This was when the Big Red Machine was being built. Johnny Bench, Pete Rose, Joe Morgan, Tony Perez, Sparky Anderson, Lee May, Dave Concepcion, to name a few.

After moving south again, the Atlanta Braves took first place for me. I must add that I am a National League fan. I really was hoping the Tampa Bay Rays would be an NL team and was very disappointed they went to the AL.

Baseball is called the All American sport. I love college football and college basketball--not pro. But I love baseball from T-ball to pro.

And I love the baseball movies: Bad News Bears (1 & 2), The Natural, Field of Dreams, Angels in the Outfield, A League of Their Own, Bull Durham.

I hope my little Elliot will play T-ball in a year or two. Attending his games would be top on my list. For now I'll attend and support Matthew in his pursuit of the game.

Tonight I was beaming with pride when, at his very first T-ball game, Matthew's coach presented him with the game ball for his "two great hits." Way to go Matthew Tyler!