Perfect Inning
By ice rivers
- 196 reads
One perfect inning stands out amongst all the rest.
It was the first game of the year in my son's second year of organized baseball. He had started getting some attention at the tail end of his first year and was well known at the onset of the second year. He had inherited my love for baseball. His talent was becoming obvious.
We played catch all year round. We talked baseball. We collected cards. I explained to him how to work the count. Try to get ahead by taking the first pitch. If it was a ball, be ready to wait on the next pitch. If that was also a ball, get ready to swing at the third pitch because the pitchers is gonna try to get that one across the plate. You will have an advantage.
When it comes to pitching, just try to throw the ball for strikes. You have an entire team backing you up. It's better to let 'em hit it rather than walking the batter. At this early stage of development, most of the pitchers lack control. Don't worry about them hitting the pitch.
The first game of the season is the time when the best player on the team will also probably be the starting pitcher. When we got to the field, we got the news that Beau would be the starter. The word started to spread around the stands "Beau's gonna pitch."
Everybody knew Beau.
I reminded him of our talks as he warmed up.
Most of the people in attendance were aware of him. He didn't appear to be nervous at all when he took the mound. His first pitch to the first batter was a called strike. We all cheered. The second pitch, the batter swung late and missed. The third pitch was another called strike. Three pitches; one out. The same thing happeneed with the second batter. The third batter was the best hitter on their team, a kid called Bobcat. Bobcat was also making a name for himself around the sandlot and neighborhood. Bobcat swung and missed at all three pitches and threw his bat against the backstop. Bobcat's father was also his coach. He bawled Bobcat out not for striking out but for throwing the bat.
Beau had made nine pitches. All of them were strikes. Three kids up, three kids down. I had never seen that happen in a game before or since.
Beau's team came to the plate. The first two kids walked. We wonderd where Beau would be placed in the batting order, usually the best hitter bats third. Beau stepped to the plate with two kids on and nobody out.. He took the first two pitches for balls and was ahead in the count. I whispered to my brother "he's gonna swing at the next pitch". Bobcat delivered the third pitch. Beau creamed it blasting the pitch far over the head of the left fielder. He touched all the bases. Home run.
As he rounded the bases, I was beaming with pride. As he passed third base, he glanced in my direction and tipped his hat. The inning ended.
It could not have gone any better. The rest of the game was anti-climactic. We won easily. I went to all his subsequent games but his is the one that sticks. The future was unlimited. My kid had talent and he listened. I was so proud.
The sun was shining. The field was beautiful. I was totally awake and everything was going into my permanent memory always available for flashback. I started thinking "Yankees" as most father's and sons do at some point before baeball finally breaks our hearts.
Now thirty years later, that inning flashes back once again.
Beau and I have gone our separate ways. We haven't spoken in 20 years. We're doing all right without one another. He played ball all the way through high school. He got a scholarship to go to college. We were close. I never called him "buddy". I called him "handsome boy" and he was and is, although now he's a man.
He got caught in the crossfire of my divorce.
These things happen, I'm told.
Beau has a son named Remington. He's about the age Beau was when we had that inning together. I've never seen my grandson. I've seen pictures of him and he too is a handsome boy.
I hope they have a perfect inning someday if they haven't already and thier game goes the distance.
Maybe someday, we'll all have a game of catch.
I'm not counting on it.
I had a perfect inning...not everybody has that.
- Log in to post comments