Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Baseball and boys


Tom has started baseball and between soccer for Tom and Logan and baseball practices and games, we have started eating dinner any time after about 4 pm to get it done before we race out the door for one sporting event or another. Tom had another game last night and the kid makes me smile. It is so fun to watch them succeed at something that they enjoy. He started playing center field and then moved to catcher and ended the game, they only play three innings after all, as the star third baseman. I was feeding Dylan in the car by this point and could only see parts of the last inning but I saw enough to know he got several out in a row as the ball was hit down the third base line and he caught it and tagged his base in time. Boy is it fun to watch! Just don't tell Gary I think it is fun because I gave him quite a hard time about signing Tom up for another sport when he was already playing soccer.


Gary wrote about the first game on our family website and I thought I'd share it. Every time I read about it, it makes me smile. I'll add some pictures of Tom in his uniform soon.

"Tom had his first Baseball game on Tuesday. Man, he sure looked sharp. Cleats, long socks, pants, jersey, hat. He was a great looking third baseman. He hit really well. It was a blast to watch! The league has a rule that if the kid is going to play the catcher position, he has to wear a protective cup. Oh, did Tom want the cup. So, being the dutiful father that I am, I went to the sporting good store the night before the big game. I walked right over to the baseball stuff and was looking around. A cute salesperson approached me and asked if I needed some help. I said confidently "I am looking for a cup." She took me straight to them, what a great helper. This is where the story begins to unravel. I then said, " What is the smallest one you have?" Looking back on it now, I hope that she knew that I was a proud father, trying to protect my young son, and that I already have my own extra large protective cup! She was quite polite through the entire exchange......Anyway, Tom was way excited the next day when he saw that he now had a cup, and as equally as grand to him was that he could play catcher. So like I said, he started out in the hot corner, and then moved to catcher in the 2nd inning. I hustled in from the first base coaches box to help him get his gear on. The shin guards were up to his thighs, the chest protector was down to his knees, and then, being a bit naive, I helped him put his cup in place, and I just shoved it between his underwear and baseball pants. He caught a great inning. (They use a pitching machine and a bucket of balls, so the catcher just sits back there and lets the balls hit him and then gathers up a handful after a few batters and takes them back to the bucket. There may be a play at home, at which time the catcher may be involved, but don't hold your breath.) At the end of the inning Tom came back to the dugout and said to me "Dad, I don't know wear my cup is." Image my surprise to hear that. It's not like he had left for a while. There were 100 people playing and watching the game, How would something like that escape? Well, it wasn't an escape, more of a migration. In all of Toms "catching", the cup had slid down and to the left. I found it behind his knee, just floating in his baseball pants. I love little league!!"

1 comment:

Laura said...

when i read this on the family website, I died laughing as well. Your kids all entertain me, as well as Gary's story telling skills.