Baseball

I’ve not written much about baseball lately. I’ve been watching a fair bit of baseball, however, both live (little league variety) and televised (major league variety).

On the major league side of things, can you believe the standings? Tonight’s not going so well, but the overall standings are, honestly, something to make one smile. But it’s only May. Only May.

I swore I would not be one of those superstitious fans, yet here I sit. I’m thinking I should delete the above paragraph. I haven’t written about major league baseball because I was afraid I was going to jinx something. I cringed when a local paper noted just today how well our knuckleballer is doing. Of course, the knuckleballer started tonight – and he hasn’t had such a great night. Jinx! (But it’s not just pitching issues tonight – the term “run support” comes to mind.)

We local fans are a funny lot. After so many years of disappointment, we are all or nothing. If we win a game, we’re going all the way, baby. If we lose, it’s the end of the world.

But I also laugh at how so many said, in 2004, that they could die happy, now that the home team had won it all. Just that once was all they wanted, needed. How many promised no more criticizing the team now that there was that banner and those gaudy rings? That lasted until Opening Day, 2005, and now so many want more, more, more. Every move by management is scrutinized and (usually) criticized.

Ah, well. As I said, it’s only May.

On the little league front, baseball is overtaking my life. C and M are in different leagues, and both leagues play weeknights. On different fields in different parts of town.

Last week the boys had their games on the same night. Next week they are on alternate nights. This week we have one overlapping night and two single game nights. I’m doing a lot of driving, a lot of trying to feed M picnic style. It’s kinda working, kinda not.

M’s team is fine. M is rather a natural athlete, which makes what will be limitations for him kind of ironic. Right now, though, he’s having a lot of fun. It’s a joy to watch his games.

C is much less natural, athletically speaking. But what he lacks in ease and grace he makes up for in effort, commitment, and in pure love of the game.

The last two years, C had coaches that played favorites, and didn’t so much coach as put some favorite kids in good positions and shake their heads at the “lesser” players. Often C didn’t get the playing time the rules specified. They didn’t see what they were missing in my kid, and I was angry for that, and for the way their ignorance was hurting him. I ended up talking to someone on the league board about it, and I know I wasn’t the only parent having an issue. Still, it was delicate. The protective mama bear in me wanted to lay into these idiot coach fathers, but C wanted me to hold back, not embarrass him. We managed something in the middle.

I have been pleasantly surprised by his coach this year. He moved up a league and is now one of the younger players, so I was concerned about how things would go. His coach, however, gets it. He sees that C brings the love and is totally coachable – he listens and takes direction and suggestions to heart. When C makes a good play, the coach notes it and cheers him – loudly. When a play doesn’t go so well, the coach is encouraging and notes his effort – loudly. C comes home from games happy, whether his team won or not.

Tonight, C wanted to try out for a traveling team. Honestly, I knew he wouldn’t make the team, but I didn’t want to discourage him from trying. So I dropped him off.

A little while later, when I arrived with M and S, C was waiting to bat. Goodness, there were some good hitters. C had a few good cuts, and a solid infield hit. When I watched the pitching, he was right in there. Not as hard or fast as some, but he had a couple good ones.

C got back in the car, dejected. He said he was the worst one out there (I don’t think quite, but I’m his mom), and I could see that maybe he had given up a little mid-way through the tryouts. It was one of those times I wanted clear all the hard stuff away, but I just couldn’t and he and I both knew that.

We talked a little on the way home. I told him how proud I was for his efforts. He didn’t want to hear that. I noted that he was trying out without his glasses (which are being repaired) and that, I’m sure, made a difference, as did the giving up a little. He didn't want to hear that, either. I noted that I saw those good swings, those efforts. Then I noted some of the other kids trying out – kids who had to be reminded, repeatedly, of what they were supposed to be doing. Those kids probably wouldn’t make the team, either, I told him, because it’s not just a bunch of kids with some skills that make a team. It’s the effort and the attitude and the commitment and the skills that bring a team together.

By the end of the evening, C seemed to have recovered. We watched a little baseball before bedtime and after French Horn practice. But then he expressed again that he was the worst one out there. I assured him, again, that he wasn’t. We talked a little about the kids in town who have sports-obsessed fathers and do drills and camps and training all winter long. That’s not us and that’s not right for us, I said. I don’t think he wants that either. I pointed out that R, one boy in particular that he mentioned was really good, 1) is a full-year older as he started Kindergarten late, and therefore physically bigger, 2) doesn’t do any music and dropped out of the junior choir at church last year, 3) didn’t just get selected for a school art show (one of only 15 from his school), and so on.

I think that drove it home for him. As much as he loves baseball and brings that love every time he plays, he knows there is more to life that “just “baseball, or any one thing.

Amid all this, S is absolutely insistent that we are missing her baseball games. She has a team she says, and she wants to go play with her friends. As I’ve said before, that girl is going to be a better player than either of her brothers. I’m off to get myself a new glove tomorrow so she and I can play catch properly.