What a huge week for Connor and his pop. Tuesday we had another baseball practice and
it was actually fulfilling to see some of the kids make gains after only two
practices. On Thursday (yes even in the
cold and damp) as soon as I got home from work I said, “Connor, let’s go work
on your swing we have a game this Saturday.”
Our neighbor has a batting cage and generously gave us carte blanche to
use it. Connor cheerfully put his shoes
on and his batting helmet and we trotted over.
We figured out a few things in the swing and he mostly took to it. Then while we were playing a running game I
asked him to throw the ball to me. His
release point has been off and he sometimes throws it straight into the
ground. But our neighbor’s cage has a
pitching screen. I told Connor to stand
behind it and throw me the ball. First
two went into the net, from then on…awesome.
Okay, so here it is Saturday. Game day.
As you know Connor has focus issues.
I know most of you are thinking, “What little boy doesn’t?” Without
going into a ton of detail, we’ll just say that Connor wants to focus, but he
can’t. A better description is he
focuses on EVERYthing, not just one thing.
So my expectations were that he mostly stay inside the ball park,
occasionally look towards the batter when in the field and intermittently run
to the correct base. My expectations
were very low, but I wanted him to have fun.
First inning the coach puts him at 3rd base and asks me to go
help with the left side. So I have short, 3rd, LF, and LC. No problem, but why would you put my son who
has only been at this for two weeks of his life at 3rd …or anywhere
in the infield really? Now my focus was
on his facing the batter and hoping he might accidentally block a ball.
First batter up. “Pitcher pitch, batter bat.” The first ball is a slow dribbler toward the
short stop. My short stop is stuck in
quicksand. Connor immediately charges
the ball, picks it up about three steps from the pitcher who is waiting for the
ball to get there and then throws it toward the first baseman who doesn’t field
it. Such is tee ball. Connor is also slated to bat second. He hits a decent ball passed the pitcher. He
runs to all the correct bases, is listening to his coaches and scores his first
run (station to station). We have one kid who is a straight up ball
player. His name is Dylan and in his
last at-bat he smoked one to the fence on a hop. I am predicting about 5 – 10 inside the
parkers for this boy. Anyway, he stings
one up the middle in the first inning and the poor little boy on the other team
who was pitching went down to field it and it hit him in the mouth. There was a little blood and a bucket of
tears. Now I know it hurt, and tasting
the blood probably made it even scarier.
But this little boy was inconsolable.
He had to leave the field, dugout, and eventually even the stands. I predict he will never play again. Not due to anything medical, just my hunch on
how it all went down. Put it this way,
if his mom and dad don’t get a baseball in his hand by today, it’s over. Kind of like that time you had one tequila
too many…remember that time? Well those
of you who can still drink it know it was because you jumped back on the horse
right away.
Next inning comes and our coach puts Connor at pitcher. This is where Connor’s attention span
helps. He may not have even realized the
plight of the other pitcher could happen to him. But here was the even better part. The other team hit about eight balls in the
infield. Connor went after every one of
them and charged everything in front of him.
One play between second and first Connor literally ran over our first
basemen trying to get to the ball. In
fact if he would have raised his arms it would have looked like the iconic Jack
O’Callahan picture when the Americans beat the Russians in 1980. The moral of
this story is Connor is a ball hawk. In
the third inning they put him at Left and he raced passed the third baseman and
shortstop for a grounder in the hole. He
actually beat them to the ball. We laughed
and of course coached him on what and where to be.
So my point is, the kid has a nose for the ball. He’s always been fearless (roller coasters
notwithstanding), but he also has lost interest in things over short amounts of
time. Imagine my amazement that here
finally is the one thing he can stay focused on for an hour. And I mean ONE thing. Getting to the baseball. Now I also realize that this may not stick,
and he may transition to something, lose interest, etc. But for that one day with me out there with
him he seemed to love the game as much as I did. I cannot adequately describe how much deeper
our bond was that day. I couldn’t wash
the pride off for the next two days. I hope
his interest lasts, but even if it doesn’t, that day will go down as one of my
favorite days in my life. I almost feel
like Richard Dryfus should be narrating this.
After the game he was all smiles and telling Godzilla stories to his
teammates. It was awesome. He even went over and got Josie a juice box
from the after-the-game “team snack” area.
Abuelita was at the game and she said, “Marco, he actually has some
talent.” Two days later on the way to
school he asked me if I would take him to an Express baseball game (local AAA
team). He really has shown genuine
interest. So I don’t know if he’s going
pro or anything…but he has the intangibles.
This could get good.
Post script. Yesterday was the 19th anniversary
of my father’s passing. I was watching
the A&M baseball game on my computer just before dinner, looked down at the
date and it hit me. Dad’s last day was
with me watching an A&M baseball game.
Now here I am coaching Connor and his tee ball team and it really made
me feel that connection to baseball, my dad, and my best friends (thanks for
connecting the dots Natalie). When I look deep inside, I know it was baseball
that connected me to everything. My dad,
my friends, my College, even my transition from private school to public high
school, baseball was the common denominator.
This is why I guess it is so important for me to help Connor fall in
love with this game. It’s like a
courtship really, can’t rush it or push it, it just has to be. I’m already getting thanks and feedback from
parents regarding my coaching of their children and it’s only been a few weeks.
Connor asked me last night again if I would get tickets to a baseball game with
him. Come on April!
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