And the pitch!
I encouraged my kids to play either of two sports: swimming or soccer. They’re both fairly easy to understand.
In swimming the person who touches the wall first wins (assuming they swam the proper stroke legally).
In soccer, one team is heading toward one goal, the other toward the other. Kick the ball in the correct goal and your team scores a point. (Of course there are other rules, but that’s the general idea.)
Baseball, on the other hand, is not so easy.
I grew up on baseball, living in Cooperstown (home of the Baseball Hall of Fame and alleged birthplace of the game) and having a father who made annual pilgrimages to Fenway Park in Boston. I can still name Red Sox players from those days: Carl Yastrzemski, Tony Conigliaro, Rico Petrocelli, Carlton Fisk.
After my father died, a man told me the story of how he first met my father — they were both driving to a spot outside town (the dump) where they could pick up WBZ to listen to the Red Sox game in the car. When Keith realized that my father was listening to the same game, he tapped on the car window, introduced himself, and thereafter they listened together and became friends with the common bond of Red Sox baseball.
But baseball is hard to understand. Just ask a tee-ball coach. They’re the ones trying to explain the hitting, running around the bases, fielding, tagging the runner, etc. etc etc.
I’ve watched the little faces of the players go blank as the coach loses them in his explanation.
I’ve watched kids run around the bases in the wrong direction because the coach neglected to mention that requirement.
I’ve watched players making dandelion crowns in the outfield because they don’t understand that they are still playing the game even though they feel like they are just standing around far from where the game is actually taking place.
Yep. Baseball fails to hold the attention of young people.
They won’t understand for a decade that the pitcher (when they’ve moved beyond tee-ball and actually have a pitcher) and the batter are really two chess players trying to outthink and thereby outplay the other.
No – a lot of them will be swimming or playing soccer because their mom was bored with baseball.
Still, I love watching that moment when the pitcher is leaning in, resting his hand with the ball on his back, studying the batter, watching the signals the catcher is giving him, deciding in a moment which pitch to throw. Meanwhile the batter is mentally running through the pitches he has seen the pitcher throw and deciding how he will respond to each one.
Yeah, I love that moment.
But, honestly, I love watching the hand hit the touchpad in pool even more.
This is my response to Linda Hill’s Stream of Consciouness Saturday prompt: pitch
