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Online now: 3 members: 88magnum, TABLE SETTER 11, Z Man; 110 anonymousDiscussion: 1961: My First Little League Game
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| July 26, 2019 southpaw Men's 70 1077 posts | 1961: My First Little League Game 2 of our 4 grandchildren have spent most of the summer with us and we try to have Bible study and life discussions every few days with them. The other day, I decided to share about my first baseball game when I was 12. I played for the Dodgers and my neighbor, Danny, played for the Cards. We had our first game of the season against each other. A week before opening day we found out that we were to be the starting pitchers. Over the course of the week we kidded each other about striking one another out and who would win the game. Typical 12 year old fun of course. I had never pitched a game before! Nervous was an understatement. On the mound I took a deep breath, wound up like my hero Whitey ford (to the best of my ability) and fired it as hard as I could. Unfortunately, no squaring up, no follow through, no focus on the catcher's mitt and the ball sailed high. In fact, so high that it cleared the back stop, and the press box, and landed in the parking lot! We only got one out before I was pulled in the first inning! By the way, Danny only lasted one inning as well. One may ask what is the life lesson? This is what I shared with my grandson and granddaughter. I did not give up. I wanted to pitch so desperately that for the next two years I practiced every day. It did not matter that everyone in the stands had laughed nor that the coach had no confidence in me and I did not pitch for two years. My grandfather, who lived with us, had a barn behind our house. It was built of concrete blocks and I practiced pitching by drawing a circle on the barn wall and literally threw thousands of pitches until I became pretty accurate and proficient. I started pitching again at 14 and have pitched baseball or softball for all the years since. I will be 70 in August. Not that I have ever been that great, but I do love to play now just as much as ever. And recently I found proof of what I have shared with you! Tim Tebow and his brother financed a faith-based movie entitled "Run the Race" which is now out on video. The family scenes were filmed at the old ramshackle house where I grew up north of Birmingham, Alabama. Almost at the end of the movie, there is a scene where one of the characters is standing in our yard, just outside my bedroom window. In the background is my grandpa's barn and just for a fleeting second, I thought I saw a couple of those holes in the concrete blocks! Perhaps it was just me wanting to relive those memories, but it did bring back some good lessons that I learned quite a while ago and I thought were worth sharing with two of my greatest blessings!! |
| July 30, 2019 southpaw Men's 70 1077 posts | I was hoping someone might share a blast from your past or a lesson learned, etc. Thanks |
