Sun Tzu
06-01-2010, 05:18 PM
I've had the baseball itch for a while now. I'm not sure what gave it to me...maybe it was playing so much "MLB The Show." Whatever it was, I decided to give baseball another try while I was young enough to do it (I'm 28). I emailed the commissioner for the Oahu Mens Baseball League on Wednesday of last week, and he told me to come on out on Saturday around 10:15 or so to "show what I've got" and that we would go from there.
Alright, well first thing I had to do was go to Sports Authority and pick up some cleats, a baseball bat and a pair balls (yes that's right, balls). I spent the rest of the week playing catch and taking grounders from my wife so I wouldn't look like a complete idiot when I showed up on Saturday. I felt pretty confident in my abilities, and chalked it up to baseball being like riding a bike. As long as you've got the mechanics hanging around somewhere, you'll shake rust off in just a few days.
So I show up on Saturday and met up with the commish. His name is Paul, and he's probably about 50 years old. The team that he heads up and plays on is made up of 1/2 middle aged guys, and 1/2 guys in their late 20's or early 30's. When I get there the first thing he asks is "where are your pants? you can't play without pants". Maybe you should have told me to bring pants and not made it seem like I was just going to be taking grounders and hitting some balls. Old fucker.
Anyways, one of the other guys had a spare pair of pants and socks which I threw on, and proceeded to warm up my arm. I hit some balls into the net and chatted it up with another older guy named Richard (who has a son-in-law named Nick) who has been on the island for 25 years now. Once I got that down I was informed that I would be playing in that days game...which starts in about 10 minutes.
Holy crap.
I use to play 3B and SS back in the day, but one of the coaches seems to have nailed down the SS spot and another vet was playing 3B already. I told them I'll play wherever they needed me and I promptly was sent to RF for the day.
In my first at bat I worked the count to 3-2 before walking. The next guy got a hit moving me to second, and then a wild pitch moved me over to third. A couple balls later and the pitcher had walked the bases loaded. The next batter came up and the first pitch was a wild one flying to the backstop...shit RUN. I sprinted home and dove feet first en route to scoring my first run in over 10 years. Woohoo!
My second at bat came with the bases loaded and two outs. It was against a different pitcher who threw very slow and was all over the place with his command, making him very hard to hit. I watched the first pitch paint the inside corner for a strike, then the next two pitches bounced a foot off the other side of the plate. The fourth pitch was slow and low but right over the middle so I took an excited hack at it, whiffing badly and finishing my swing before the ball even crossed the plate. I stepped out of the box and took a deep breath, reminding myself that this guy was throwing 70 mph at best and to wait before swinging. This pitcher had thrown a curveball to every single batter he had faced since coming into the game...except me. I dug into the box, told myself "here comes a 2-2 bender...just wait on it" and got in my stance. The pitcher shook the catcher off once, then delivered. The next pitch was another straight fastball, right down the heart of the plate, and I was as frozen as a naked eskimo. I turned around to look at the ump who just shook his head at me and then punched me out to end the inning.
fuck
The game ended with us winning 9-1 and was called after the time limit of 2:30 expired. I finished going 0 for 1 with a run scored and one put out in right field. Our next game is this upcoming Saturday at 2:30. I've been telling myself all week to not expect anything but fastballs anymore, and just react to everything else. I'll post a rundown of my teammates after the next game, and have a detailed entry on how everything went.
Alright, well first thing I had to do was go to Sports Authority and pick up some cleats, a baseball bat and a pair balls (yes that's right, balls). I spent the rest of the week playing catch and taking grounders from my wife so I wouldn't look like a complete idiot when I showed up on Saturday. I felt pretty confident in my abilities, and chalked it up to baseball being like riding a bike. As long as you've got the mechanics hanging around somewhere, you'll shake rust off in just a few days.
So I show up on Saturday and met up with the commish. His name is Paul, and he's probably about 50 years old. The team that he heads up and plays on is made up of 1/2 middle aged guys, and 1/2 guys in their late 20's or early 30's. When I get there the first thing he asks is "where are your pants? you can't play without pants". Maybe you should have told me to bring pants and not made it seem like I was just going to be taking grounders and hitting some balls. Old fucker.
Anyways, one of the other guys had a spare pair of pants and socks which I threw on, and proceeded to warm up my arm. I hit some balls into the net and chatted it up with another older guy named Richard (who has a son-in-law named Nick) who has been on the island for 25 years now. Once I got that down I was informed that I would be playing in that days game...which starts in about 10 minutes.
Holy crap.
I use to play 3B and SS back in the day, but one of the coaches seems to have nailed down the SS spot and another vet was playing 3B already. I told them I'll play wherever they needed me and I promptly was sent to RF for the day.
In my first at bat I worked the count to 3-2 before walking. The next guy got a hit moving me to second, and then a wild pitch moved me over to third. A couple balls later and the pitcher had walked the bases loaded. The next batter came up and the first pitch was a wild one flying to the backstop...shit RUN. I sprinted home and dove feet first en route to scoring my first run in over 10 years. Woohoo!
My second at bat came with the bases loaded and two outs. It was against a different pitcher who threw very slow and was all over the place with his command, making him very hard to hit. I watched the first pitch paint the inside corner for a strike, then the next two pitches bounced a foot off the other side of the plate. The fourth pitch was slow and low but right over the middle so I took an excited hack at it, whiffing badly and finishing my swing before the ball even crossed the plate. I stepped out of the box and took a deep breath, reminding myself that this guy was throwing 70 mph at best and to wait before swinging. This pitcher had thrown a curveball to every single batter he had faced since coming into the game...except me. I dug into the box, told myself "here comes a 2-2 bender...just wait on it" and got in my stance. The pitcher shook the catcher off once, then delivered. The next pitch was another straight fastball, right down the heart of the plate, and I was as frozen as a naked eskimo. I turned around to look at the ump who just shook his head at me and then punched me out to end the inning.
fuck
The game ended with us winning 9-1 and was called after the time limit of 2:30 expired. I finished going 0 for 1 with a run scored and one put out in right field. Our next game is this upcoming Saturday at 2:30. I've been telling myself all week to not expect anything but fastballs anymore, and just react to everything else. I'll post a rundown of my teammates after the next game, and have a detailed entry on how everything went.