The Magic Of Baseball and What it Means To You.

[Armor and Sword]

Hello my OS Show Nation Brethren,

I love baseball. It is a huge part of my life and my family. For MLB 15 and 17 I did a similar thread and read some incredible stories and the one I found that touched me the most was selected and I sent a standard copy of the game.

I am doing it again. But this cycle it will be a copy of the MVP version of MLB The Show 19 and a standard copy of the game as well!

Tell me what baseball means to you. It is my pleasure to give a copy of the game away to someone who shares the same passion about the greatest game on the planet.

If an admin needs to PM me please do so. You know I am good for it.

This Show Forum needs some positive vibes. I love this game and I love how SDS replicates it.

So post away. I will pick two winners (and everyone is a winner for sharing their story but there can be only one copy given away) before release and you will receive the game promptly after it’s release on March 26th (5-7 mailing days).

Deadline for your story is no later than February 28th and I will announce the winners over the first weekend of March. I will PM the winning OS member's to get their mailing info.

Past Winners:

MLB The Show 15 - Badguy1985
MLB The Show 17 - Houston

[Councilmann_Jamm]

Re: The Magic Of Baseball and What it Means To You.

My whole life I grew up playing baseball. When I was 14 (1999) I made a select travel team. Come to find out later only reason I was picked as an extra body. So I quit the team and baseball all together. Made a nice little life playing lacrosse afterwards!

Anyway I didn't watch a baseball game again until September 29, 2011. When sweet Robert Andino knocked the Red Sox out of the playoffs!

Ever since then I've been hooked again. I went to spring training 2 years ago and met Buck Showalter and thanked him for bringing baseball back into my life.

I've gone on a trip with my dad to a different ballpark every year to watch the Orioles. This year were taking the entire family with us to Seattle!

I've bought Prospect Handbook, Baseball Prospectus every year since.

Baseball is only sport I can watch an entire game of now even though Orioles might not win 60 total games over next 3 years . The only reason I have cable is because I need it to watch Orioles games.

Basically baseball is #best

[countryboy]

Re: The Magic Of Baseball and What it Means To You.

I've shared before, but I'll share again.

Baseball to me is family. For those who may not already know from reading my story my Grandpa played in the minors for the St.Louis Cardinals back in the day. My goal was to follow in his footsteps and play professional baseball one day, but I didn't quite get there.

I played from T-Ball all the way thru college. My Little League coaches always consisted of my Grandpa, my Uncle, and my Dad. From T-Ball thru Senior League (13/14 year old) they were my coaches. It was great, as after practice or after games we would either go out to eat or if possible, go catch at the time the Louisville Redbirds baseball game. My springs and summers were spent with them.

Every February when major league players would report to camp, my Grandpa had a camp for myself and my cousin. We went thru various drills, exercises, and were repeatedly taught the fundamentals of the game. I loved those camps and I loved playing for them. And trust me, there was no favoritism.

After Little League I went on to play 4 years of High School ball and then moved on to play at a low level college. After college, my playing days were thru. Nowadays I'll play in some adult baseball leagues and at times softball, but I'm not a fan of it. I only play to stay active.

I'm also passing my love of the game down to my son. We practice and next summer he will be old enough to play T-Ball and I will coach him from T-Ball all the way thru his Little League playing days. I look forward to spending summers with him the same way I spent summers with my Dad, my Uncle, and Grandpa.

So yeah...baseball for me is family.

NOTE: I don't want to be the winner. I just like sharing stories about the game I adore and what its meant to me and done for me.

And this is an awesome thing your doing again A&S.

[Ebpmd]

Re: The Magic Of Baseball and What it Means To You.

It's being 52 years old and still remembering the excitement rushing home to watch the Yankees/Red Sox one game playoff in 1978. While some memories seem to fade, baseball memories from my youth are a vivid as if they happened just yesterday. It's not a single moment but a collection of memories that brings me back to a simpler and shall I say better time.

[StormsWarning]

Re: The Magic Of Baseball and What it Means To You.

You have a heart of gold old men. Seriously though, you'll be blessed for your gift from the heart. Keep that up. Good to see wisdom passed on to the youth.

Baseball is the purest game there is left from childhood to adulthood imo. It's the getting up at 5 am to catch the sun grazing over the freshly racked dirt from the ground crew the night before, to the family's feeling up the stands whether that's minor or major league level.

It's the sounds of the players taking batting practice with team mates and fans heckling the rival player, to the little kid asking his Dad for a hot dog with extra mustard.

Its excitement of the hoping to maybe get an autographed ball or bat of our favorite player, to that seventh inning stretch still tied 1 to 1 going into the bottom of the 9th with bases loaded, best closer vs best hitter, 2 outs, 3 balls, 2 strikes with the anticipation of what will be and form a lifetime memory.

It's the memorys that makes this game, it's the memorys that we had as a child to adulthood, to elderly.

It's the love of the game that outshines all shadows.

Its Baseball and what it means to me.

I hope everyone can enjoy the game and although I said I would not get it unless serious changes were made.

After writing this and made me realize my own memorys and although it may not be day one 19 will be in my library why?

Because the memorys its Baseball.

Thanks for reminding me that brotha.

[PPerfect_CJ]

Re: The Magic Of Baseball and What it Means To You.

Baseball, to me, was all about spending time with my grandpa. He was my best friend and I can remember spending so many weekday afternoons sitting outside in the shade with him listening to the Cardinals day games on our local radio station. Then, we would go into the orchard and he would pitch to me or play catch. Summers were always the best with him. He passed away 8 years ago, last month and I miss him every day. He instilled a love for Cardinals baseball in pretty much my whole family. What I wouldn't give to be able to spend just one more afternoon with him, baseball or not.

[MrArlingtonBeach]

Re: The Magic Of Baseball and What it Means To You.

To me, baseball is a way of creating memories that last a lifetime.

It is the sport I played with the most passion growing up, resulting in three-straight trips to our state tournament in high school and many countless memories that I still treasure.

It's the sport I share with friends and family, making trips to Miller Park, Wrigley Field, or whichever ball yard we can find close by when traveling. From tailgating in the parking lots in Milwaukee, to standing in line for hours hoping to get a bobblehead, t-shirt, or other giveaway item...each time, making more memories along the way.

It's the game that provided me with the best memory I have related to sports. Watching on TV, on a mild early November night in 2016, as the Chicago Cubs somehow found a way to reverse the Billy Goat Curse and win a world title after a monumental drought that was nothing but a punchline for 108 years. Memories of watching games with my Cubs-loving grandpa came flooding back after that final out...hearing Harry Caray on the TV, Ron Santo on the radio, Ernie Banks asking to play two...memory after memory, making the moment even more sweeter and the tears fall even faster.

Baseball is a game that creates a lifetime of memories. It's a stage where drama takes place between white chalk lines and on basepaths made of dirt...where heroes take mighty swings, hurlers make a white pill dance and zip, where one error can change the course of history.

To me, baseball is more than just a summer pastime. It's where dreams become reality, and moments become immortal.

[Funkycorm]

Re: The Magic Of Baseball and What it Means To You.

I don't want to be chosen as the winner but I want to share.

I grew up in the 80s and 90s playing baseball. My dad coached me quite a bit. His coaching in baseball and life turned me into the husband, father, doctor, and friend I am today.

I grew up going to Indians games with my dad every year. Even before it was progressive field, and Jacobs field. My first experiences at Indians games were in Municipal stadium in the late 80s. My first game ever was at a White Sox game in 1988 when I was 7 years old. It is one of my favorite memories.

He is no longer able to go with me and I now share those experiences at Progressive Field with my 2 boys.

My dad and I would spend hours talking about baseball and still do once in a while.

Baseball means my best childhood memories to me.

[KnightTemplar]

Re: The Magic Of Baseball and What it Means To You.

Remembering my father, little league coach, a quiet, talented baseball player. I can still remember on Friday nights in 1956 it was grocery shopping night. If he could afford it he would give me a quarter and drop me off at the five and dime store while he went around the corner to get his hair cut and chat with the men.

I’d head for the table filled with packs of baseball cards and try to press down hard on the wrappers to see if I could tell which card I was looking at as I didn’t want any duplicates. .25 would buy me five packs, and I would treasure them all on the way home, especially if I got a Mantle, but not so much another Granny Hamner.

The box scores of the day....I’d cut them out of the paper, especially my rotten Phillies, who I stuck with for years. On to many more decades and nothing changed, just the little kid still left in me who waits every year for the pitchers/catchers to report to spring training so that I can lose myself from the mad world that media tries to shove down our throats.

Baseball is my youth, it’s innocence brought back every year.

NOTE: don’t want to be the winner, would give away the copy to someone else. I’ve been blessed during my life....and thanks for being so generous.

[bh446066]

Re: The Magic Of Baseball and What it Means To You.

I don’t know man, baseball just brings back memories. Good ones. For me it’s just quick flashes to taking my little brother to his games, or keeping score with my grandma at an Astros game. I know the older I get the more I appreciate AND the memories they conjur. Even the baseball movies are the best. They all seem to have a common theme of bringing you back to your childhood.

[Bullit]

Re: The Magic Of Baseball and What it Means To You.

This is going to be a long one and some of you have heard it before so bear with me.

Baseball literally has saved my sanity and my life, it continues to do so to this day.

When I was a kid, I grew up on a farm. I mean a real working farm. As soon as you were old enough you started working. Even a 5 and 6 years old I was up at 4am doing chores and trying to help. But there was a problem. I was a wild child and was always getting into some trouble or forgetting to do things, wandering off etc. One Saturday my Mother was just at her wits end with me and plopped me in front of the TV with my Grandfather who was watching a rarely televised baseball game. Now this was in the days before ADD or OCD was thing. All anybody knew is I was a pain in the ***. But that day I sat for 3 hours straight and never said a word. That was where it all began.

From then on, all i did was read, watch, listen, talk anything Baseball. Pops, my Grandfather, started teaching me stats, and players, history of the game all I wanted to know I would just sit there and absorb it all. It became my first love and obsession. It calmed my mind and quieted the crazy. When the world got to much or I would start being overwhelmed, I would just turn on a game in mind and everything would just slow back down and I could get thru a day.

Then Pops introduced me to Strato Matic Baseball. Every January on the last Friday he and I would drive up to New York to get the new cards for the year. Man, those were some peaceful times. He passed in 1978 and that next January I got a friends Dad to take me up and all of our friends up there saw me without Pops and just new. I hadn't cried until that day and I didn't think I would ever stop. I went up there one more year after and then I have not been since.

Then we move on this journey to High School. We has sold the farm, parents divorced and we moved to southern Virginia. I have always had trouble making friends, so I tried out for the team and made it as the short stop. Played all thru school until I graduated and left for the Army.

Throughout the 10+ years I was in the Army, the one thing that was always in my ruck was my glove and a ball. From North Africa to Afghanistan I have had some crazy pick up games of ball. I have a catch with Generals, Admirals, Senators and Congressman. With Israelis', Saudi's, Afhgan rebels and children all over the world.

When my daughter was born in 1996 I was blessed with the best little girl in the world. At about the same age as I was when I discovered the game, she did as well. Crawling up into my lap and just absorbing it all. Soon she was a big a fan as I was. We went to games anytime we could. College, Minors whatever it just didn't matter as long we were at a game. I mean like 20-30 games a summer was on the low end. It became our thing. The only rule was we had to go to 2 new parks every summer.

Then in 2007 we discovered MLB The Show and that was all she wrote. Every spring we would pre order and pray for something else big to release so we could get it at midnight. We would stand in the parking lot having a catch talking about what our plans were for this years game. It was just an amazing time. Day in and day out we would play. We each always had our own copy. But always comparing notes and trade ideas. It was "our" thing.

Then in November of 2012 my daughter passed unexpectedly of illness in November. My family here on OS was a true blessing. If not for the folks on here I am not sure I would have survived those first few months. My Cricket was my everything. Her mother had left us when she was 6 months old and she is all I had or needed. There is no other family. That winter I reached out to the folks at The Show and told them our story, just to share how much their hard work was appreciated and that it did touch lives. Well that spring I received a copy of The Show in mail just a day or so before release. To this day I have no idea who sent it or why. But MLB The Show had my daughters name added into the voice file and my daughter has played on her beloved Mets every year since.

So some folks on here accuse me of being a fan boy. Well how can you not be. This game means everything to me. This last year I have finished 4 years of a Padres franchise, 1 Year of a Nats franchise and I am in 2026 of my RTTS career. I have logged almost 1300 hours in this game, just this year.

I have fallen a little quiet this past year. But I was having a tough year. I was briefly a Moderator which was an amazing honor but I had some issues on my end that where hurting me and OS so I stepped back just to get back on track. Im happy to say I am off every med I have been put on and slowly getting back to life. Some days the pain is still unbearable and the darkness wins. But I am still here and moving a little forward everyday.

Thru it all there has always been Baseball.

Peace.

[StormsWarning]

Re: The Magic Of Baseball and What it Means To You.

This is going to be a long one and some of you have heard it before so bear with me.

Baseball literally has saved my sanity and my life, it continues to do so to this day.

When I was a kid, I grew up on a farm. I mean a real working farm. As soon as you were old enough you started working. Even a 5 and 6 years old I was up at 4am doing chores and trying to help. But there was a problem. I was a wild child and was always getting into some trouble or forgetting to do things, wandering off etc. One Saturday my Mother was just at her wits end with me and plopped me in front of the TV with my Grandfather who was watching a rarely televised baseball game. Now this was in the days before ADD or OCD was thing. All anybody knew is I was a pain in the ***. But that day I sat for 3 hours straight and never said a word. That was where it all began.

From then on, all i did was read, watch, listen, talk anything Baseball. Pops, my Grandfather, started teaching me stats, and players, history of the game all I wanted to know I would just sit there and absorb it all. It became my first love and obsession. It calmed my mind and quieted the crazy. When the world got to much or I would start being overwhelmed, I would just turn on a game in mind and everything would just slow back down and I could get thru a day.

Then Pops introduced me to Strato Matic Baseball. Every January on the last Friday he and I would drive up to New York to get the new cards for the year. Man, those were some peaceful times. He passed in 1978 and that next January I got a friends Dad to take me up and all of our friends up there saw me without Pops and just new. I hadn't cried until that day and I didn't think I would ever stop. I went up there one more year after and then I have not been since.

Then we move on this journey to High School. We has sold the farm, parents divorced and we moved to southern Virginia. I have always had trouble making friends, so I tried out for the team and made it as the short stop. Played all thru school until I graduated and left for the Army.

Throughout the 10+ years I was in the Army, the one thing that was always in my ruck was my glove and a ball. From North Africa to Afghanistan I have had some crazy pick up games of ball. I have a catch with Generals, Admirals, Senators and Congressman. With Israelis', Saudi's, Afhgan rebels and children all over the world.

When my daughter was born in 1996 I was blessed with the best little girl in the world. At about the same age as I was when I discovered the game, she did as well. Crawling up into my lap and just absorbing it all. Soon she was a big a fan as I was. We went to games anytime we could. College, Minors whatever it just didn't matter as long we were at a game. I mean like 20-30 games a summer was on the low end. It became our thing. The only rule was we had to go to 2 new parks every summer.

Then in 2007 we discovered MLB The Show and that was all she wrote. Every spring we would pre order and pray for something else big to release so we could get it at midnight. We would stand in the parking lot having a catch talking about what our plans were for this years game. It was just an amazing time. Day in and day out we would play. We each always had our own copy. But always comparing notes and trade ideas. It was "our" thing.

Then in November of 2012 my daughter passed unexpectedly of illness in November. My family here on OS was a true blessing. If not for the folks on here I am not sure I would have survived those first few months. My Cricket was my everything. Her mother had left us when she was 6 months old and she is all I had or needed. There is no other family. That winter I reached out to the folks at The Show and told them our story, just to share how much their hard work was appreciated and that it did touch lives. Well that spring I received a copy of The Show in mail just a day or so before release. To this day I have no idea who sent it or why. But MLB The Show had my daughters name added into the voice file and my daughter has played on her beloved Mets every year since.

So some folks on here accuse me of being a fan boy. Well how can you not be. This game means everything to me. This last year I have finished 4 years of a Padres franchise, 1 Year of a Nats franchise and I am in 2026 of my RTTS career. I have logged almost 1300 hours in this game, just this year.

I have fallen a little quiet this past year. But I was having a tough year. I was briefly a Moderator which was an amazing honor but I had some issues on my end that where hurting me and OS so I stepped back just to get back on track. Im happy to say I am off every med I have been put on and slowly getting back to life. Some days the pain is still unbearable and the darkness wins. But I am still here and moving a little forward everyday.

Thru it all there has always been Baseball.

Peace.

ps: I am not entering to win anything, just wanted to share

I am truly sorry for your loss, you can rest easy and know she is with God and very well taken care of. I will keep you in my Prayers may God give you strength and peace in your heart and soul.

Your story is truly amazing I hope you continue to be blessed.

[bh446066]

Re: The Magic Of Baseball and What it Means To You.

This is going to be a long one and some of you have heard it before so bear with me.

Baseball literally has saved my sanity and my life, it continues to do so to this day.

When I was a kid, I grew up on a farm. I mean a real working farm. As soon as you were old enough you started working. Even a 5 and 6 years old I was up at 4am doing chores and trying to help. But there was a problem. I was a wild child and was always getting into some trouble or forgetting to do things, wandering off etc. One Saturday my Mother was just at her wits end with me and plopped me in front of the TV with my Grandfather who was watching a rarely televised baseball game. Now this was in the days before ADD or OCD was thing. All anybody knew is I was a pain in the ***. But that day I sat for 3 hours straight and never said a word. That was where it all began.

From then on, all i did was read, watch, listen, talk anything Baseball. Pops, my Grandfather, started teaching me stats, and players, history of the game all I wanted to know I would just sit there and absorb it all. It became my first love and obsession. It calmed my mind and quieted the crazy. When the world got to much or I would start being overwhelmed, I would just turn on a game in mind and everything would just slow back down and I could get thru a day.

Then Pops introduced me to Strato Matic Baseball. Every January on the last Friday he and I would drive up to New York to get the new cards for the year. Man, those were some peaceful times. He passed in 1978 and that next January I got a friends Dad to take me up and all of our friends up there saw me without Pops and just new. I hadn't cried until that day and I didn't think I would ever stop. I went up there one more year after and then I have not been since.

Then we move on this journey to High School. We has sold the farm, parents divorced and we moved to southern Virginia. I have always had trouble making friends, so I tried out for the team and made it as the short stop. Played all thru school until I graduated and left for the Army.

Throughout the 10+ years I was in the Army, the one thing that was always in my ruck was my glove and a ball. From North Africa to Afghanistan I have had some crazy pick up games of ball. I have a catch with Generals, Admirals, Senators and Congressman. With Israelis', Saudi's, Afhgan rebels and children all over the world.

When my daughter was born in 1996 I was blessed with the best little girl in the world. At about the same age as I was when I discovered the game, she did as well. Crawling up into my lap and just absorbing it all. Soon she was a big a fan as I was. We went to games anytime we could. College, Minors whatever it just didn't matter as long we were at a game. I mean like 20-30 games a summer was on the low end. It became our thing. The only rule was we had to go to 2 new parks every summer.

Then in 2007 we discovered MLB The Show and that was all she wrote. Every spring we would pre order and pray for something else big to release so we could get it at midnight. We would stand in the parking lot having a catch talking about what our plans were for this years game. It was just an amazing time. Day in and day out we would play. We each always had our own copy. But always comparing notes and trade ideas. It was "our" thing.

Then in November of 2012 my daughter passed unexpectedly of illness in November. My family here on OS was a true blessing. If not for the folks on here I am not sure I would have survived those first few months. My Cricket was my everything. Her mother had left us when she was 6 months old and she is all I had or needed. There is no other family. That winter I reached out to the folks at The Show and told them our story, just to share how much their hard work was appreciated and that it did touch lives. Well that spring I received a copy of The Show in mail just a day or so before release. To this day I have no idea who sent it or why. But MLB The Show had my daughters name added into the voice file and my daughter has played on her beloved Mets every year since.

So some folks on here accuse me of being a fan boy. Well how can you not be. This game means everything to me. This last year I have finished 4 years of a Padres franchise, 1 Year of a Nats franchise and I am in 2026 of my RTTS career. I have logged almost 1300 hours in this game, just this year.

I have fallen a little quiet this past year. But I was having a tough year. I was briefly a Moderator which was an amazing honor but I had some issues on my end that where hurting me and OS so I stepped back just to get back on track. Im happy to say I am off every med I have been put on and slowly getting back to life. Some days the pain is still unbearable and the darkness wins. But I am still here and moving a little forward everyday.

Thru it all there has always been Baseball.

Peace.

ps: I am not entering to win anything, just wanted to share

Damn it I got something in my eye....

Aaaahhhh...trying to hold it together. That breaks my heart man, hope you’ve been able to find some peace. God love you.

[stealyerface]

Re: The Magic Of Baseball and What it Means To You.

I love this part of the year, as A&S gets some great stories shared on here, and although I wrote my baseball piece last year, I wanted to share a fun story that you guys might enjoy...

The year is 1999 an I am playing baseball in Rochester, NY for the Rochester Amateur Baseball Congress. I had graduated from four years of college baseball in 1991, and had continued to play in the summer to try and stay in some semblance of condition.

We have an 8:30pm game under the lights, and we are pretty excited to hear that the pitcher for the other team that evening, is going to be MLB-bound Tim Redding, also from Rochester, NY, and soon (we didn't know then) to be a Houston Astro.

I am on the mound opposing him that night, and we are all pretty amped up to see a host of MLB scouts at the game, behind the backstop, getting the radar guns all set up and calibrated.

We are the home team, and I go out for warmups, and I am pretty much trying to throw my arm out of its socket in an attempt to light up the radar guns. We get out of the top of the first, 1-2-3 and we go to work in the bottom half against Redding.

He too is pretty jacked up for the scouts and he is throwing gaaaaas. I mean, scary stuff. You can hear it from the bench, just sizzling like hot bacon towards the plate.

He walks our first guy, we Sac bunt the two-hole guy, but Redding throws the ball over the first baseman's head, so we have second and third, no one out. Three hitter taps a ball to second, scores the run on a fielder's choice, wild pitch the next pitch, and we are up 2-0 before the clean up guy is done with his AB.

We end the first up 3-0 and I go out for the second inning, get the first two on K's and give up a long homerun that ends up in the Genesee River (not kidding).

We are up 3-1 batting in the second inning, and we string together a hit and an error, run into a long double, and the wheels are coming off the train. He is trying to throw harder and harder, and we are taking pitches and moving runners, and by the third out in the second inning we are up 6-1.

He takes the mound in the third, walks the first two guys and his coach comes out to get him. There is a brief argument, Redding stomps down off the hill, throws his glove over the backstop, packs up his bag, walks out to his car, and drives away, leaving his team down 6-1 and with two guys on, and no outs in the third inning.

I watch the scouts starting to pack up their gear, and walk over towards them as my team is batting. I approach one of the Astro's scouts I recognize, and say, "Nice attitude, huh?"

He looks at me, looks down at his notebook, then back up at me and says (and I quote),

"Well, we can teach that kid some attitude, but we're never gonna teach you how to throw ninety-eight".

The other scouts all looked up at me and laughed, and I nodded and walked back to the bench...

That was a harsh, quick lesson in humility, and he certainly got the last laugh, pitching for the Astros, Yankees, Nationals and the Mets...

Not a story to win anything, but figured you guys might get a chuckle.
~syf

[ML]

Re: The Magic Of Baseball and What it Means To You.

I was born in 1994 on Long Island, New York, to a mother who still spends all of Sunday preparing dinner after Mass, and a dad who in his words had a “real shot at making it to the big leagues if he didn’t blow out his damn knee”.

Everybody in my family is a Mets fan, my dad still tells stories of him and my grandfather and all my uncles sneaking beers into Shea Stadium in a blue cooler, hiding them underneath sandwiches that my grandmother would make for them.

Despite being surrounded by the misery of being a Mets fan, I grew up watching the Yankees who had won 4 rings by the time I was 6. Hell, I still remember sitting on my parents bedroom floor, crying my eyes out as I watched the Diamondbacks celebrate their World Series walkoff single off the bat of Gonzo.

I wasn’t gifted with all of the athletic ability in the world, or the height, size, speed, etc. as the more talented players in my town, but I was always willing to put the work in to be able to compete with them. I used to work in the concession stand at the town park, just so I could have access to the storage closet to rake out the batters box so my dad could throw me batting practice on the days that there were no games scheduled...

After getting the chance to play for my town’s high school varsity team when I was in 8th grade, it had occurred to me that maybe I was as talented as the other guys. My dad must have known it too, because my parents worked their butts off to afford to get me into a Catholic School, for the education and sports that they offered.

We won the state championship my sophmore and senior years. I had the NY Gatorade player of the year on my team my senior year, and I was able to benefit from that and managed to snag a full ride to a division 2 school out here on the island. I worked hard at my craft, and after hitting above .300 playing everyday as the starting Center Fielder, I had entered the transfer portal.

The travel team that I played for had a tournament down in Florida, where I was approached by the head coach at the University of Tampa. After falling in love with the program, I officially accepted a scholorship, and planned to get one more summer in with the boys from home before heading to play for the number one ranked school in the country in division 2 baseball. I had hit the jackpot.

Halfway through the summer, I was playing left field, when I tried to shoot a runner heading for the plate on a bang bang play. I slipped, and felt something in my shoulder pop. I shrugged it off (no pun intended). Waiting for my turn in the lineup, every swing I took felt like razor blades cutting into my shoulder. I went to the doctor the very next day.

My world came to a screeching halt as I got the results from my tests; I had completely torn the rotator cuff in my throwing shoulder, as well as my labrum. The doctor said that the fractured AC joint I had suffered the year before hadn’t healed correctly and was putting additional pressure on my shoulder. My arm was a ticking timebomb, and the clock struck zero.

I still went down to Tampa post surgery, and after medically redshirting my first year down, they pulled my scholorship as I had gotten hurt out of season. Not being able to afford tuition, I headed home. Things were dark for a while, and to keep this on the lighter side, I won’t get into it too much here.

There’s always been two things that have always been there for me, in good times and bad times, and that is family and baseball. I go to every game I possibly can, Mets or Yanks, as well as all the minor league affiliates. I coach the younger kids in my towns little league system, and this summer I’m coaching the 16 year old travel team. I have the games on 24/7 during the season, and DVR the day games so I can watch them with a cold one after work. Whether its watching the game, playing the game, or even starting a franchise or RTTS, I feel like that little kid I once was, pretending to be Derek Jeter in Game 7 of the World Series, rounded the bases at that little old town park.

This has gotten long, but even as I type this I’ve looked at my signed Stan Musial bat, next to the “Whos on First?” Abbot and Costello poster and laughed.

There’s a quote I saw in a book once, and I’ll never forget it. “You spend a good piece of your life gripping a baseball and in the end it turns out that it was the other way around all the time.”


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