Baseball Season

Driving by the ballparks at Farragut Baseball, Inc. this evening, it was fun to see the place alive with activity. 

Players playing; parents cheering. Grandparents too.

On a beautiful spring night, there is no better place to be than at the ballpark.

This fact holds true for everyone involved – league officials, umps, coaches, teammates. As we reach the end of April, it’s primetime for the spring youth baseball season.

We’re past the early season chill and day after day of heavy rain. The good weather is really good now – with warm days, crisp nights and electric blue skies. 

Who wouldn’t love to be at the ballpark?

I’ve noticed some former players are celebrating the spirit of this baseball season.

I served as president of the league for three years and during the second and third years, we hired two young men to manage our concessions and to take care of our fields. I noticed the last two days, these guys have been posting pix of the various FB, Inc. fields on Facebook and commenting about their fun days on these particular fields.

Another friend of mine posted a photo this evening of three generations of catcher’s mitts - his, his dad’s and his son’s.

Meanwhile, via the “Timehop” function, Facebook has been revisiting all the team photos I posted a couple years ago. I’ve been ‘sharing’ these pix to my newsfeed and a number of my former players have commented.

One of my favorite pictures – I believe I have shared it before – surfaced this week. Our last rec team – the Willie Mays Braves – played in the county tournament in the spring of ’06. The parents sprung for a set of red unies to wear in the tournament.

Our guys were in the dugout and they all came together for an impromptu group photo. We sent this photo to the News Sentinel for inclusion in its community news section and they ran it.

One of my former players saw the “Time Hop” posting on Saturday. He said it was his favorite team picture we made over the years. He noted that he still had the newspaper clipping (and he texted me a photo of it). Another guy chimed in and said “Those were the days.”

Don’t say these millennials haven’t got a sentimental side!

Speaking of: Paul was online last night reminiscing about some baseball memories with another former Choppers teammate. The subject of “international rules” came up and we all noted that when the umps brought out “international rules” (a way to shorten extra innings during tournament play - see #10) it never seemed to go well for us.

I can’t remember all the specifics but I think the “international rules” (why it is considered “international” was a mystery never explained) meant you started a new inning with a runner on second base and one out already recorded. I remember this being invoked twice and we came up short both times.

But, as I told Paul, we won more than our share of games, so now those two L’s are just a footnote in Chopper lore. 

And, not to leave the coaches out, I have exchanged emails with a couple of my former coaches recently. One of them celebrated a birthday this month, so it was nice to reconnect and wish him a Happy Birthday.

One of the things I loved the most about my years as a youth baseball coach and administrator is the sense of community that you can build. There is a community of coaches and administrators. And, as a coach, you have the opportunity to build your own community with the players and families on your team.

Even though the members of our baseball community are now scattered – to places like Texas and Pennsylvania and Virginia and parts in between, the bonds of our community are still strong years later.

JG

Originally posted 4/28/2015