Sport Narrative

Sport Narrative

         Wikipedia says “Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond. Players on the batting team take turns hitting against the pitcher of the fielding team, which tries to stop them from scoring runs by getting hitters out in any of several ways. A player on the batting team can stop at any of the bases and later advance via a teammate's hit or other means. The teams switch between batting and fielding whenever the fielding team records three outs. One turn at bat for each team constitutes an inning and nine innings make up a professional game. The team with the most runs at the end of the game wins.”

To my way of thinking, Baseball was a transforming game for a twelve year old. I went from having local girlfriends to citywide girlfriends over the summer. It was my last summer with the team. We were playing a top ranked team. It was at Westside Park, a county park, in Newark, New Jersey. We were the home team. I was playing third base for the first time. There I was in front the families of my two teammates hoping that nothing is hit my way. Sure enough, I made a fielding error on the first play of the game. I had choked. Soon, the game was called over after two innings and we lost by ten runs.

After the embarrassing defeat, the families of my teammates wanted to know why I had choked. I said that the ball went over my head. I wasn’t popular that day. Nobody cared that I got the only hit for the team and that I stole a base against the highly rated team’s top pitcher. Besides, I did not think that my one error was the reason for our three pitchers getting whacked by the road team.

I was the pitcher for the next game. Maybe, it was punishment for my choking at third base. We were playing a team that we had beaten once before. We played again at Westside Park. They were the home team. However, there were no families there to support us. Our team didn’t wear a full uniform. We wore blue caps; a blue and white top that read “Model Cities,” the name of our sponsor, and a few blue gloves, with two bats.

That day, I threw a no-hitter in front of the crowd of the home team. Answerbag.com defines a no-hitter as “A rare excellent performance by a pitcher against whom the opposing team is never credited with any base hits (singles, doubles, triples, or homers). Since no batter makes any hits, it means no runs are scored, either.” By way of example, their big hitter during his last at-bat had tried to bunt the ball and reach base. Our Catcher threw him out. The irony is that I, El Choker, had hit a two-run homerun in the game. These were the only runs scored and we won the game to applause and cheers. I was popular that day. After the game, I met a girl. So what, you say?

Before I had met the girl from the park, I was wrestling with a few girls in the neighborhood, a few girls at school and a few girls who knew my sisters. Now, I can’t recall her name, only her face. She was only at the park that day because she lived in the area. Even though we chatted by phone, I didn’t want to travel the distance to be with her. I lived in another ward. You can say that I had choked again. Be that as it may, I did stop wrestling girls and I began to compliment them. So, that game was the turning for me when it came to dealing with girls in general. Everything fell into place that day.

Afterwards, I stopped collecting Baseball Cards too! This was a little league hobby and I was leaving that stage of life behind. The following summer I had a new girlfriend who could hit a softball very well. In fact, our friends would whine about us playing on the same team. But, that is another story. I even saw the Yankees play. Meanwhile, I continue to watch Baseball games, on television with or without a girlfriend.