Great American Pastime

It is that time of year again where kids of all ages are re-oiling
their gloves, buying new cleats, and swinging donut weighted bats. Yes
it's baseball season. After school practices that go into the dusk of
day and then you race home to do homework. The school halls are
bustling with talk of teams, talent, and the smell of competition
is overwhelming.

I am proud to say I am a product of the Millington park and rec.
baseball league. I started my lustrous baseball career with the
coach pitch team the Chiefs. Coach Buck, my dad, as well as Mike and
Stevie's dads, taught this fearless group of five-year-olds the traits
of the game. Although it was underhanded pitch, we thought we were
playing right along with our baseball hero's of the day like Ozzie
Smith or Orel Hershiser.

As we all got older we advanced up in the league to the Bobcats where
we actually had one of our own peers pitch the ball to us. It was
about this time that the sport started to get intimidating and we started to realize who had athletic ability and who, like me, did not. Mike always had the cool position
of catcher. He got to wear "the gear" and played a strategic part in
each game. Stevie was placed in several different positions but all
were in the infield arena, which still considered you a decent
player. As for myself I found a permanent home in either left or right
field, where I alternated with the kid who always sat Indian style
picking flowers instead of picking off grounders and fly balls.
Regardless of my lack of athletic ability, I still played my role with
pride chanting at the batters, and turning my hat inside out to Rally
my teammates.

I didn't know it at the time but it was at Miles fields where we all
as peers began to showcase our talents and standout among the rest.
Hero's were born on these fields that would take this love of the game
to new levels in high school and college ball. Even as an eight-year
old no matter how far down in points we were we knew that when a Ray Fortune or Daniel Hodges got up to bat that the game would be saved. Although I played a
small role in this era I knew I was sharing a role that millions of
kids shared in this great country in my time and decades past.
Baseball was more than a summer activity it was a way of life, a
definition of self character, and a development of pride for one's
self and team. It is truly the great American pastime because we would
play it just as much outside of games and practices as we would at
games and practices. Even writing this story I am immediately taken
back to the sound of cracking bats, the grit taste of dust in my
mouth, the smell of freshly cut grass, and the sight of nine boy's
giving it their all in little league baseball.

Steve Childress