Tad is what I would consider to be a very gifted….OK……good………OK, enthusiastic……. athlete. However, he has been blessed with a great baseball coach who is a fine man, and stresses FUN in youth rec baseball. So Tad has played for 2 years, and this is his third.
Those of you who know rec ball realize what it means to play in the outfield…where he plays. But last week, he was asked to “close”.
Tad has never pitched.
Worse than that, the score was tied and the bases were loaded, and the count, when the
previous pitcher threw yet another wild pitch and was taken out, was 3-2.
This pitch would end the game, as the other team was home.
Long story short, Tad threw almost all of his warm-up tosses in places that demonstrated why youth baseball teams have athletic and mobile catchers.
“Play Ball!”
One pitch, 1 called strike, game over.
I have now seen tears of joy from my son as he got mobbed by the other boys, and his obvious relief showed up in droplets all down his face.
I will now quit my job and retire, safe in the future success of my MLB pitcher.
Please let Tad know that the Baltimore Orioles are in desparate need of a good closer, and it sounds to me like he throws more strikes than most of them. Well done, Tad!
cdt