He came out of the womb knowing how to throw a ball. He throws fast and hard so you have to pay attention when he has a ball in his hand. He is learning to get in front of the ball and stop grounders and can sometimes catch the ball in the air. But the best thing is his hitting! B pitches the ball to him and he can hit it...far! He loves coming in to tell me about all the home runs he hits. He will shake my hand and say, "Congratulations!" Then he pats my bottom and says, "Good job!" "That is what the coaches do," he tells me. I think I'm actually supposed to be congratulating him but I'm just the mom so I don't always remember. Sometimes when he hits the ball far he will tell us he is our meal ticket. His daddy and Papaw think this might be true!
Tonight, Papaw picked him up and took him to the hometown baseball game. He loves to watch the game and especially Alan. Now that Luke is in college, Alan is J's favorite player to watch. I got a full report from Papaw about how much fun J had. He ate a whole bag of popcorn. He visited with the assistant superintendant of our schools. He sat by Alan's dad and visited for a while. He made several trips to the dugout to see Alan and I think at one time was actually in the dugout with the boys. He ate a hot dog that was especially prepared for him by Alan's sister and her friend. He sat with the girls for the better part of the game but Papaw said he watched the game. He knows what is going on. At one point Alan hit a pop up and J yells, "Come on, Alan!" Papaw doesn't know if he repeated what someone else said or if he came up with that on his own. The latter is entirely possible!
I'm glad he loves baseball! It is my favorite sport and I spent my summers at the baseball park watching my two brothers play. When Seth played, I even sat in the dugout and kept the score. So when J grows up I will be thrilled if he "Goes to college and lives in the dugout like my uncle." Although I hope by then he has figured out that baseball players don't actually live in the dugout!
"When they start the game, they don't yell, 'Work ball.' They say, 'Play ball.' " ~Willie Stargell, 1981
"My office is at Yankee stadium. Yes, dreams do come true." ~Derek Jeter
"Fans, for the past two weeks you have been reading about a bad break I got. Yet today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth. I have been in ballparks for seventeen years and I have never received anything but kindness and encouragement from you fans. Look at these grand men. Which of you wouldn't consider it the highlight of his career just to associate with them for even one day? Sure I'm lucky. Who wouldn't have considered it an honor to have known Jacob Ruppert? Also, the builder of baseball's greatest empire, Ed Barrows? To have spent six years with that wonderful little fellow, Miller Huggins? Then to have spent the next nine years with that outstanding leader, that smart student of psychology, the best manager in baseball today, Joe McCarthy? Sure, I'm lucky. When the New York Giants, a team you would give your right arm to beat and vice versa, sends you a gift, that's something. When everybody down to the groundskeeper and those boys in white coats remember you with trophies, that's something. When you have a father and mother work all their lives so that you can have an education and build your body, it's a blessing. When you have a wife who has been a tower of strength and shown more courage than you dreamed existed, that's the finest I know. I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the Earth. And I might have been given a bad break, but I've got an awful lot to live for." ~Lou Gehrig, July 4, 1939 at Yankee Stadium on Lou Gehrig Appreciation Day
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