Another way back when event or two...
Okay, so lets set the matter straight... I'm behind in my blogging. Really behind. I was searching through my cache of photos on the computer yesterday and realized I never did write anything or post any pictures from the time during the summer that Noah participated in t-ball.
So for those people interested, probably just the grandparents, here are a few facts about his season AND pictures.
T-ball began just shortly after we made our move, at the end of June, and the season lasted through the middle of August. Noah played ball with other 4 and 5 year olds but he looked like a 3 year old compared to the majority of his teammates because they were all so BIG and he was so little. Noah LOVES baseball and my heart delights in this... you see baseball is in our blood. Way back when, we're talking a couple generations ago, my great great grandfather lived and worked in a town in New York called Gloversville. As you can probably imagine, they made baseball gloves in this small town and yes, my great great granddaddy was no exception... I found his name on a census and it listed "glove maker" as his profession. Skip ahead a couple of generations, my dad was a great ball player. He played all through high school on his varsity team and even had college scouts coming to my grandparents home to offer him a place on their teams. My dad continued to play ball as he grew older. He played fast pitch softball for his work for many years, pitching and playing first base. Some of my earliest childhood memories are of going to the ballpark down by Mission Bay to watch him play. My dad coached city little league teams for years and years all while my mother often served as the team mom- hosting get together pizza parties for the players and award nights. He also coached our 12TH ward softball team for a series of years, even though he isn't a member of our church! All 3 of my sisters played softball for years and years and my brother Jeff played baseball for what seemed like his entire childhood and adolescence. I can remember going to watch their baseball games as a little girl in my wet swimsuit, wedgie and all because that's what my childhood consisted of, baseball and swimming and the only thing I ever wore during the spring and summer was a bathing suit. My first kiss was in the bleachers at a ball field; I was 3, maybe 4 years old... I was watching one of my dad's games with my best friend Bobby Snyder when I got the idea that we should play a game ourselves... so we kissed.... in front of EVERYONE, mom's included! I was mortified and vowed NEVER to go back to the ball field again. I could only stay away for a few weeks before eventually, I went back. My home away from home was the ball field. I remember anytime while I was a passenger in my dad's car listening to Talk Show Sports Radio; the men on air either discussed a recently played game or they'd broadcast a live baseball game... Eventually I played softball... a few years on the city league and then one year in high school. I was on the junior varsity girls softball team my sophomore year in high school, but that same season I spent a lot of my time getting pulled up to play varsity so I could run all the bases for the bigger girls who could hit like Babe Ruth but ran the bases like a tortoise; not to mention I was also valuable because I was one of the few who could actually slap bunt the ball to make it onto first base. I guess I made a name for myself stealing bases. I was good. Okay, not just good, but really good. B.T.W. I'd like to insert here for the knowledge of my readers that I've never stolen anything in my life... just bases. I would have played varsity softball the following year but the weekend before the season began I broke my right arm snowboarding. BUMMER... my softball career was over.
Every week during baseball season for years and years, when the San Diego Padres played at home, my family would head down to Jack Murphy Stadium to watch.... we always met the same family friends there, The Presley's. We usually sat in the nose bleed section and my mom always packed us a lunch; very rarely did we ever get to buy a hot dog or churro from the vendors... but I remember just sitting a watching for hours the games with our friends... sometimes even doing laps around the stadium just to kill off boredom. Yes, I admit, baseball can get kinda boring, ESPECIALLY when the game has gone into the 13TH inning!
Nothing screams "American" more to me than baseball. I love the smell of the dirt on the mound, even that musty smell in the dugouts, watch out for the corners though- those are pretty gross! I don't mind sitting on the uncomfortable bleachers for hours at end just to watch a good game; I LOVE smelling relish and ketchup at the condiment stand and hot dogs roasting or better yet, chili cheese chips... who doesn't LOVE eating something like that for a meal?! Big League Chew, grape is my all time favorite, ice cold Rootbeer straight from the fountain over crushed ice or blue Icees and the sound of cleats walking on cement... I LOVE baseball! You see, baseball is in my blood... It's been called an "All American Past time" ;for me IT IS MY FAVORITE PAST TIME.
... even if that means, playing during the summer on a little city league in the HOT HOT HEAT! Did I mention it's HOT here during baseball season?! You'd think that Utah would learn from the "Zonies" and hold games late into the evening when record temps begin to cool down, but NOPE... all of Noah's games were between 11a.m. and 2 p.m.... just when the sun was REALLY heating things up! Oh well, those kids were troopers... Noah would be beat red from head to toe playing in the field but would only complain about the heat maybe once during the game... unlike myself... I complained at least 10 or 20 times. Any breeze offset from the nearby lake was greatly appreciated from my melting self.
Like I said earlier, Noah was a lot smaller than most of the kids on his team but he proved himself valuable to the team because he has a great arm (like his Grandpa Truesdell) and he can hit! He needs to work on speeding up running the bases... there were a few times other teammates of his who had batted AFTER Noah zipped right past him on the bases! Noah is actually a switch hitter... he prefers to hit with his left arm and does better hitting "lefty" so you'd think that's how his coaches would position him up at home plate, right??? Wrong. They kept positioning him as a "righty", usually because they'd forget he was a "lefty", so not knowing any better, Noah would hit from the right. It took him a little while to get used to the aluminum bat they used; he'd only ever hit with a plastic bat before. The weight of the bat sometimes offset his swing, as it did many other players, so sometimes he'd spin around home plate a time or two before actually hitting the ball into the outfield. Later into the season, he figured out that if he just choked up higher on the bat he'd have better control of the bat; only problem is, that left ME scared every time he was up to bat that he'd get his fingers pinched. That never did happen, thank goodness.
The games were a hoot to watch. Most of the kids, including Noah, really didn't understand the concept of their being positions out in the field. They just sort of wandered around where ever or all hurried to the ball all at once and formed a dog pile on the first kid to grab the ball. It was H.I.L.L.A.R.I.O.U.S. to watch.
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