Oh, oh, oh, can I play?

I'm a lefty. All you dugout rats know what that means. I knew I was smarter than the coach and I wasn't even a pitcher.

All my life I played 1st base. I mean from PeeWee baseball, age 6, upward until I played softball in my later years. I was a lefty and I was tall. The stupid coach, whoever he was, didn't realize what being tall and lefty can be. My arm strength never got developed as my parents divorced and my Dad wasn't there to throw with me and teach all those things.

So, I always played first and learned the game pretty much on my own. I had a chicken wing for an arm, but I could hit and I knew the game well. Until I reached high school, I was pretty un-coordinated, so I had no speed and was a poor fielder. But in high school it all came together. I could hit, hit for power, run, slide, field and catch. Unfortunately, this was the early 70's, and many around me were stoned. I went to RPI briefly, then into the service. I played fast pitch softball in the Air Force. First base on a team with the best pitcher: you play the whole game halfway between first and home plate. No lie. Those lefties made me gulp, but they were all reduced to bunting off our pitcher. Hated the game because of that fact.

I retired from softball a few years ago to raise my own kid. I had coached both baseball and softball in the past, so this was the natural progression. My son is 10 now. He is tall and a lefty. I know where to put him though :-)

He fits Bob-Nob's own 11 year old description. He is the fastest pitcher in the league. I also thank Bob for teaching me to understand that if he says it hurts a little, it probably hurts a lot. That is valuable to remember for every father/coach. Sorry for being long winded.

Oh, and all those years at first taught me the perfect lefty pitchers pickoff move. My kid will have that too :-)

- Mark

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The one constant through all the years Ray, has been Baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It's been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But Baseball has marked the time. This field, this game, is a part of our past, Ray. It reminds us of all that once was good and it could be again.