Great stories.....

Mine are a couple of tidbits of how a person with little talent and a lot of heart can get lucky (in baseball that is)

My first season (I was about 9) I recall playing first and a lefty was up. I was using a small glove which was all I had. He hit a screamer at me. I threw my left arm across my face to protect it. Next thing I know everyone is cheering and I find the ball in my glove.

I actually had an unassisted triple play once. Of course it was due to bad play by the other team coupled with my slowness. I was playing second and there was a runner at first and second. The runners took off with the pitch and I started running to second to cover the bag. The batter hit a liner that came to me in the path I was running. I caught it and managed to tag the runner (who was passing me) and catch the other runner coming back to second.

My hitting was pretty weak too as DLew is a slugger compared to me. I had zero home runs and only one triple. One time in little league, our field was soggy and unplayable. We went to the Babe Ruth field since it wasn't being used (the big kids field). On one of my at bats, I lined a shot between LF and CF and ran for all I was worth (which wasn't much). As I was approaching second I could see the LF'er picking the ball up and I kept on. My gas manager to mostly run out and halfway to third I saw the 3Bman standing there with the ball in his glove. Undeterred, I ran with what I had left to 3B. About 5 feet away from 3B, my left foot caught a hole and I went down with my face crashing the bag. I went down so quick that the 3B didn't get me. I was entirely embarrassed until I realized that my bench was cheering and I wasn't being razed by anyone. Must have looked like a good slide regardless and that was my entire show of power playing baseball.