JPF Home Page Forums Creative Arts Forums Creative Writing Forum My Big Sports Moment

This forum kind of fell off my radar until I was pulled in from the sidebar by Al's rant. Then, coincidentally, I'm upgrading to a new machine at work and came across this piece I wrote on a couple lunch hours awhile back, after relating the gist of it in an email to John Daubert. If anyone reads, I hope they get some enjoyment out of it. --- Scott


My Big Sports Moment
(A true story)

Most folks that played an organized sport while growing up have one. Usually it’s something like throwing or receiving the game-winning touchdown or hitting the championship-winning home run. Mine is nothing like that - but I can still see it in my mind’s eye 35 years later.……

I played organized minor league baseball in my hometown of Poland until I was 12 years old. I was not good enough to continue on to Pony League (13-14 yr olds at that time) so I thought my baseball playing days were over. Then one day I came home from school and found a neighbor, Mr. Rosenberg, talking to my mother in our living room. He was trying to recruit boys to play Babe Ruth ball (13-15 yr olds) in the neighboring town of Struthers. We talked for awhile and he convinced me to show up at practice for one of the teams in their league. I was assigned to Kurtz Tool and Die. We didn’t have names like the Bombers, the Red Sox, or the Wildcats – it was Kurtz Tool and Die or VFW (actually we had two VFW teams) or Nelson Foundry, always something like that.

While Struthers and Poland were neighbors, they couldn’t have been more different. Poland was an entirely white middle class suburb and Struthers was a steel town. If you saw the movie The Deer Hunter, that could have been Struthers. In fact, part of it was shot in Struthers. Struthers kids were tough – half of them dipped snuff and all of them seemed ready to fight at a moment’s notice. The fifteen year old kids on the team all seemed like 25 year olds to me, with moustaches and sideburns and twice my weight. To give you an idea of what they were like: When we had a league-wide picnic, we played a game in which one kid got ahold of a ball and everyone else clobbered him until another kid was able to take the ball away. And then that kid got clobbered until someone else took the ball away. And, amazingly, everyone wanted the ball! I saw a kid with a finger bent sideways go up to his father and hold up his hand. His dad grabbed it and pushed it back and said, “Okay, get back out there”.

So I showed up for practice and my team was clearly not impressed with me. They were short of bodies though so they took me on and I became a thirteen year old rookie entirely out of my element. Kids are kids though and, while they never saw me as a huge asset to the team, they became friendly enough – and would help me out when they could. I didn’t get to play much that year – we had a great crop of older kids and we were in contention for the league championship. Mostly the manager let me play some in the later innings to give me some experience for next year. Little did I know though that my Big Sports Moment would come this season.

We were playing a game against one of the VFW teams – the winner of the game would advance to the Championship game. The score was tied as we went into the bottom of the last inning and I was sent out play left field. Normally, this was not a situation where I would get playing time but the manager needed one of our position players to pitch the last inning and he needed someone else to fill in. I was the only guy left.

I should mention at this point that I loved baseball despite it being a team sport rather than because it was a team sport. This was not because I was anti-social – I wasn’t. No, it was more because I had a horrible fear of letting other people down. I was always scared of being the guy who struck out with the bases loaded or dropped the fly ball that let the other team win. So as that last inning started, most of my thoughts were along the lines of “Please strike him out” or “Please let it be a ground ball”.

Somehow the other team got a man on second base with one out. Next guy up hits a ground ball to the second baseman, who looked the guy on second back to the bag and then threw to first. A routine play. At this point, and I don’t know exactly what made me do it, I started trotting in from left field and took a position about twenty feet behind our third baseman. I knew, in principle of course, that it was good to back up plays but it didn’t seem likely that I would be involved in any here. Probably, I just wanted to look busy.

In any case, the throw to our first baseman was high. He got a glove on it and slowed it down but dropped it – and the runner on second took off for third. The first baseman panicked and got off a wild throw to third.

At this point, time slowed to a crawl and I saw and heard a number of things – a look of despair on the first baseman’s face as he saw the throw go wild. A look of triumph on the baserunner’s face as he rounded third to score the winning run. A look of desperation on the face of the third baseman as he spun and jumped for it, only to come up short. Shouted curses from our dugout and a gasp from the crowd….

And then that bright white ball sailing right into my glove like it was a homing pigeon.

I feel like there was a long period of silence but it probably wasn’t that long. Everyone was truly shocked because, for one thing, no one ever backed up plays – no matter how many times they were told to. It just never took. And for another, no one saw me there until I caught the ball. I got there under everybody’s radar. Basically they saw a game go from lost to not lost in a split second.

Then, a look of relief on the first baseman’s face, a look of disbelief on the baserunner’s and a huge cheer from my team and the crowd as I flipped the ball to the pitcher and trotted back to position.

That was my Big Sports Moment – and I’ll never forget it.

We stranded the runner on third and won the game in an extra inning. My team mates all gave me high fives and our manager, who saw this as a teaching moment, made a big deal of it as he talked to the team after the game. (I’d like to say it worked but I don’t recall anyone backing up plays to any great extent after that.)

Later that week we won the championship game in the bottom of the last inning. I was the runner on third when the opposing pitcher walked our batter with the bases loaded.

But even stepping on home plate that day doesn’t match up to that moment earlier in the week.

Beyond the thrill of the event, I think that moment had a huge impact on the way I’ve come to think about teamwork. Being part of a team didn’t mean everyone had to be a superstar – only that there was always someone in the right place at the right time. That folks didn’t have to do everything well – they only had to do something well. And that you could build a team as long as all the somethings added up to one everything. And, perhaps most importantly, that there are times when a member of a team can do something to keep another from letting the team down.

Two more years and I was out of organized sports for good. I’m sure, over those next two seasons, that I had my shares of high points and low points. But I don’t remember any of them to this day. Just the one I related here. My Big Sports Moment - backing up an infield play! Pretty lame!

Scott,

This is a great story! Way to go!

I grew up with baseball. My father played minor league ball but never made the majors. My father and I were not close. But baseball was one of the two things he and I could talk about and both be amused. The other was music.

I loved sitting around listening to him talk about the big stars of his youth and early adulthood...Babe Ruth, Lou Gerhig, Marty Marion, Rogers Hornsby, Frankie Frisch, Jimmy Foxx, etc., etc. I was captivated by those stroies. Anytime he and I were together, I always hoped the topic of discussion was going to be either music or baseball. Anything else was usually a very unpleasnt, demoralizing time.

We kids could stay up at night, even on school nights, until the Cardinals ballgame was over, regardless of the time...as long as we sitting at the table and listening to the game. Those were the days of Stan Musial, Ken Boyer, Mickey Mantle, Norm Cash, Sandy Koufax, etc. I LOVED those nights listening to the ball games.

I played baseball in high school and Little League but was only an average player. Second base and shortstop were my positions. I don't have as "special moment" as you did. But, wow, I sure have some speciual memories. Thanks for renewing them!

Alan

Loved the story, Scott. Especially THIS part:

Hey Al:

Yes, you really hit on something - baseball crosses generations. It's one of those things, like fishing, that allows grandfathers, fathers and sons to connect.

You were half a generation ahead of me. Players like the Tigers' Norm Cash and Al Kaline were at the ends of their careers when I'd see them play at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. I did get the autographs of Brooks Robinson and Frank Robinson when the Orioles came to town once.

Scott

Hi Tricia:

Thanks - glad you liked.

I changed the opening from "Most guys" to "Most folks". I seem to have a memory that you played basketball in school....

Scott

In another life, Scott.

Scott,

Cool story. I enjoyed reading it! I played a lot of sandlot sports, but never any organized stuff. I still remember things that happened there and how we mostly had tons of fun.

Kevin

Great pic, Tricia

Our school (mid 70's) didn't have a woman's basketball program. Not sure when that picture was taken but the style looks to fit about the same time frame. Your school must have been more progressive.

Scott

Hi Kevin....

After I turned 16 and got out of organized sports, my friends and I played a lot of sandlot ball. That was probably the most fun I ever had in sports because there was never any pressure. Yeah, lots of good memories from that...

Thanks - glad you enjoyed the story.....

Scott

Scott,

my "big sports stroy is really weak... i tried out for the x games. (bicycling freestyle) and i did horribly, nothing i did raised a brow of the judges. so as i was packing up to head back home, i met the Marine recruiter... as they say the rest is history...

cheers
-steve

Great story there Steve - you should write it up!

Glad to see you back!

Scott

good story Scott, just a comment to let you know I was here.
I never got to do a lot of sports.

Thanks, Lane. Glad you liked!

Scott

Scott, I remember your email about that cool happening for you!

I can again picture your story as if it's on the little league field I played on, because you tell it so good! Are you sure it wasn't in Barrington, NJ?!

I think you did that great backup move from you having creative abilities. I think a mind can be a step or two ahead of events, when the creative side of the brain is active. Your gift as a writer in songs, and in longer works as your story here, might have been in it's beginning stages at that game.

Insightful! Though, the amazing thing might be that you actually caught the ball!

LOL!

GREAT story telling!

John

LOL! You speak the truth, my friend

Glad you liked this - actually I'd have never thought of doing it if you hadn't jogged my memory. Thanks for that!

Phillies in front by 4.5 games! Cool!

Scott

You're welcome.

Now start writing a book on everyone's big moments!

"Big Moments Of Just Plain Folks"

(With Brian's blessings of course).

You could get the stories, then edit them in your writing style. Our facts,,,your way of saying it. (As told by the author).

"Get Busy With It"!

John

Scott,

I read this last night. I'm not sure how I missed it. I think I'm going to put this quote in my office:

"Being part of a team didn't mean everyone had to be a superstar - only that there was always someone in the right place at the right time. That folks didn't have to do everything well - they only had to do something well. And that you could build a team as long as all the somethings added up to one everything. And, perhaps most importantly, that there are times when a member of a team can do something to keep another from letting the team down."

I had a similar moment when I played basketball. I was small, short, and somewhat slow but the coach used me as #4 guard on our team. He would put me in about halfway through the game to guard "the big girl" if there was a really tall forward on the opposing team. The idea was that I would cause fouls just by being in the line of fire. Guess I was the tomato can, to use a boxing term. The strategy worked most of the time too. I made a game/tournament winning freethrow mainly b/c I was knocked over by a big forward in the last minute of a game.

It's about the only thing I remember now about basketball, other than running the endless bleachers and "man eaters." Oh, and also getting my lips turned to a bloody mush b/c I wore braces and the ball (or someone's elbow) managed to always hit me in the face.

That's great, Wendy! I used to pride myself on being able to get on base by being "hit by pitch".



That's a whole different level from my experience. I'd really treasure a memory like that!

Scott

That's a great story Scott. Thanks for sharing it.

Thanks Vanessa

Miss seeing you around - I like your avatar pic though!

Scott

GREAT story Scott and unique thread...

Now you might think that anyone who started there musical journey at age 3 would not be the least bit interested in sports especially playing them however....

I LOVE sports And I was always apaptable to a few of them
Football, Baseball, Motorcross. Boxing, Martial Arts, Basketball.

Here are my three quick moments....

1. I went to Catholic School for 10 years 2 years in high school The Geography teacher was a complete jerk. And looked to fail you if you weren't on his track team. I did not like track, but the guy wouldn't acknowledge you if you weren't one of his boys.

So I joined one day.. That first day they took me to a meet in our Borough. With no training they through me in there and I took 3rd place in high jump and 5th in long jump. My surprise ranking got us the points we needed to win.
Next week in high jump I landed 4th in all of New York.
As soon as he wasn't my teacher I left his track squad

2- I cut out of high school at 9:am Public HS. I got in the car with friends go get a few cases of beer & drive way out the park. Drank, smoked and played acoustic guitars ALL day. Then at 2:00 pm I get up off the ground to drive back to school.. My friends say why the hell are you going back to school.
I say I have PE at 2:30, Football! They say "yeah so" I say Gotta go my team needs me... They were shocked!

I walk unto the field with my long crazy curly hair, put down my guitar case next to a kid by the bleachers. Put on my colors, line up and go on to and catch 5 TD passes. And about 10 first downs. See I would play football all the time as a child and would go up a catch anything in any weather that comes near me. And I was 6ft 3 as a freshman...
The coach pulls me aside and says - You have GREAT hands.. We would like you to play for our team. The other one tests me and says "hey he's a musician a dreamer, he ain't gonna play" I said
Your right I ain't lol... But I NEVER let my teammates down ever.
Same goes for my bands...

3- Always had a terrible arm but a great glove playing baseball.
Never hit at all, Could not hit a baseball..always in the field chasing down fly's line dives and used to LOVE those wicked fast grounders that would always drop right in front of you snap up and hit you in the ****
One day my cousins were at try out s for little league, I road up at 13 years old on my Yamaha Motorcyle. They said hey you wanna try out.. I take the field and go to town,coach says well you got a great glove but can you hit? I said no, I never practice hitting. So up to bat i go, first pitch ball 1 second pitch ball 2 third pitch smack.. Out of the field up the hill and into the woods.. lol The coach signs me up:)

I get in the league and go 0 for 30 at bat and struck out about 20 times LOL.... Eventually I started to time the ball and hit pretty well.

If i didn't love music so much I would have been very happy playing sports because I LOVE teamwork, LOVE competition, and LOVE being rewarded personally for hard hard work & effort.

PS - You would freak if you ever seen me (healthy) smack around a speed bag, very fast hands

Those are some great stories, Sub. And they illustrate things about you that we are already aware of.

Never thought about the analogy between being in a band and being on a sports team. I can see the similarities.

I think it would be harder to be in a band. With sports, there is no doubt which team (on that day at least) was better.

Scott

Hi Scott

Yes mainly aside from being overly subjective music is alot like sports.
Especially being in a band.

1. You have fun! and play for the love of it.
2. You have to practice ALOT... sacrifice
3. Team Work
4. Coaches are like Producers
5. You have managers
6. It's a skill & BIG business
7. You perform in front of large crowds
8. You can play your whole life and never get a ring or a deal
9. Trades, you get new bandmates & co-writers all the time
10. You get on a bus and you TOUR

Big differences

1. No REAL system... with music. Unless your a classical concert performer there's no real system. SCHOOL! Athletes have organized leagues from when they were 5 all through high school & college. Scholarships Scouts, and people are looking for you and can find you at SCHOOLS

Non concert Musicians, songwriters that land on the charts,,,The BIG bucks..
Well they can rot never being given the chance.

2. Subjectivness

You can't play, compose, write, record or even sing or even dance and you can be RICH as a popular music star. And last for years (see : P Diddy)

In sports you don't even make it that far,,, and in boxing the less talented get annihilated and go away
No opinions, no hype, no bs...

LOL - that brings back memories, Sub. In my school the sports teams had their year end banquets at a fancy restaurant. The kids that got the best grades never had one. Until one year they did - in the school cafeteria.

Sports was everything.

Scott