Woah Jim you played semi-pro baseball? That’s pretty awesome I had no idea. What position? Yeah I think back to my mom’s entry level coordinator position at the weather channel and my dad’s salary as a teacher. There’s no way a family of four with those two jobs could afford three (my sister was a baby) World Series tickets in 2022 which is quite sad.
I was mainly an outfielder, but there were times I was needed at other positions. I played everywhere but pitcher, and believe me, I would have been terrible at that. I had good control, but no real speed and my curveball was flatter than a politician's head.
I could tell a lot of stories, but I'll limit it to two:
A few years had passed since I had caught a ballgame, but right before game time, our regular catcher tweaked a hamstring. The manager asked "Who wants to catch?", and nobody said anything. I said I'd do because I had caught games in the past. I threw out one runner out of the two that tried to steal a base, got the only two hits in the game, and we won 1-0 on my rbi in the 7th. I was 37 years old at the time, and it had been five years since I caught a game. The next day, my legs were sore and stiffer than brick wall.
Because of my speed, I usually batted lead off or second (lead the league in stolen bases every year for eight straight seasons, including two steals of home). But this particular day, I was batting clean up. I never understood why, but I did. Anyway, I had four at bats and each time the bases were loaded. Strangely enough, I walked all four times, and never swung the bat. I faced three pitchers, and not of them threw me a strike. The box score was weird: no at bats, two runs scored, no hits, and four runs batted in.
I've never been to a World Series game, and I guess I never will. That's one thing in life I wish I could change.
