Play Ball!

August 24, 2011 at 11:43 am | Posted in Sports Fan! | 5 Comments

I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned it here before now.

But O is COMPLETELY and utterly obsessed.with.baseball.

He wants to watch “baseball on the TV” in the mornings, which means he watches the clips on ESPN Sportscenter.

He takes his glove with him EVERYWHERE we go.

Playing baseball with him is our new bargaining chip. This morning, for example, I told him that if he finished his breakfast, we could go outside and play baseball for a bit before we had to leave for school.

Kid scarfed down his meal in seconds flat.

When we play baseball, he decides if he wants to be the pitcher or the batter. When he’s the pitcher, he stands sideways and FROWNS at me.

I’m supposed to “be the nouncer” and at that point, I usually say something like The pitcher takes the mound. Look how hard he’s concentrating! And he winds up… and the pitch is…

And damned if he doesn’t wind up and deliver a pitch like a REAL major leaguer – leg in the air and all.

His pitches, however, often fly wide.

Yet of course, he always declares them a STRIKE!

I’ve gotten good at getting my bat onto a VERY inside and high pitch. 🙂

But then it’s his turn to bat.

And that’s where he shines.

Because holy crap my kid can HIT.

We actually PITCH the ball to him. Underhand, of course (hell, I was a softball player. I wouldn’t KNOW how to pitch overhand!). But I’d say that he makes contact with the ball at least 80% of the time.

And he hits HARD.

This weekend he hit me in the face AND arm with line drives. The one that hit my arm left a mark where you could see the wiffle holes.

I’m mixed with pride for his ability… and, truthfully, a little intimidated by his skill.

Because, uh. He’s THREE. If he’s this good now, does this mean when he’s actually OLD enough to play tee ball, he’ll be BORED with it?

Am I going to have to be one of those sports moms that is always schlepping her kid around to baseball tournaments?

I will say, it’s really nice to see your kid pick up something he loves organically. We watched a LOT of Red Sox games when I was pregnant with him, but since then we rarely catch games. Neither J nor I play in a softball league. All of this is generated by O, not us.

J and I are just along for the ride.

Though I do confess: we joke about how nice it would be if our kid became a professional baseball player and could “take care of us” in our old age.

Free Red Sox tickets would be nice! 🙂

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