It's Really a Matter of Split Seconds

Courtesy of BFF's oldest son, I get introduced to parts of Northern CA I've only seen on weather maps. This weekend, it was the city of Pittsburg. I now know where the Port Chicago Thruway and the Bay Point BART station are. Oldest son is an impressive baseball player -- a member of the Bulldogs in the Oakland Babe Ruth team, on the Cafe Rouge team in the Berkeley league, and now part of a traveling team. He was watching the SF Giants games on TV at four, skipped the t-ball league, and played up into the Bulldogs at six. He now plays or practices nine months out of the year. I was never a baseball fan particularly, though my father was (Yankees forever, in spite of George Steinbrenner). The game was too slow and lasted too long; I attended a Giants game when they played in Candlestick and couldn't wait to leave.

All that has changed. I love AT & T Park and McCovey Cove. I miss Dusty Baker, and am an inveterate fan of Barry Bonds. When he tied Aaron's record on Saturday night, I rejoiced. And when he grabbed his seventeen-year-old son at home plate, and lifted him up in a one-armed hold, I said what I've always felt -- you gotta love Barry.

But it's in my role as spectator at Little League games that I've received my baseball education. I've watched kids who are just naturals, and others who struggle to improve over the course of a season. I've seen how a couple of good plays can transform a kid's confidence, and how parents agonize over every play. And I've observed a variety of coaching styles, a topic I expect to return to often. This traveling team has really good coaches -- they're on the guys all the time about the fundamentals, but also heap on the encouragement and aren't afraid to praise good performances. It's a nice balance -- high expectations combined with teaching skills. It seems to bring out the positive in the team, which isn't always the case.

This was the first game the oldest son played with the all-stars, and they put him in the outfield, rather than at shortstop or pitcher, his favored positions. But he made some great catches and the team as a whole is really sharp. For the first time, I could see how a play succeeds or fails in a split second. If the catcher hesitates before firing off a throw, if a fielder isn't ready and has to bend his knees to get down, if a base runner is trying to steal and doesn't immediately throw himself back on the bag, it's an out rather than a solid play. Amazing to see that Little Leaguers, the good ones, have absorbed that already.

They won the game by one run. I hope I don't have to spend next weekend in Manteca.