Last week, at an informal practice we had for J.P.'s Dodgers at J.T. Moore MS, I ran into Oliver, a friend whose son Joe played basketball with last fall and winter. Oliver is a great guy and an outstanding baseball coach. He asked if Joe had any interest in joining his Diamondbacks for the WNSL spring/summer season, which had just started. Joe, of course, was ecstatic about the opportunity to play baseball.
I described Joe as a rental - a player trade to a rival team in the last year of his contract. He'll return to the Junior Dodgers the fall but, for now, he's a Diamondback. I'm excited about it, too, because it's great for Joe to play for another coach and to hear a voice, on the baseball field, that's not mine. He's one of the older players, too, which provides him an opportunity to be a leader on the field, which is something I'm excited about, too.
Yesterday, I coached third base for the Diamondbacks at Oliver's request, as a couple of the assistant coaches were out of town. It was great to be there, on the field, but without the responsibilities of being the head coach. Plus, I got an up close view of Joe playing baseball, and I didn't even have to coach him. I did, however, have to wear a mask while coaching third base, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic and a much needed mandatory mask order from the public health department. That was different.
Joe batted third and played most of the important positions - important, that is, for 7 - 8 year old baseball - first base, second base, pitcher, shortstop, and third base. The work Joe (and J.P.) and I have been doing in the batting cage, along with Joe's new baseball bat, seemed to pay off. Joe went 4 - 4 and hit the ball hard to the left side of the infield each at bat. More importantly, he encouraged his teammates and was a vocal leader, something that comes naturally to him.
The play of the day, as I far as I was concerned, occurred in the fourth inning. Joe was playing shortstop and Oliver's son, Preston, was playing shortstop. There was a man on first base when the batter hit a hard grounder to Joe at third base. Joe fielded it cleanly, looked to second base, double clutched to give Preston time to get there, and fired a strike to Preston for the force out. The fact that Joe immediately knew the right play to make - a baseball play, no less - and made it, was impressive.
The crowd paused for a moment, then cheered as the boys ran off the field. Joe and Preston slapped gloves as they headed toward the dugout. Standing in right field, I nodded my head and smiled to myself. My guy, Joe, making a baseball play. There were probably two players on the field that could have made that play - Joe and Preston - and one of them was mine.
The boys won 17 - 0. They really do have a good team.
I miss my Junior Dodgers, but we'll be back with them in the fall. For now, go Diamondbacks.
Notice the Dodger blue shoes. Nice.
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