The "Baseball and the Game of Life" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Reading about my cousin Susan's grandson.  Just got an email from Susan's daughter, Amber, telling me about the recent 2015 Latin American Baseball Classic that her and her husband Jim's son Braedon participated in during the month of August.  Braedon played for the Under 12 Lancaster Junior Barnstormers who posted information on their website about the tournament.  Braedon wasn't able to make the tryouts for the United States team so his mom, Amber, sent a batting video of her son to Jim Parque who was a former major league pitcher and in charge of the tryouts for the team.  

The United States U12 Team entered in the Latin American Baseball Classic.

He was impressed with what he saw and wanted more video which Amber supplied.  Soon Braedon found out he was a member of the team based on his videos.  The letter that she got from Jim said he would play the outfield and possibly pitch.  Braedon has been working with John Parrish who played high school baseball for Lancaster McCaskey and then appeared in 183 major league games over eight seasons with the Orioles, Mariners, Blue Jays and Royals.  

Lefty Braedon pitching in the tournament.

I remember watching John pitch for the first time in the majors when he entered a game in relief against the hard-hitting Yankees and struck out the side.  Well, the Latin American Baseball Classic was held in Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic about a month ago and featured teams from Venezuela, Panama, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Aruba, Brazil, St. Croix, St. Thomas, British Virgin Islands as well as the USA and Dominican Republic.  Now, much of the information I just gave you came from local publications, but today's email from Amber gave me a bit more information, and an entirely different view about her son and the baseball player he has become.  Braedon is a hard-working and very motivated boy who happens to love baseball as I did when I was a boy his age.  He heads to the batting cages, takes fielding practice in his back yard or throws just about every day of the week.  

Braedon batting during the tournament.

What's so different with Braedon is that it is his mom who does it with him everyday!  My cousin, Susan, was a fantastic athlete in high school as was her daughter Amber who now uses her athletic skills to work with her son on a daily basis.  She tells me that she gets to know Braedon so much better because of their workouts and believes she has instilled in him determination and a valuable work ethic.  She wants him to always do his best, but not necessarily be the best in what he does.  The success he has achieved to this point in his life is because of his inner drive to succeed.  But, Amber also wrote me that her son is extremely shy and his accepting the chance to play on the USA team was as much an accomplishment as being on the team.  

Nicko on the left with Braedon on the right.

As for the tournament and the results ... Braedon and his parents arrived a day early in Santo Domingo to get acclimated and rest from their flight.  They found there was a ping-pong table on the beach at their resort and spent time playing.  The next day the parents and boys assembled outside the resort to head to the practice facility.  Amber said she was worried when she realized the boys were being loaded on a bus by themselves and off it went.  Not good for an extremely shy boy in a foreign country and not knowing anyone on the team, but he survived.  The parents were also transported to the field and after a two hour practice the boys were broken down into two teams with a practice game scheduled for the next day.  

Enjoying the beach with teammates.

Back to the resort and the beach for everyone.  Braedon gained a new friend, Nicko, who was from California and they had a great time at the beach.  During the game the next day Braedon batted near the bottom of the order and after going 4 for 4 was moved up in lineup for the next game.  The first game was a loss for his team, but they won the second game before returning to the beach and more fun in the ocean.  The following day Amber said her son wasn't himself and after the first game became sick, but after a round of Imodium, was fine for the second game.  

Braedon displaying his award.

During the second game the Dominican kids were swarming the USA team in the dugout asking for any baseball gear they could give them.  Braedon noticed one young boy who hadn't received anything so he offered his batting gloves and his sunglasses to him.  The same sunglasses that his mom and dad had bought for him the day before, but being the compassionate young man that he is, felt the other boy needed them more than he did.  All these preliminary games were played to determine which teams entered in the tournament would advance to the playoffs.  Unfortunately for Braedon's team, they did not make it even thought he moved from batting eighth to the top of the order by the last game. He had the opportunity to pitch, play first as well as play in the outfield.  

Braedon's trophy case at home.  This has
been filled in just four years of sports!

During the awards banquet, in front of 300 people, Braedon received the coaches award.  A truly successful time even though the team didn't win the championship.  Back in school this week he had an assignment to write for his 6th grade language arts class and wrote about the poverty in the Dominican Republic.  Baseball brought him to another country where he learned more than baseball.  His chance to play ball against some of the best competition in Latin America gave him more than a chance to show off his baseball skills, it taught him lessons about life that he will cherish for the rest of his life. Braedon's baseball success has been due to his love of the game and his effort to succeed, but his success in life will be due to his parents and the values that they are teaching him through the sport of baseball and the experiences he will encounter while playing the great game of baseball.  I know, because I went through it myself.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.