The "If You Give A Boy A Baseball" Story

Foreword:  It was an ordinary day.  That was until my wife found the following on Facebook a few days ago.  She said it reminded her of our life together with our family who loved the sport of baseball.  If you have ever had a boy, or in my case two boys and a girl, who loved baseball and softball while growing up, you will understand the following.  Baseball is more than a game in many households, it is a life changing experience.  And...we loved every minute of it!  

If you give a boy a baseball, he will want a bat to go with it.

You’ll buy him the best bat you can find, and then he will probably want a bucket of balls and a glove and some cleats too.

Then, he will probably spend hours begging you to go out in the yard to play with him, even though you may want to sit on the couch and watch TV. He will insist. And his insistence will win.

And when a boy gets a jersey, he will need pants and socks and a belt to go with it. And a TEAM…..

And then life as you know it will end.

There will be no more lazy weekends watching TV. You will see more sunrises than you ever thought possible. Every spare minute of your time will be spent hauling buckets and bags and stinky cleats and crazy boys all over tarnation for hours to practice for a game.

THE GAME.

And your house will be a mess. And your car will be dirty. All because you gave a boy a baseball.

Your weekends will be spent freezing or burning to death on a fold-up chair. And his weekends will be spent gaining confidence and friends, and learning new skills and having fun and getting dirty. So dirty in fact that you will have to learn how to do laundry in a whole new way, like maybe at a carwash using the pressure washer.

And you will be there the day he hits his first home run, first strikeout, and his first double play. And he will make you SO proud. The other moms will congratulate you. But you feel weird saying thank you because it's not you at bat or on the mound. It's everything him. He did this.

And right before your eyes, your little boy will be transformed from the baby who spun around with his head on the bat, (because he loves attention), into a pitcher. Because he loves attention still.

When you give a boy a baseball, you give him more than just a ball. You give him a sport, and a talent, and hope, and dreams, and friends, a new family, a place to learn about life, room to grow as a person where he can push his limits, and bravery, and courage and LIFE, and memories. And he will have ALL of these things, simply because you gave a boy a baseball.

Because you gave a boy a baseball, you too will develop new/lifelong friendships, developed solely from the same passion for the game and love of your team. You will root together. And spew PG-13 things out of your mouths together. Because you gave a boy a baseball.

All because you gave a boy a baseball.

And played with him.

My grandson is now in his fifth year of baseball and his love for it rivals the love for the game of my sons, daughter, wife and myself.  My brother stopped the other evening to watch him play a game and after seeing him play, said he will probably be the best player in the family.  Only time will tell, but he has a big act to follow.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

Caden mowing them down...and he only 13 years old!