Baseball Dads by Matthew Hiley

Author:Matthew Hiley
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Greenleaf Book Group

36.

Dwayne pulled up to the ballpark ready to play baseball. His assistant coaches were already there, which made him proud. To make things even better, Alex had never been so excited to play.

Russ, Tommy, and Steve were already at the batting cages. They sported tiny coaching shorts, tube socks pulled halfway up their calves, team-color athletic shirts, aviator sunglasses, and whistles. Russ and Tommy were working the batting cages, and Steve was working on throwing technique. Dwayne smiled when he saw them. They had become a full-blown coaching unit overnight.

Every member of the team had a “game day” look on his face. Dwayne hadn’t seen that before. Even the kids who sucked appeared ready to give it their all. The parents kept their distance. Just the way Dwayne liked it.

The team listened when they were told about loading up, making a level swing, coming down on the ball, timing the swing right, stepping out of the batter’s box to throw the pitcher off his pace, and trusting their own abilities. A few even learned how to read the pitch by the way the pitcher held the ball in his glove and entered the windup. It was a thing of beauty. They were pounding the hell out of the ball in the cage.

Before they were set to take the field, the coaches went through a quick refresher course on fielding the ball.

“Keep your body in front of it,” Tommy said. “No side-arm catches. Don’t let anything by you.”

“And outfielders,” Steve added, “make sure you hit your cutoff man on a deep ball.”

“Don’t forget to point your front shoulder where you’re throwing the ball,” Russ jumped in, with a cigarette dangling from his bottom lip. “Take that extra split second to make a good throw. That’s what keeps a single from being a triple.”

Dwayne looked at his coaches and nodded approvingly before stepping in front of the kids. He felt like General Patton addressing his soldiers.

“Take a knee, kids,” Dwayne commanded. He walked back and forth a couple of times, looking each player in the eye. He wanted their undivided attention.

“Today, we get the honor of playing America’s sport. Many people take this honor for granted. Many people dishonor the baseball gods by doing it wrong. That is not what champions do. And make no mistake, team, we are champions. We’ve been doing it wrong for too long, though. But I shit you not, guys, if you’ll put your trust in me and play this game in a way that honors it, we will claim a victory here today.

“Are we outmatched? If you’d asked me a week ago, I would’ve said yes. But not today. No way. Not up in here. We can put the wood on the ball every bit as well as these guys. Probably better. We can make defensive plays every bit as well as these guys. Probably better. Know this, team. Believe this. Today, the gods of baseball will shine favorably on our team.

“If the pitcher throws a strike and you miss, spit on home plate and smile at him.

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