for the love of  baseball

"I take positives out of negatives all the time."

                                                    - David Wright

Story 2

Travel Team Triumph

Chapter 1

“Wilton Little League travel team tryouts scheduled.” Those were the words Bobby was anxiously waiting for.  Ever since he was a toddler, Bobby Horton has loved baseball.  He loves everything about it: the way the pitcher winds up before the throw, the smack of the ball as it hits the catcher’s glove, the way the umpire yells strrrike, the crack of the bat as it hits the ball, the way the ball arches as it flies towards the outfield. Bobby watches baseball on TV all the time, he reads every book he can get his hands on about baseball, he only wears baseball shirts and he plays or practices it every chance he gets.  In other words, Bobby Horton lives for baseball.  

​Chapter 2

Bobby was not born naturally athletic.  When he started in little league, Bobby would be in the outfield chasing butterflies and throwing dirt up in the air.  On the rare occasion that the ball came in his direction, he would trip over his own feel trying to catch it.  His hitting was not much better.  While he had a pretty good eye for the ball, he did not have the strength to hit it any distance.  Whenever he did hit it, it would barely make it past a few feet.  He would almost always get thrown out at first.  Most of his coaches just saw Bobby as a short, skinny, clumsy kid with no real future in baseball.  He usually was put in right field where the ball rarely went and most times he was put last in the batting rotation.  While this did not bother Bobby at first, over the years he began to realize that his coaches did not think he had much potential.  That was until one spring when he got a coach who recognized Bobby’s passion for baseball.  Coach Bradford realized that Bobby knew more about baseball than most kids his age. He helped Bobby work on improving his weaknesses during practices and even on his own time.  Gradually Bobby became a better baseball player. 

Chapter 3

Now the day had come for Bobby to try out for his town’s travel team, something he had always dreamed of doing.  The tryouts were Saturday afternoon at Hamilton Park.  It was a cold day but at least the sun was out.  Bobby had spent the week practicing every day after school.  He was as ready as he would ever be.  When Bobby showed up for the tryouts, there were 25 boys trying out for 12 spots.  That meant that over half of the kids there would be cut.  Bobby started to get nervous.  He knew that while he had improved a lot thanks to Coach Bradford, he was still considered one of the weaker players for his age.  Bobby pushed the negative thoughts to the back of his mind and went out to the field to give it his best. 
 
Chapter 4

The first thing they did at the tryout was throwing.  The coaches paired up the boys and watched them throw the ball back and forth.  Bobby was paired with Michael Thompson, one of the best kids in their age group.  Bobby could feel his hand stinging when they were done because Michael threw the ball so fast.  Next was fielding.  The coaches placed the boys in different positions and hit practice balls to them.  First Bobby was put in left field. He caught 2 of the 3 balls that were hit to him.  One was a fly ball and one was a grounder.  Then they tried Bobby at second base.  He caught the first two balls that were hit to him but the third one went right between Bobby’s legs.  He knew that was a rookie mistake.  Coach Bradford was always telling him to keep his glove on the ground.  Last was hitting.  The coaches would pitch 5 balls to each kid and they were to run on the last hit. Bobby was the 12th batter up. 

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​​Chapter 5

Bobby watched as the 11th batter hit a double.  Bobby had never gotten a true double in his entire life.  The one time he made it to second was on errors.   Bobby took his turn at plate.  The first ball he hit went foul, the second he grounded to the first baseman, he missed the third one, the fourth one was a good hit up the middle and the last one, that he was to run on, was a fly ball over the first baseman’s head.  It was the farthest he had ever hit a fly ball.  Unfortunately the kid in right field, Artie Walker, had been playing shallow and made a diving play to catch the ball.  Bobby knew he never liked that Artie kid.  Had Artie missed it, Bobby could have had his double.  Bobby went back to the dugout and watched the last of the kids’ at bats. He asked the coaches if he could try catching but the coaches told him they were not trying out the pitchers and catchers.  Bobby was disappointed as he loved to catch.  When the try outs were over, the coaches told the group they would be making their decision by the end of the week.  While Bobby knew he had made a few mistakes in the field and that his hitting could have been stronger, he was happy with his performance overall.

Chapter 6

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Bobby checked his mother’s e-mails multiple times every day.  He was starting to drive her crazy! Come Friday, Bobby could not take the waiting any longer.  His dad took him and his brother to see the new Harry Potter movie.  For just a little while he was able to think about something other than travel baseball.  It was such an amazing movie they talked about it all the way home in the car.  When they entered the house, Bobby’s mom told him that the e-mail had come but that she did not want to open it without him.  Bobby and his mom went to the computer and there he saw in the description the words “Wilton travel team rosters.”  He hesitated before opening it.  What if he didn’t make the team.  It would just prove that what those earlier coaches thought of him were true.  Well it is now or never Bobby thought. He clicked to open the e-mail and scrolled to the 9 year old roster.  He started reading the names which were list in alphabetical order.
John Arnold
Jake Donnelly
Bryce Federline
Sean Jackson
His name was not on the list.  Maybe his name was placed out of order by mistake.  Maybe they accidently put his name in an older group’s roster.  He read the lists from top to bottom.  No Bobby Horton was listed anywhere.  Tears started streaming down his face.  His mom and dad tried to reassure him but it was no use.  His dreams were crushed.  He did not even know if he wanted to continue playing baseball.

​Chapter 7

Bobby’s parents convinced him to finish out the spring season.  When he showed up for his next practice, Coach Bradford patted him on the back and told him he heard he did a good job at the tryout.  He reminded Bobby’s that there were a lot of kids trying out for only 12 spots.  Bobby thanked the coach but in his head he was thinking the coach was just saying that to be nice.  The rest of the spring season went pretty well.  Bobby played catcher for many of the games and he finally got his double.  At the end of the season, Bobby’s parents asked him what he wanted to do.  Bobby was not sure.  Many of his friends would be playing baseball on the travel team and just thinking about it tore him apart.  He told them he had to think about it.  Even though he still loved baseball, he was not certain if he should continue playing.    
 
Chapter 8

Over the summer, since he had so much free time, Bobby began reading a lot of baseball player biographies including Derek Jeter, Ichiro Suzuki and Albert Pujols.   He realized that all the great players became great because they practiced….alot.    Ichiro would go practice for hours with his dad every day after school and Albert would practice before school, after school and anytime he had free classes.  One time he even went over to a friend’s house who had a makeshift field in his back yard and when the friend woke up from a nap, there was Albert practicing in the back yard.  He also saw pictures of Derek when he was younger and he was a skinny kid just like Bobby.  Bobby decided that he was not going to let one set back ruin his love of playing baseball.  He sat down and began making out a plan for how he was going to make the travel team next year.  To begin, he asked his mom to sign him up for some summer baseball camps.  Since the summer was already half over she could only find a few but it definitely helped.  Then he looked up how to put on weight.  He started drinking a few glasses of milk a day, increased the amount he ate at each meal and began eating lots of healthy high fat snacks including avocado, nuts and cheese.  He also began running and exercising a few times a week.  By the end of the summer, Bobby had put on 5 pounds and he felt stronger.  

Chapter 9

It was the Fall and Bobby was ready to start playing baseball again.  Since they did not have fall ball in Wilton, he asked his parents if he could play somewhere else.  Luckily the next town over was looking for players and they were willing to take kids from other towns.  Every day Bobby would set his alarm clock a half hour earlier than usual so he could go outside to practice.  He practiced hitting off a tee and throwing and fielding with a rebounder.  When he got home from school he would do his homework and then he would be back outside practicing again.  When his dad got home from work, he would help Bobby practice his throwing and catching.  During free time at school, Bobby would be reading instructional baseball books and more biographies.  He was determined to learn everything he could about baseball.  Even while he was catching for his fall team, Bobby would be there discussing plays with the umpires.  It got to the point where umpires were asking Bobby for clarification on some rules.   Bobby’s hitting had also improved but it still was not great.  He rarely made it past first.  He figured something had to change.

Chapter 10

Bobby spent the winter working on his hitting.  He signed up for a hitting class at a local baseball facility.  Every Thursday he would be there for an hour working on his swing.  Although his contact with the ball was improving, the strength of his hits was still weak.  While he knew being a contact hitter would be sufficient for a recreational league, he was not sure it would be good enough for the travel team.  Only time would tell.   
 
Chapter 11

The spring recreation season began and once again Bobby was picked by Coach Bradford.  This made Bobby happy because he really liked Coach Bradford and Coach Bradford liked Bobby’s passion for the game.  Bobby played catcher most of the time which was still his favorite position.  He could see that his hitting had improved since the Fall and was thankful that the hitting class he took over the winter had helped.   About midway through the season it was time once again for the Summer Travel Team tryouts.  Although Bobby was more hopeful about his chances of making the team since he had improved quite a bit, he knew that the kids that were on the team last summer would be given preference.  He had heard that there were two kids from last summer who quit the team which basically meant Bobby would be competing with any other new kids for one of two available spots on the team.

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Chapter 12

At least this time there were only 5 new kids trying out for the team including himself so he knew he had a better chance of making the team this year.  One of the other new kids was his friend Peter.  Peter and Bobby always got along because they shared a passion for baseball and could spend hours talking about it.  Peter had also tried out last spring but did not make the team.  Even though he is a good player, his small size always seemed to be an obstacle for him. Bobby also recognized the other 3 kids trying out but did not know them as well.  The tryouts were pretty much the same as last spring with mostly hitting and fielding drills.  Bobby did well but so did the other kids.  Bobby decided he was not going to stress about it like he did last year.  If he did not make it this time, he figured he would finish out the spring season and then look for another sport to play.   

​​Chapter 13

The day Bobby’s parents received the email with the rosters had been a good day.  He got a 100 on his math test and the girl he had a crush on said hello to him.  He had a good feeling about making the team this time.  He opened the email and looked at the list.   
John  Arelano
Bryce Federline
Peter Gorton
Sean Jackson
How could this be? Once again his name was not on the list. He tried not to get upset but he couldn’t help it.   To make matters worse, his friend Peter’s name was there.  How would he face him the next day at school.  While he was happy for Peter, he was overcome with embarrassment and disappointment.  All the early morning practices, all the hitting lessons, all the books he read, all of it was for nothing.  Now he just felt angry.  Everyone said that you can achieve anything if you worked hard enough.  He was starting to believe that was not always the case.   

Chapter 14

Bobby avoided Peter and the other travel players at school. Not making the travel team two years in a row was just too embarrassing. Bobby refused to go to his next rec game.  His parents tried to encourage him to finish out the season but he had had enough.  He was done with baseball! Coach Bradford called his parents to make sure Bobby was ok since Bobby had never missed a game without letting the coach know ahead of time.  They explained that his failure to make the travel team again was really hard on him and he was not interested in playing baseball anymore.  Coach Bradford asked to speak with Bobby.  He reminded Bobby of how far he had come in his abilities since he first started playing and that he owed it to the team to finish out the season.   Bobby thought about it and realized it would be selfish to just abandon his coach and team who had always been so good to him.    

 
Chapter 15

At one of the last practices, Coach Bradford asked Bobby if he wanted to try pitching.  Bobby figured why not give it a try.  It took a little while for him to get used to it.  Throwing as a pitcher was a lot different than throwing as a catcher.  To everyone’s surprise, including himself, he was actually pretty good at it even though he had never pitched before. His pitches weren’t fast but they were pretty accurate so Coach Bradford told him he would be pitching the next game. Bobby was a little nervous at the thought of pitching but at the same time he was happy to have the chance to try something new. 

​​Chapter 16

It was a few days till the next game.  The closer it got the more nervous he became.  Why had he ever agreed to pitch.  What was he thinking?  If he gets shelled, it will lead to even further embarrassment. Bobby decided to put the negative thoughts out of his mind.  If Coach Bradford had faith in his ability, than so would he.   Game day arrived and Bobby took the mound.  The first inning he struck out the first two batters and the 3rd popped up for the last out of the inning.  Bobby was starting to feel more confident so he pitched 5 of the 6 innings and only allowed 1 run to score.  Bobby realized he had found a new passion in pitching and his love of baseball was restored.  He was going to work really hard at becoming a great pitcher.  

​Chapter 17

Bobby used the summer to strengthen his arm and work on his pitching.  Every evening before bed he would do arm strengthening exercises and he would go to the local gym a couple of days a week.  Each day he could feel himself getting stronger.  Every morning he would work on his throwing by using the new rebounder that his parents had gotten him for Christmas.  His dad used black duct tape to create a strike zone for him.  He would throw pitch after pitch until he was able to consistently get it in the strike zone.  Once he was able to do that, he worked on placement.  He would practice throwing high balls and low balls as well as inside and outside pitches.  By the end of the summer his throwing was faster and stronger and more accurate than ever.  

​Chapter 18

Bobby decided to do fall ball again so he could try out his pitching.  His parents joked with him that they thought he was “done” with baseball.   Lucky for him he got placed on a team with John, a friend of his from nursery school.  John knew the coach and most of the players since they went to his school so this made it easier for Bobby to get to know everyone.  Bobby told the coach he was a pitcher and a catcher which made the coach happy because they did not have many pitchers.  Bobby pitched about half the games that season.  He won most of them including one perfect game. At the end of the season the coach told Bobby’s parents that he was a natural baseball player.  They thanked him but were secretly laughing to themselves.  If only the coach knew just how far Bobby had come since he first started playing.    

​Chapter 19

For the winter, Bobby continued to do his arm strengthening and work on his hitting.  He also began to teach himself different pitches including a curve ball, slider and knuckleball.  He knew that he was too young to use some of them at this point but he thought it would be cool to just be able to say he was able to throw them.  The tryouts for the spring rec league would be in just a few weeks. Bobby could not wait to show how fast he could throw now.  He told his parents to make sure they signed him up. 

Chapter 20

Bobby had an amazing day at the Spring rec league tryouts.  First they began with throwing exercises with some older players.  When the other player would toss a ground ball back to Bobby he would charge the ball rather than just wait for it to get to him.  Bobby was also throwing the ball back so hard you could see the other kid’s hand was burning.  The coaches were taking notice.  Then came the hitting.  Bobby was not sure if it was his new bat or all the arm strengthening that he had done but his hitting was also very powerful.  One of the coaches even joked with Bobby that he must be using steroids because his throwing and hitting had gotten so strong since just a few years ago.  Bobby did so well that he was picked in the first round of the draft.  The only drawback was that it was by a coach he did not know at all.  Bobby did not know what this would mean for his being allowed to pitch.    

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