Short Story..

I played little league baseball from age 4-12 and was a pretty good ballplayer until I hit my growth spurt at 13 and got unusually uncoordinated.  The best part of those years was when my mom would let me play park ball during the offseason.  Park ball was just the baseball league run by the city where anyone was allowed to play.  It didn’t matter if you couldn’t catch, throw, or hit… you were allowed to play.

The mound was closer, the competition softer, and me, being a decent ballplayer, turned into the fucking Babe Ruth of park ball.  Countless no hitters were thrown and homeruns were hit on my end.

ANYWAYS.. when I was 12 we had this kid on our team who had never played baseball and I’m not even sure if he knew the rules.  He was soft too.. like the kind of kid who would cry to get out of riding the rollercoaster growing up.  I felt bad for him and genuinely wanted him to gain some confidence and have fun playing.  It’s the 2nd or 3rd practice of the season and the coach decides to have it at the batting cages.  We’re in the 50 or 60’s cage and this kid steps in for his first time ever.  I’ve never seen anything like it but the very first pitch just nails this kid (standing correctly in the batter’s box) in his leg.  Obviously this kid quit on the spot and probably hates baseball for life, but that’s kind of how I think Juan Soto is feeling right now after this at bat and the Astros being up 3-2 with a chance to WIN THE FUCKING WORLD SERIES tonight.

Yeah Soto may have walked in that at bat… but he was SHOOK the rest of the game.

Astros in 6!