A Baseball Story

 Tonight Gary and I are pretty excited to be seeing Eric on the drums with his band, Dr. Dog, opening for the Lumineers at Citizens Bank Park, which seats around 42,000 people and is where the Phillies baseball team plays. So of course the universe conspired to make this kind of a baseball story.

To further preface this, I am still torturing Gary and making him do Swedish Death Cleaning. 

We’re still not getting anywhere but I remain hopeful.

Anyway, it’s been yielding some interesting blasts from the past. Yesterday was particularly fun.

Gary: “Look what I found. Remember this?” 

Me: “Oh my god. That must be from what, thirty years ago?”

Gary: “Yeah, almost. 1997.”

Me: “Wait, why am I in this pic?”

Gary: “I was the manager, you were my coach.”

Me:”I was a coach? Why don’t I remember that?”

Gary, laughing. “You’re blocking it out.  I managed the team but you distributed snacks and kept me from losing my mind when half the team hit puberty overnight.”

Me: “Oh, yeah, how could I forget. Hahaha it was like they all went insane and became pod people. Is that why there’s only seven girls in this picture? I know we had at least twice that many on the team.”

Gary: “You got that right.  Photo day was like a bad teen movie. I think the girl who was supposed to bring the makeup didn’t show up because she had cramps or something and no one wanted their pics taken without lipstick except the young ones who were still tomboys. They all ran away from the photographer and we didn’t think it was wise to chase after them,” he laughed.

Me: “Ha! Too funny. So that’s why there’s only seven girls. I was afraid you were going to say we ate the others. Holy moly this was around ten years before I became a vegetarian. I told you a meat free diet was a great idea.”  

Gary smiled, he still eats chicken 2-3 times a week but hey, he used to be a daily, voracious red meat eater and obviously knows he’s reaped the benefits of a diet heavy in vegetables and grains.

Anyway, Julie was one of the no makeup girls so there’s her adorable self in the photo. Gary, who was clearly insane, also coached Eric’s team that year and here’s a pic from that, which he also unearthed yesterday. 

Can I tell you how much Eric hated baseball? He used to hide his uniform before the games, thinking he wouldn’t have to play. 

We only signed him up because his teacher called us in for a conference.

“Eric doesn’t play with the other kids at recess. He stands by himself in the schoolyard and reads,” she said.

I tried hard not to grin and shout THAT’S MY BOY!

Gary, the voice of reason, asked, “Do you have any suggestions?”

“I think you should register him for Little League baseball,” the teacher replied. “Being on a team will provide Eric with all kinds of valuable skills.”

So that’s when we signed up a very reluctant Eric, already happily a drummer, for baseball.

“Music is my life. I hate sports,” he told us with dramatic flair.

Over thirty years later, I *think* he may have finally forgiven us.*

*See photo of Eric from this summer, where he participated in a celebrity softball game at the Newport Folk Festival with these guys:

Captain: Kevin Morby

Pitcher: Bill "Spaceman" Lee

Catcher: Robert Sanchez

Players:

Nathaniel Rateliff

Margo Price

Tyler Ballgame

Evangeline

Danny Clinch

Matthew Logan Vasquez

Alex Amen

Mavis Staples

Evan St. Martin

Howe Pearson (Deslondes)

Sam Doores (Deslondes)

JJ Tourville (Deslondes)

Riley Downing (Deslondes)

Dan Cutler (Deslondes)

Peter Anspach

Jake Cochran

Oh, one final memory. In our Little League organization, the parents elected to make sure every kid got a trophy at the end of the season, even if it was only for participation. Julie won the MVP trophy after almost being thrown out of the championship game when she stepped off the pitcher’s mound, turned, and furiously scowled at her infielders for booting an easy defensive play. After being warned about sportsmanship by the umpire, she went on to angrily slam in the winning run in the next inning. Hence MVP.

Speaking of good sportsmanship, that’s the trophy Eric won in 1997.

In a complete full circle moment, it’s the exact award Eric just won at the celebrity softball game in Newport this summer.

Some things never change.

And in another full circle moment, here’s a pic of Julie from Wednesday night. She still plays softball and her team just won and is in the playoffs.

I just love synchronicity.

Can’t wait to see my boy playing at the stadium tonight.

Thanks for reading and I hope I just provided you with some escape from our current hellscape. Writing this did for me. 

Onward!