A fun moment for everyone

[tribefan1952]

I enjoyed this and wanted to share it. 13-14 year boys... semi-travel teams.. each town puts together a few teams... not premier talent, but some of the teams are pretty good. I used to coach in this league. There are always a few stacked teams.

Blowout from the start. Bottom of 5th. Visitors leading by about 20 runs. Big kids against little kids. Very big & fast pitcher facing the littlest 13-year-old I have ever seen. 2 outs. The game will soon be (mercifully) over. The little guy fearlessly lays down a good bunt on a fast ball. Catcher makes a bad throw. This kid is on his way to 3rd base when the right fielder makes and off-line throw. I'm PU and I see the play unfolding. Kid rounds third and the 3rd baseman gets the ball on maybe one bounce. I'm thinking uh-oh, this will be close. Perfect throw... perfect slide... the tag is late by a whisker. I signal "SAFE!!... SAFE!!" as if it was the deciding run in the world series. It was so cool to see the huge grin on this kid's face. Everyone was cheering. (Probably both teams) It was one of those moments I'll never forget. A ten-foot "home run" Well.. maybe a couple errors, but who's counting.

[JugglingReferee]

As a player who at 7 years old was lucky enough to be this same kid, thanks for sharing! It's nice to see that Umps enjoy these stories!

[Al]

Originally Posted by tribefan1952

I enjoyed this and wanted to share it. 13-14 year boys... semi-travel teams.. each town puts together a few teams... not premier talent, but some of the teams are pretty good. I used to coach in this league. There are always a few stacked teams.

Blowout from the start. Bottom of 5th. Visitors leading by about 20 runs. Big kids against little kids. Very big & fast pitcher facing the littlest 13-year-old I have ever seen. 2 outs. The game will soon be (mercifully) over. The little guy fearlessly lays down a good bunt on a fast ball. Catcher makes a bad throw. This kid is on his way to 3rd base when the right fielder makes and off-line throw. I'm PU and I see the play unfolding. Kid rounds third and the 3rd baseman gets the ball on maybe one bounce. I'm thinking uh-oh, this will be close. Perfect throw... perfect slide... the tag is late by a whisker. I signal "SAFE!!... SAFE!!" as if it was the deciding run in the world series. It was so cool to see the huge grin on this kid's face. Everyone was cheering. (Probably both teams) It was one of those moments I'll never forget. A ten-foot "home run" Well.. maybe a couple errors, but who's counting.

Great story tribefan,

It reminded me of one of my favorite moments. I mostly umpire for softball but over the last couple of weeks I have worked several baseball games and started to visit this forum to brush up on baseball rules. To my surprise I like working baseball as much as softball. Two baseball board members asked if I wanted to be one of their umpires next season.

...You may have read the story below but many here probably have not and may enjoy it.

A little background before the actual play. In spring of 04, while I was coaching 3rd base for 8 / under one of my girls hit a very strong line drive that went well into the outfield. She ended up with a home run. While the team, and parents, were all enjoying the moment I asked the girl playing 3rd base if she ever hit a home run. She said "No, but my dad said if I ever hit a home run he is taking me to Wal-mart to buy me a surprise". Well, a year later I am umpiring a game and that little girl comes to bat. I asked her if she ever got her home run and that surprise from Wal-Mart. She said no. Then she hit the ball pretty well, but it didn't get out of the infield. The play to 1st was close, but she didn't even slow down, made the turn to 2nd and beat the throw there. Her coaches were yelling for her to stay at second, but she didn't even slow down. She just barely beat the throw to 3rd. Didn't slow down there either. The fielder at 3rd was a big girl and was running her down to home plate. I was running along side of them watching to see if a tag gets made before the runners foot touches the plate. Little by little the fielder was catching her. Then just inches after the runner's foot touched home plate the fielder tagged her. Close but SAFE! The whole place was cheering! I'll never forget that, especially because of the girl telling me that story about daddy getting her a surprise if she gets a home run. I was sure glad she was safe! I call them as I see them and would have hated to see her miss that homerun by an inch. She was so determined to get a home run that she didn't even hear her coaches yelling at her to stay 2nd, then 3rd. She turned a single into a home run! That was the most exciting play I had all year. I feel like I had motivating part in it!

Update... Just as I thought some time later when she saw me she came over to tell me what her dad gave her. I didn't have to ask her. It was a Wal-Mart gift certificate for $100.00. At that time she said she didn't spend it all and shared some of it with her 2 year old brother. ...Al

[tribefan1952]

Thanks for sharing that story. After a couple weeks, nobody remembers who won the game, but moments like that you will always remember. It's really cool that you were able to talk to her about it later.

Like the time I was base-coach at third, good hitter up. I wanted the runner at 1st to steal 2nd on the 1st pitch so I gave a "take" sign and a "steal" sign. (For some reason, I did that a lot that year. I hated-force outs at 2nd base. And it always seemed to work out.) Well a fat pitch came in and she hit it about a mile. As she rounded 3rd, she looked a lttle guilty. After the inning ended, she came up and apologized for swinging at it, "But it was so good, I just could stop myself!" She actually felt sort of bad about it. I laughed. I couldn't help it. For some reason, I'll always remember that. This happened about 10 years ago. She's about 25 years old now. If I ever see her again, I'm going to ask her if she still remembers it.

I really enjoy baseball/softball stories. After all, it's a game. We need to enjoy the really cool moments.

[DG]

Originally Posted by Al

It was a Wal-Mart gift certificate for $100.00. At that time she said she didn't spend it all and shared some of it with her 2 year old brother.

So her 2 year old brother wanted what, from Wal Mart?

[Al]

Originally Posted by DG

So her 2 year old brother wanted what, from Wal Mart?

Do you know any toddler that doesn't want something when in Wal-mart? I have 5 grandkids and two of them are two years old. They always want something. Once at a Wal-mart super center one of my two year old grandgirls was yelling out "DORA, DORA!" We weren't anywhere near the toy dept but she seen DORA hanging on a ceiling display a few hundred feet.

Maybe his mom said no to a toy or candy and his sister offered to buy it for him with her home-run gift certificate.

[tribefan1952]

Yup.. And whoever invented happy meals at McDonald's made millions of dollars for them.