Personal Narrative: The Magnificent Ballpark

“Every strike brings me closer to the next home run”(Babe Ruth). I was wondering how much baseball really affected my life and the choices I make. The answer is a lot, and it still continues to leave a mark on this life I love. Over the many years of my involvement in the game I have learned that life is full of ups and downs. Baseball teaches people to bounce back from negatives, this I believe.

Most people are all grown up when they finally figure out what they want to do with their life. I was 4. I realized what I wanted to be when I attended my very first Rodeo. Even though it was so long ago I can remember that day like it was yesturday. That day got me on the path to my future.

Nothing beat the overwhelming emotion of stepping up on the pitcher’s mound and hearing the chant of my name, my heart clawing its way out of my chest. Before throwing the first warmup pitch, my mind raced through the entire season. How, as a team, we have made history winning all three major tournaments in the high school level. We had beaten many top competitors and lost plenty crushing defeats as well. My mind pondered, which situation will I be in today, glorious victory or destructive loss. This is the feeling I lived for during high school, it was my sole purpose. However, this was merely one minute of that fateful day in which I played prodigiously trying to win a baseball game.

It was less than a second maybe half a second but it changed everything. I heard the ball hit against my bad with tons of power. Suddenly all I heard was the crowd cheering behind me and my team running up to me. I was dumbfounded did I really just hit a grand slam to win the World Series in the fourteenth inning? Tears rolled down my face as we all knew we just won the World Series for our team that hadn't won since 1908.

The game started out great the boy led off and got a single. He got on and stole second the ball got past and he stole third. The boy was on third and the Ruffnecks got three out. The boy was standing in left field all hyped up for the championship game. He was in his black, white, and red jersey representing the Mason-Dixon Ruffnecks. He was just sitting there all calm and cool like a librarian when all of a sudden the ball gets hit to him, he catches it for the final out. Later on in the game, about 5 innings later the boy gets up to bat. There was one out, the score was 6-4 in the favor of the Ruffnecks, and it was the top of the last inning. The Ruffnecks were looking to win the tournaments since they had lost the past

Could we get to the ball? If we don’t get the ball they well recover it. It was one of our first games in September. Our record was one, one and one. That means we won once, lost once, and tied once. It was at Unity Field (Home). We were started at 4:30.

Last night I made my first visit to watch a home game at Waverly. The game when all was said and done turned out to be worth the 1:45 minute drive. A late fumble at the one-yard-line kept Waverly from taking a late lead, that was followed by a drive of championship caliber by the Pirates to put this contest away.

“This championship is the most important game, yet the team is more important than that regardless. On the off chance that I surrender one hit, that I may remove you for the game if you mess up.

It was a dark thursday night in April. The sky was clear enough to see the moon shining brightly along with many small circular diamonds. I’m in a dark blue Avalanche, being driven to a baseball diamond. I play for the MIlwaukee Brewers on a little league level. It’s my last game of the season, and I can’t wait for the umpire to say the words “Play Ball” (which states that the game has begun).

It was a good day to play baseball. Sun in the sky, cool breeze in the air. Nothing that could stop me from playing, or messing around. It was the Brentwood Pony All-Star game and I was fired up to play. Since I had the coolest Coach ever and my team just recently won the championship, my coach let us slack of a little bit just because, why not? It was about four o’clock in the afternoon and I was up on deck taking my practice swings, lefty! I was using a batting sleeve to weigh down the bat to make the illusion of it feeling lighter. But as I was watching on deck I realized something, the pitcher was throwing some serious heat. Even though I was experienced hitter, I was just a beginner lefty. I take a deep breath and walk to the plate, one of my teammates walks back to the dugout in deep despair as I go to the plate. As I start walking I hear my mom screaming my name and cheering for me as she always does, and I look back to see my sister laughing so I then let out a quiet giggle.

So what made baseball be the event that made me who I am today. Well I’m about to tell you. First it was the very first baseball game I played, then it was the first game I won, after that it was the first tournament I won, last it was the first World Series I won.

As the crowd boos, you hear the New York Yankee commentator say “coming up to bat after a long year of suspension it’s the third basemen for the New York Yankees, Alex Rodriguez”. I grew up in awe watching great Yankee third basemen Alex Rodriguez. I remember playing baseball and trying to do everything he did, like how he chewed his gum, and how he wore his baseball socks. I would also imitate his batting stance as played. But all of a sudden the player I once looked up to tested positive for steroids.

It does not matter what the person’s favorite team is most people who are baseball fanatics have a dream of being able to go to every single one of the professional fields. There are fields like Wrigley Field in Chicago or Fenway Park in Boston which are two of the most historic fields that most people strive to witness (Bleacher Report). Every field in baseball is different as well. Each field brings a new dynamic to the game which is mostly centered around the hitters and the outfield on having to make different adjustments just so they can fully utilize the field itself. Most of the fields have different from home plate to the fence in the outfield to hit a home run which means that if a hitter can hit a home run at one field, it does not mean he can hit one in the next. Also, because of the of the different distance it can cause the outfield to be either smaller or bigger than the previous one which means the outfielders have to make certain adjustments in different fields so that they can get to the ball when a play is needed to be made. Baseball parks are all unique in their own way unlike other sports where every field or court must be made exactly the same with the exact same measurements for every part of the playing

Once we finished loading up the three trucks and our trailer with all the quads, it was around one o’clock in the morning. My best friend Klay shouted “Shotgun!” with one of the most excited and hyper voices I heard all night. When we were pulling out of the driveway, it looked as if it were a military convoy. The drive was six hours with no trailer and about seven with a trailer, I am very happy to say that I did not get elected to pull the trailer. After about two hours on the road we stopped at a gas station for fuel and the saviors of the night: Red Bull and 5 Hour Energy. After being up for around 20 hours, these were a much needed boost since we were all feeling groggy. Around 4 am all our co pilots decided to sleep, then the inevitable happened…

When this photo was taken, it was just my dad and me at Chase Stadium on September 22, 2015. We were watching the D-Backs game and they were playing the Dodgers and we had seats closer to the top of the stadium. I was excited and happy that we were able to go for free because my dad won two tickets. As Covey says “You need time to relax and unstring your bow, time to treat yourself to a little tender loving care.”