Rave: Memorial Day Weekend
Posted: May 24 13, 2:30 pm
My favorite holiday of the year. I've always associated this with baseball, when I was younger it signified the second spring. Memorial Day was generally when your summer league started, and I always loved that. You had one season under your belt, and I never felt like I did as well as I could/should have, and having a second season to wipe the slate clean and start over was great.
My favorite Memorial Day memory was when I was 16, just finished my Soph year and we had a series of games scheduled for my summer league team that weekend. I was scared to death, because back then the team was basically and 18 and under elite league. We had a guy with a late birthday that had a very successful year pitching his first year in college and would be drafted out of that JC the next year, we had a SS that would eventually be the #3 overall pick in the country and the top HS player picked that year, plus a bunch of other good players. I remember driving to Decatur for our first game on a Saturday and I was shocked to see my name penciled in hitting 4th behind that player I just described. What the hell was I doing hitting fourth on this team? I remember standing in the on deck circle with my shin guards on watching a guy named Jeff Innis (Mets - lifetime 3.05 ERA in 7 seasons) mow our guys down 1-2-3 in the first and shaking in the on deck circle. When Schofield grounded out for the third out, I went to get my glove and realized it was pouring rain. I never made it to the field, never made it to the batters box, and I just breathed a big sigh of relief when the game was cancelled thanking god I wasn't exposed. I had actually faced Innis before and he wasn't any fun, especially in cold wet weather.
Sunday rained out, Monday we traveled to Mattoon, IL on a beautiful day for baseball. This was a big deal there, they had a parade and Miss Cole County was there to throw out the first pitch and I'm thinking this is just cool as [expletive]. I'm hitting fourth again (WHAT??), and my second AB I squared one up and about killed the pitcher. He got a glove on it but it got through, and I was on my way to the best summer baseball-wise of my life. I actually met my future college coach there, he was over just watching the game when a catcher with a good arm caught his eye. He kept in close contact with me over the next two years and eventually offered me a scholarship to play ball which I promptly pissed away.
Since then it's changed in terms of playing, but usually baseball is still involved. When I coached there was always a big tourney, the entire weekend was just baseball. Now I just make a point to watch as much as I can, I'll actually go out and check out some local fields to watch some youth baseball. This is the only time of the year I do that.
Cookouts, beer, baseball, a little auto racing, the start of summer. The best. Hello summer!
My favorite Memorial Day memory was when I was 16, just finished my Soph year and we had a series of games scheduled for my summer league team that weekend. I was scared to death, because back then the team was basically and 18 and under elite league. We had a guy with a late birthday that had a very successful year pitching his first year in college and would be drafted out of that JC the next year, we had a SS that would eventually be the #3 overall pick in the country and the top HS player picked that year, plus a bunch of other good players. I remember driving to Decatur for our first game on a Saturday and I was shocked to see my name penciled in hitting 4th behind that player I just described. What the hell was I doing hitting fourth on this team? I remember standing in the on deck circle with my shin guards on watching a guy named Jeff Innis (Mets - lifetime 3.05 ERA in 7 seasons) mow our guys down 1-2-3 in the first and shaking in the on deck circle. When Schofield grounded out for the third out, I went to get my glove and realized it was pouring rain. I never made it to the field, never made it to the batters box, and I just breathed a big sigh of relief when the game was cancelled thanking god I wasn't exposed. I had actually faced Innis before and he wasn't any fun, especially in cold wet weather.
Sunday rained out, Monday we traveled to Mattoon, IL on a beautiful day for baseball. This was a big deal there, they had a parade and Miss Cole County was there to throw out the first pitch and I'm thinking this is just cool as [expletive]. I'm hitting fourth again (WHAT??), and my second AB I squared one up and about killed the pitcher. He got a glove on it but it got through, and I was on my way to the best summer baseball-wise of my life. I actually met my future college coach there, he was over just watching the game when a catcher with a good arm caught his eye. He kept in close contact with me over the next two years and eventually offered me a scholarship to play ball which I promptly pissed away.
Since then it's changed in terms of playing, but usually baseball is still involved. When I coached there was always a big tourney, the entire weekend was just baseball. Now I just make a point to watch as much as I can, I'll actually go out and check out some local fields to watch some youth baseball. This is the only time of the year I do that.
Cookouts, beer, baseball, a little auto racing, the start of summer. The best. Hello summer!