May 14, 2005 - Saturday
I was taking this action shot of Harry stopping a ground ball with the camera in front of my eye, so I'm not actually sure what really happened and whether he caught it or not. But with T-Ball that's probably just as well. T-Ball is all about potential and possibilities. It's the excitement of a youngster being out on the field, and parents imagining that these games are establishing the roots of some future great talent. What's more important in this particular photo is that Harry is the "pitcher," the most sought after position on the field. The pitcher doesn't actually pitch in T-Ball, the batters hit the ball off the T, but the pitcher certainly gets more balls hit to him than any other position. And that's the case here with Harry. So, while I don't remember what happened with this particular ground ball, I did see others and usually what happened to Harry and most of the other kids is that the ball bounced off his glove (I don't think any kid has fielded one cleanly yet), that he and a swarm of other fielders converged on the ball (that always happens, but I think Harry did recover this one), and that Harry eventually got up off the ground having essentially drove on the ball (as always happens), and threw to first far too late to get the runner (it would have been one of the team's great moments if he had gotten the runner). Of course, the first baseman probably didn't catch the ball either: they only have once so far in three games and two practices.

At the end of every T-Ball game, of course, the teams practice good sportsmanship and shake hands. Here's our number "2" leading the line, Coach Norm directly traffic. I've also worn a number "2" shirt to Harry's T-Ball games that I have from playing shortstop in a business league a few years ago. Harry seems to like that we both have "2" shirts. I kind of like it, too, even if it's goofy.

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