I have new glasses tonight.
Well, three actually.
I picked up a pair I'll use basically every day, a backup pair that I'll likely wear at home, and a pair of sunglasses (they just came in and I'll go get them tomorrow).
Like everything with me, I was overdue to get them. I got my last pair of glasses in 2015 after my previous pair snapped on me.
I had to call three state championship hockey games taped up.
I knew it was time for new glasses but the Babe Ruth regional tourney a few weeks ago convinced me when the scoreboard in left center field became blurry. It was officially time.
But, as I watch the Field of Dreams Game from Iowa tonight, I'm reminded of a few things.
1) I suck at baseball.
2) I sucked only a little slightly less thanks to a pair of glasses and, eventually, contact lenses. But now, I'm back to glasses.
I was in my second year playing in the Mahopac Sports Association. I had acclimated well in my first year and all was well.
Year two didn't go well.
Like, awful.
I walked a bit. Sure, I had a good batting eye. Then again, it's easy to have a good batting eye when you're facing kids who are still trying to develop any accuracy.
But if a kid had good location combined with speed? I was a dead man, especially in that 1978 season on the Hudson Valley Beverage team. I wore uniform number four.
I don't even remember our record. Oh, I was a team player but this wasn't a playoff team.
I just remember, sadly, my batting average.
.000
Ouch.
Looking back, I feel sorry for those stuck with me. I was that kid.
Eventually, my parents took me to the eye doctor. I think it was in the Baldwin Place Mall.
"You know why you can't hit?" the doctor said.
"Why?"
"You can't see the ball."
But, I could see. I'd never had any vision issues.
Except, I did. My right eye was weaker than my left. I'm a left-handed batter and the right eye is the dominant one.
I had a little hope for 1979. My father also offered me a gift for the first hit.
Getting a jersey wasn't the easiest thing in the world at the time (that would change a few years later) but he was willing to take me to Tom Kat in Mahopac and I could have a "jersey" created from a t-shirt with iron on letters.
Game one, 1979 season. Mahopac Falls School.
The field is now gone. I'd say, roughly, it was located in what is now center field of the Mahopac varsity baseball field.
I got a straight fastball and I sent it right back up the middle. A line shot in the book.
Most likely, it was a dribbler.
Either way, base hit. One-for-one wearing glasses. I actually could see the ball better now. It didn't make me a big star but it made me more serviceable.
Don't get me wrong. I had the heart for the sport. I was a leader. I liked you off the field and I liked you when you might be just chatting with me but I likely wanted to carve your heart out otherwise during the game. I wanted nothing other than the win. I'd have to say I was a decent teammate.
Oh, so the base hit.
Dad made good on the t-shirt a few days later.
NEW YORK on the front. Number 55 on the back. Of course.
And so, as I watch the Field of Dreams Game, I think that baseball has its own Winter Classic of the NHL on its hands. And, yet, somehow, they will screw it up with likely no game in 2023 due to construction at the Iowa site.
Baseball. Screwing up since, well, it's a baseball tradition.
But, let's dispose of that. More importantly, as I watch this game, I'm reminded of the movie.
I'm reminded of fathers and sons.
I'm reminded of my dad.
I'm reminded of how I'd like to take my own son to Iowa so we could have a catch on that now iconic field.
I have new glasses tonight. I can see the ball a lot better this evening.
And, just now, former Hall of Famer, Braves pitcher, and FOX broadcaster John Smoltz announced that his father died this morning.
He's calling the game tonight with Joe Davis.
That certainly evokes a few memories of calling a game and honoring a commitment.
So.
Hey dad...
You wanna have a catch?
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| Taken as I was trying the glasses on today. Not a mugshot. |
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