There is no I in team and part 3 of the theology of baseball

FOR HOWARD:


Unfortunately, I don't know too many adults who could have done what he did.  And sadly, the ones I do know have been through some stuff.  And I am not taking about making the catch, I am talking about howt o handle it when you don't.  And to think he understands at 14 what most people will never understand after a lifetime. And I wish you could teach character and integrity but you can't.  It is a self developed skill. 

It was the first pitch of the first inning.   He crushed it, knocked the seams off it and it traveled 390 feet.  He was determined to catch it.  Determined.  He never gave up on the ball.  And I like that phrase, don't give up on the ball.  Ever.  Giving up on the ball is like giving up on yourself.  No matter how hard the ball is hit, no matter how fast it travels and even if a fence stands in the way of you and it...don't give up on it.  And don't give up on yourself. 

390 feet is a long way to travel through the air.  When he hit the fence, he fell back. Nurses have a dramatic way of describing things.  I think we use words so we don't vomit.  It also gives us distance from the pain.  We can imagine and know how bad it hurts and we know how much narcotic it is going to take to make it go away.  We always measure the intesnity of the pain in mg of morphine or dilaudid.  So had I had morphine in my hand that day, he would have gotten 20 mg immediately.  We usually start with 2mg.   I could have put a straw through the two holes in his upper lip and his Oakleys took the impact that would have otherwise been his eye.  He won't wear those again, but thank God he had them on.  His nose was filleted.  He had a cracked tooth and his face was a bloody  mess.  The bridge of his nose was lacerated.  He didn't cry.  He didn't say much except I am ok. 

And you know what he said as we walked off the field, "I let my team down.  I had the ball in my glove and when I hit the fence I dropped it."  He is 14 and he already knows the secret...there is no I in team...there is an I in icecream.  Eating ice cream is a solo event and he is not about eating ice cream.   He was more worried about his team than his face.  He was more worried about the outcome of the game than himself.  In life, he will hit a ball farther than 390 feet.  I know because he is not worried about I.  In life, he will face fences dead on, run into them and get back up, with the ball in his glove.  He will succeed, not because he is the most gifted, but because he is the most giving.  He knows that in this life you must give more of yourself than you ever expect to get back in order to win.  He knows that life is not a solo act and only those that focus on the greater good succeed.  He knows that his role is important even if it is not the most glamourus.  Although, that catch would have made the top 10 plays on ESPN, that was not why he wanted to catch it.  He wanted to catch it because he knew that his team was counting on him and he was not going to let them down.  He knows not to give up on the ball because you just are giving up on yourself.  He knows it is okay to wear a little dirt and that it only hurts for a minute.  And he might not know it but he also knows this: 

Walking through pain is much like looking at an impressionist painting.  Clarity only comes with distance.  And I suspect he has some distance today.  I suspect and hope he realizes that what he did was remarkable.  I hope he realizes that he never gave up on himself or his team.  I hope he realizes that in life you will hit walls hard, but get back up.  I hope he realizes you will get knocked down, bloodied and perhaps loose a game or two...but get back up and get in the game.  And he always said thank you. 

All is grace,

watching boys play baseball
Oakleys
Ice
Doctors
Hospitals
Mammas who pray
Mammas who tell their sons...God always has a plan...
Mammas who tell their sons that character matters
Character
Integrity
iced tea
hot dogs
bright blue skies about to burst
bright sunshine that won't stop


PS we ended up winning what looked like a game we were going to loose...i suspect the boys won it because of howard...they said they would and they did... win it for howard... it is a miracle what you can accomplish by digging in, believing in yourself and never giving up...a miracle...