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November 20, 2005
Rounding The Bases
I'm not sure of all of the events that led up to this. Maybe I was on first and someone hit a ball deep enough that I thought I could make it too third. Maybe I was on second and just had a feeling I'd be able to make it to third. The only thing I'm sure of is that I wasn't being forced to run to third by a runner coming to second.
Whatever the case was, we were playing softball. This was about 1984.
I was on my way to third and I knew any play on third would come from behind me. So the ball had been hit to center or right field.
As I approached the bag the thrid-base coach, my buddy Darrell, started giving me the sign to slide.
I was never big on sliding. I usually wore shorts and didn't care for the strawberries that a slide on the thighs typically left. My head-first slide left a bit to be desired.
But there was the sign. Slide.
As I considered what action to take I noticed the third-baseman taking a step off the bag. Backward toward the fence. Then another and another. I determined that even if he caught the ball before I got to him he'd be too far off the bag to tag me. There was no reason to slide.
Just as I finished this thought the ball hit me square in the back of the head.
It was still better than a strawberry on the leg.
Posted by delmer at November 20, 2005 9:09 PM