This one is weird to me because I only recently discovered the other side of this story. When I was young, I played rep baseball for Burlington. I played from rep t-ball until major midget, age 9 to 17, 1989 to 1997, with the exception of 1992, when I was in California. I played outfield when I wasn’t pitching, and I mostly sat on the bench in case they needed a reliever later.
There were five great games I pitched that stood out in my memory. The weird thing is that one of those games got talked about by the home plate umpire, Joseph Franks, who I knew as Franzee. It was the opening round of the end-of-year O.B.A. finals, 1996, my second-last year of rep ball, and we had the misfortune of squaring off against Windsor. Amazingly, I had my good stuff and we came out on top. I still have my game MVP t-shirt.
Turns out that Franzee, ever since, has been telling this story as the greatest game he ever umpired. The first round of the O.B.A.’s, when Burlington beat Windsor; he was the home plate umpire, the pitcher threw a complete game, and despite losing in the first round of a double-elimination tournament, Windsor went undefeated the rest of the way and went on to win the national championship.
I didn’t know that last part. That part–them going on to win–I heard more recently. I knew I threw a great game, that it was one of the five best games I ever pitched (I’d place it fourth), and it felt great.
But that was it. I quit baseball after the ’97 season and didn’t look back. I was seventeen and realized that being “into” baseball did absolutely nothing for my future other than distract me from investing in something more worthwhile. Scouts were into guys with the physical tools who they could teach to pitch. I was 5’6″ and not in great shape. It was Lakeshore Men’s League, maybe the Brants. And that’s it. Around the same time, I made a similar decision about console video games–I’m through investing time in this. It’s a reap-what-you-sow kind of world.
Personally, my memory of Windsor is clouded by the game I pitched against them the following year, when one of their hitters mashed a very fat high change-up over the net in left field and off a building across the street. Biggest meatball I ever served up. I told my coach before the game that I don’t think it would be a good thing to have me face them again. It wasn’t.
My rep career ended on a season-ending walk-off home run that ended our run in the ’97 C.O.B.A. finals (Central Ontario Baseball Association). I took that as a sign. I’m all funned out and my arm hurts. That’s my future in this game, so… that’s it. I’m not going through another Spring for this.
And that was it for me playing baseball. I tried playing a company softball game when I was thirty-two and I ended up with a torn quadricep. My whole leg turned yellow and purple and there was blood pooling around my toes.
Yeah. Done with ball.
