Memories of high school baseball

In an assignment for one of my other classes, I had to interview a mother about her son's love for baseball. Her son is 14 years old and a freshman in high school. While talking to her and her son, I couldn't help but reminisce on when I played four years of high school baseball. Hard to believe that was nearly six years ago.

While I was far from the best, I still loved the game, and miss playing it every single day. There were plenty of fun memories such as my first base-hit, my first strikeout, celebrating on the bus after a team win and especially the post season banquet celebrations.

There were also painful memories as well...for example: Getting hit twice in one at-bat (how that is possible...I have no idea, but it happened); getting hit three times in one game (pretty sure I set the team-record for most hit by pitches that season); playing in my game at first base and getting trucked by someone twice my size.

Even though the team that I played on did not have the best record (translation: we were horrible), I miss the comradery and feeling of waking up on game day and wearing my baseball jersey to school. The excitement of when the sixth period bell rang and it was time to head down to the baseball field for practice. Or even when we had a short day and we decide to go get pho (Vietnamese noodle soup) and get full, only to have our coaches make us run a mile or two and force us to endure conditioning (how none of us threw up even once still amazes me).

All these memories, good, bad and downright painful came back to me, and if I had it do all over again, I wouldn't change a thing (except maybe wear more protective gear). A baseball field for many, was my home away from home. It will always be my sanctuary and a place where I meet my old high school friends/teammates for a quick game of catch.

Some people grow out of baseball, but for me and my friends, we prefer to grow with it.