hitting a ball on the sweet spot is hard to do.. the ball.. 9 inches around.. just about the same as the barrell of a wooden bat.. they say that hitting the sweet part of the ball and the sweet part of the bat happens in an area about the size of a dime.. thats pretty impressive with someone standing 60 feet from you throwin a ball 90 miles an hour and you only havin .4 seconds to recongnize.. is it a fastball? slider? changeup? curveball? split? knuck? two seem? sinker? and after recognizing is it a ball? a strike? if it is a strike is this a pitch i can hit hard?
hitting is hands down the hardest thing to do in sports.. hitting a homerun is something that is unreal when you take into consideration all that spoken above.. even if you recognize the pitch.. see the location.. know its something you can hit hard.. once you swing.. you have to hit that part on the ball and bat.. the size of a dime.. no room for error.. you can NOT miss…
his aged hands rubbed against one another as he looked through his thick glasses and began to speak to me.. most parents would cover their childs ears in disgust and remove their little one from the room with the words and phrases he’d use.. but there was no stoppin him.. orville was orville.. and he it didn’t matter if the prophet, the president or god himself was in the room.. orville was going to be orville, and we loved him for that.
he was the only one in the family that ever called me tycen.. everyone else called me tag.. or even bo.. a nickname i made my parents call me for almost two years. but not orv.. to him i was always tycen..
“tycen, you want a peanut butter and jelly sandwich?” orv’s specialty.. he made them for me everyday.. tosted and caked with peanut butter.. to this day i can’t have one without thinkin of how he used to make them.. no wonder i had some extra baby fat to lose all through high school.
i spent my summers at his house, everyday.. playing with ally cats, shooting bb guns, riding on riding lawn mowers, making homemade skate boards and eating some of the most crazy things you’ve ever seen put together.. and as soon as the sun went down.. i’d go inside and watch the braves play until my mom or dad came to pick me up..
right there was my fist 12 years of my life.. spending time with my grandpa and grandma.. grandpa taught me alot.. he taught me to swear, to punch and how to sit on the porch and watch the girls go by.. my grandma was the only sense of reality around the house.. she was the anchor that kept my grandpa from driftin too far..
both of them never missed a baseball game of mine.. they loved baseball.. my grandma could tell you the whole braves lineup.. what their average was and who they should pick up to fill in the holes in the lineup.. they didn’t like football or soccer and could tolerate basketball.. but baseball was their true passion…. after every game i played he’d ask me the same question.. did ya have fun? sometimes people forget to have fun.. even as little kids.. i was glad he reminded me after every game he would remind me the most important part of baseball is having fun..
every game he came to that i would hit a homerun he’d always pay me money.. i’d try and try to give him the homerun ball but he would never accept it..
YOU KEEP IT
he’d say..
I JUST WANT YOU TO PROMISE ME THAT YOU WILL GIVE ME YOUR FIRST PROFESSIONAL HOMERUN…
ok.. i’d agree..
i never really thought about it.. never thought about being an actual professional baseball player and hitting a homerun.. i just kind of knew it was going to happen cause my grandpa spoke of it as if it had already happend..
i remember being 18 years old and standing next to a hospital bed.. my grandpa strapped to a bunch of machines, barely breathing..
WHERE’S MY BOYS..
he said.. referring to me and my brothers…
we stepped forward and he began to talk.. i can’t remember much but i still remember him lookin at me and sayin..
YOU STILL OWE ME..
i knew what he was referring to right away.. the ball..
i made a promise to him and i know i will keep it.. everytime i’m on deck i think about the ball traveling over the fense.. touching home and knowing my grandpa was over me watching with tear filled eyes…
i promise i won’t let ya down grandpa.. you always believed in me and knew what i was capable of.. i promise that i will soon get my pitch.. and when i do..
i promise i won’t miss….
