LAST CALL: Home It
Beston, Paul
LAST CALL PAUL BESTON Home It S GEORGE PLIMPTON ONCE WROTE, there are fewAmerican males of a certain age who do not hear the crack of bat and ball in the spring and transport themselves to a...
...Tangled in the tension, I became focused on the runner on second, dancing vigorously in the baseline...
...They had won both halves of their season and had lost only once all year...
...66 THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR MARCH 2004 Occasionally he got into trouble this way...
...And, he added, "If you don't know, just throw it home...
...His only problem was his tendency to experiment—he thought he had a curveb all but didn't yet...
...During the ritual handshakes afterwards, Reds players congratulated us but said ominously, "You guys will never beat the Indians...
...I scooped it up and eyed the Indians—runners on second and third, leading off, watching me...
...Mine was in the bottom of the last inning of a championship game...
...He was right...
...My body arched and I "homed it" with all my might...
...Up to that time in my life I had never seen a ball hit that far or high, except for a few visits to Wrigley Field when Dave Kingman played for the Cubs...
...the third base coach shouted, and the other runner broke for home...
...But his throw was wide and the ball came rolling to me in center field...
...The fog cleared...
...In the second half, players who were awkward and uncertain became graceful and confident...
...From first base I watched the ball's journey over the outfield fence and then floated around the bases to home plate...
...The announcer called out their victory, their players danced on the field, and I took the long walk of the vanquished...
...We were the Padres of the National League, last place finishers in the season's first half...
...But it got there too late, the runner crossed, and the Indians won, 6-5...
...Why did you have to hold the ball...
...I'll never know if that's what he was trying to do that night...
...My father had taught me to ask the same question before every pitch: "If the ball comes tome, what will I do with it...
...In the late innings, our most powerful hitter, a huge kid who had struck out most of the season going for home runs, connected...
...The first batter for the Indians singled...
...LAST CALL PAUL BESTON Home It S GEORGE PLIMPTON ONCE WROTE, there are fewAmerican males of a certain age who do not hear the crack of bat and ball in the spring and transport themselves to a distant time...
...it was the best throw of my life...
...The next batter flew out to right field, and the runner on first moved up to second...
...The next batter walked...
...Both runners moved to advance, and our catcher fired down to second...
...The Indians were the American League champs...
...But the wonder of Little League is the lurching progress 12year-olds can make over a few months...
...Paul Beston is a writer in New York City...
...I froze, holding the ball...
...But now I couldn't cue up his words...
...Was Steve trying curve-balls...
...It was a sudden and ecstatic transformation, all the way to first place in the standings...
...Go...
...From center field, I couldn't tell...
...The Padres led, 5-4...
...All my father said was, "That was a hell of a throw...
...It was a seesaw game, with several lead changes...
...We beat our league's first half champions, the Reds, in a playoff game to advance to the championship...
...Now it was first and second, one out...
...Steve, our best pitcher, was on the mound...
...The ball arrived on one short hop to our catcher...
...We went to take our positions for the last inning, three outs from our own version of David and Goliath...
...The championship would be one game, "under the lights," as we called it—on the field where players from more advanced leagues usually played, with an announcer reading the batters' names and calling out the score...
...The third batter roped a double down the third base line, scoring the runner and tying the game at 5. The enormous crowd, filling the bleacher sections to capacity and milling around the diamond's chain link fence three-deep, all sounded like they were for the Indians...
...Steve threw a wild pitch that rolled to the backstop...
...our right-fielder sobbed at me on our way in...
...Some revisit an old glory, others an old loss...
...Thus the same thought, every spring: We should still be tied...
Vol. 37 • March 2004 • No. 2
