In the Midst of Summer
(Otherwise known as BASEBALL season!)
A League of Their Own
There is something you must know about me. Let me be clear. I love baseball.
I don’t like baseball. I love baseball.
"Baseball is ninety percent mental.
The other half is physical."
Yogi Berra
I’m not really sure when it all started, but I know that it has never waivered nor do I feel an ending to this passion.
I love baseball.
I love the stadiums.
I love the smell of the field.
I love singing in the stands.
I love the 7th inning stretch.
"You could be a kid for as long as you want
when you play baseball."
Cal Ripken, Jr.
Every year I teach my students how to play baseball.
I first begin with kickball. I get them accustomed to running around bases, throwing the ball to get a person out, catching the ball.
You might be surprised, but many students I’ve taught over the last 10 years rarely play kickball and many have never played baseball.
It’s not unusual to bring out a wagon of mitts and ask a student if they throw right-handed or left-handed and they don’t know what you mean. When I tell them that a right-handed thrower often (not a 100% of the time) puts a glove on their left hand, they just look at me oddly.
Field of Dreams
"When I was up there at the plate, my purpose was to get on base any way I could, whether by hitting or getting hit."
Shoeless Joe Jackson
Once we have passed the kickball unit, the students begin to feel the excitement. A spark has been lit and they ask for more.
We begin slowly with baseball. There is too much potential to get injured with a softball that is not soft. I don’t want to ruin the positive vibe that has commenced.
Often I begin with pairing up with partners who have experience. Then I gradually add specific skill work: high fly throws, grounders, stuff like that.
Eventually their confidence grows and they begin to ask for more.
I’ve got them right where I want them!
"A baseball game is simply a nervous breakdown
divided into nine innings."
Robert Earl Wilson
When I first started teaching in a classroom, I was placed in the old woodshop building. I had a H-U-G-E room and I made huge poster sized letters to be spelled out onto the wall: “FIELD OF DREAMS.”
This was the same year that our class faced a riot together. It ended up being quite a year! In any case, I applied a Baseball mentality toward our academics. Once in a while I was actually allowed to get onto the field. (If you recall from a previous newsletter “Even a Riot Couldn’t Stop Us” there was a 20 ft high wall separating the housing projects from the field so bullets couldn’t hit us.)
In any case, our mission that whole year was to establish some dreams at the beginning of the year and then try to accomplish them by the end. In those last days of school, I think it worked. We were the “FIELD OF DREAMS.”
Is this heaven?
It's Iowa.
Iowa? I could have sworn this was heaven.
[starts to walk away]
Is there a heaven?
Oh yeah. It's the place where dreams come true.
[Ray looks around, seeing his wife playing with their daughter on the porch.]
Maybe this is heaven.
-Field of Dreams
The Rookie
My current students eventually became quite accustomed to playing baseball near the end of the unit. They didn’t want to see the unit end. I had them hooked! We were scheduled to play 3 weeks with this unit, and we ended up playing 4.
"Love is the most important thing in the world, but baseball is pretty good, too."
Yogi Berra
The Sandlot
Set in California's San Fernando Valley in the summer of 1962, many of the pivotal scenes from "The Sandlot" were actually shot right here in Utah. Within an hour of Salt Lake City, you'll find instantly-recognizable locations where you can relive the magic of this childhood classic.
I love baseball.
For us baseball was just a game but for Benjamin Franklin Rodriguez, baseball was life.
You’re killing me Smalls!
Sandlot
Fenway Park
Home of the Boston Red Sox
(My favorite ball park!)
I hope your summer is filled with your favorite form of play and … baseball.
