When You Know, You Know

We didn't have enough players for two full teams, so Coach played right field and I decided I'd catch full time. Doc had cleared me for full duty, and since I wasn't going to be running or making any plays at the plate, I figured it would be good for me, good for the pitchers to get comfortable, knowing I was back there and they didn't have to worry about their stuff getting away, which would build confidence, and good for the catchers to watch how I moved and behaved back there.

For a high school kid, the first pitcher had some nasty stuff. His curve seemed to break a mile and even I was impressed. The second one threw straight gas, pure heat with minimal off speed stuff. All in all I figured we'd be alright for the season if we could get all the pieces to fall in right.

I was having the time of my life back there catching. It was nice to play the game while laughing and watching others improve, a definite change of pace from the grind of professional baseball, which I already loved more than anything.

Pitch by pitch, I could feel my disdain for everyone lucky enough to play slowly melt away and be replaced with a renewed love for the game itself at its bare bones. High school kids just playing for the love of the game.

Don't get me wrong. I absolutely loved my time playing pro, and there was nothing bad about it, but coaching these high school kids was a new side to the game I'd never seen, and I loved it just as much.

"You looked like you were having fun back there Jack," Coach said to me as the kids were dragging the field after practice.

"Coaching is a whole new side to the game, and I like it just as much as being a player I think," I said with a smile. "Thanks for this. I guess being too broken to play left me a little, well, broken, and this is just what I needed."

"Hell I should be thanking you Jack," Coach laughed. "I can't remember a group of kids enjoying a practice so much. If you spoke they listened. There was a new sense of urgency around here. If you stick around I think we've got a good team here."

"I was thinking the same thing. Not a single one of those kids is bad, they just need more reps. I think we'll shock the world and be a five hundred ball club after tomorrow," I chuckled, knowing it wasn't possible.

**

Right after practice I drove two towns over to the nearest sporting goods store and picked myself up two pair of white pants with a single blue stripe down the side to match the rest of the team. My cleats were already white and blue so they fit the bill.

When I got home I dug through some old boxes and found my high school jersey from my senior year, as well as our hat to go with it. Coach said he'd pull a new jersey for me, but it would be better if I had my old one since it had the name on the back. I had one of three numbers that were retired from the school, so I didn't have to worry about anyone already having my number.

Work the next day couldn't have gone any slower. I was so ready to go home. I had a problem with the shipper not wanting to accept my first load of the day, and then I blew a tire on one of my lift axles. Neither were crazy big issues, but they still seemed to slow me down even more.

I got home right at three thirty on the nose, so I had time to shower extremely fast, get dressed, and rush go to the school to catch the bus right before it left. The bus ride to an away game seemed to be the same as I remembered it. I felt right at home.

The bus pulled up to the parking lot and the team funneled out towards the field to begin their pre game routines. They subconsciously went right into stretches, and were planning on playing catch to loosen up right after.

Before they could get their gloves, I stopped them, and told them to go run five poles, so from foul pole to foul pole, down and back, five times. Expectedly, they all groaned, and I just laughed and told them they'll feel a million times better going into the game if they just took it easy and used it as a time to further stretch out and wake them up.

"You and your poles," Coached laughed as the players took off along the fence. "I never made you run them, but you did before every single game. I never asked you why."

"Honestly, I saw someone do it on TV one time as a kid before a game, and it seemed fitting, so I tried it. I'll tell ya it really does help, barely takes any time, and I always felt way better going into the game," I laughed back.

"Jack?" I heard from behind me on the other side of the fence.

I recognized the voice instantly. How could I forget the voice of an angel? I turned around with a big smile on my face, hopefully hiding the pure joy and shock I was feeling at that moment.

"Tegan? Hi! What are you doing here?" I asked as I walked up towards the fence.

"James is my brother," she said, pointing out towards the kids running poles.

"He looks nothing like you," I said with a laugh. "And I guess not knowing your last name doesn't help either."

"Yea no we're definitely different looking. I was adopted when I was two." She said with a shrug.

"Oh shit, I'm sorry, I didn't know," I stammered, stumbling over my words.

"Don't be," she giggled. "Best thing that ever happened to me."

"No I didn't mean sorry you were adopted," I quickly shot out. "I just meant sorry for my comment, and, ah shit. I'll shut up now." I finished with a sheepish smile.

"You're fine," she smiled, giggling cutely. "But yea, I come to most of the games. Haven't seen you here before. I didn't know you were a coach. You didn't mention it at the bar."

"I didn't know I was a coach when we were at the bar either," I laughed. "I ran into coach at Larry's and he asked me to help out."

"I take it you played for him in high school?" She asked.

"That I did," I smiled. "Definitely enjoying being back on a ball field."

"Then I think I'll make a point to be at all the games now," she smiled at me before turning to head back to who I presumed was her family.

I turned to head back towards the dugout and shook my head, trying to understand what she meant by that. She couldn't possibly be into me could she?

I saw that Coach already had them playing catch to get loose, so I walked up to him to finalize the lineup.

"Sorry about that," I said as I approached him.

"Oh you're good. If you're talking to someone that attractive I'll give you a pass," he laughed.

"What's the usual lineup?" I asked, trying to change the subject.

"I don't really know. I've been trying to shift it around to see what works. Haven't settled on anything yet."

"As a pitcher, I can see why you'd think that way," I smiled. "But bouncing around in the order is hard for a hitter. I'd suggest set it up like a normal lineup, putting each kid in a spot where they fit the bill, and let them settle into their role, making small adjustments as we go."

We went over the lineup, coming up with something we thought would work, and Coach took it out to the umpire and other coach while I gathered the kids around and went over it with them.

The first game went in our favor big time. The kids played with a drive Coach said he hadn't seen from a team since my junior year. Our starting pitcher pitched all seven innings, throwing only sixty two pitches and only giving up two runs and five hits. We, on the other hand, made them go through four pitchers, and drove seven runs across on eleven hits. It was a beautiful showing of baseball.

The second game was way closer. Six to six going into the top of the seventh. Tegan's brother got hit with a rogue slider, and the kid behind him shot one in the gap, letting him score from first putting us up seven to six going into the bottom of the seventh.

The game ended on a play at the plate. They had two outs and were trying to score a runner all the way from first on a ball that wasn't deep enough in the gap, and I felt myself cringe when I saw the slide into the plate, our catcher getting hit in the shin with the cleat. I don't think I'd ever see a play like that again and got flinch.

"Hey coach!" I heard from behind me as I was walking with the kids out towards the bus in the parking lot.

"You guys played a hell of a game," the most beautiful thing I've ever seen said to me.

"Why thank you madam," I said with a bow and a laugh.

"You definitely looked like you were in your element."

"I kinda live for baseball," I laughed.

"I can tell," she said with a smile, once again turning to walk away.

"Tegan," I said before she completely turned away.

"Yes," she asked, turning back towards me.

"Would you like to go out to dinner on Friday?" I asked hopefully.

"A date?" She asked with a smile.

"A date," I confirmed.

"And here I thought you'd never ask," she smiled again.

"Pick you up at seven?" I asked.

"Sounds good to me."

"Then I'll see you then," she smiled, turning to happily skip away.

"Tegan!" I called again with a slight laugh.

"Yesssss?" She giggled, clearly enjoying this.

"I'll need your number to call you to get an address," I laughed.

"Oh shit, right!" She exclaimed as hastily reached out and asked for my phone.

I pulled it out of my back pocket and handed it to her, and she typed her number in, handed it back to me, and almost literally skipped away.

I turned myself and headed back towards the bus with a big smile glued to my face. Baseball and now a date with an amazingly beautiful woman. Could life get any better?

I was almost on the bus when I heard one of the players behind me.

"Did you just ask my sister out?" James chuckled.

"Uhhhh, yea. Sorry if that's weird." I said sheepishly. Why was I worried about what an seventeen year old kid thought.

"Nah you're good," he chuckled. "You seem like a good enough guy."

"Thanks?" I said, surprisingly proud I got he's stamp of approval.

"Plus she's been talking non stop about a guy she met at the bar last Friday. I'd have to assume that's you?"

"I did meet her at the bar on Friday. I hope she's talking about me, and I hope they were all good things," I laughed.

"You fit the description," he smiled. "And yea. All good things. She wouldn't shut up about you."

"Thanks for the heads up," I said with a grin. "And good game kid. You've got some serious talent with the bat."

"Thanks coach," he chuckled as he climbed on the bus.

**

I spent the next few days going through my now normal routine, getting up before the sun, pulling ten hour days, then rushing to the ball field at the high school to coach the kids. The added coaching duties put my weekly hours up closer to sixty or sixty five, but honestly, I couldn't have been happier.

My largest source of happiness was coming from working with the catchers. James, Tegan's brother, was the backup, and really needed some work since he'd really only ever caught a few innings in his entire playing career, hell, he didn't even have his own gear.

He definitely wouldn't be getting a whole lot of innings behind the dish, but luckily for us, he seemed to always have a hot bat and was a really good left fielder before volunteering to take on the secondary catching duties, knowing Bryce, our current starting catcher, would be graduating and someone needed to play back there next year. For now, he'd either DH or play left while we worked on getting him up to snuff behind the dish.

James was about my size, maybe a few pounds lighter and an inch or two shorter, but I figured I had some catchers gear that would fit him and be the right color scheme for the team. That was the benefit of playing in two different organizations, spanning four different teams. I had a duffel bag full of uniforms, cleats, gloves, and other gear from all of them, and another bag with four sets of catchers gear, since when you move teams, you have to usually get new stuff to match their colors.

Figuring my gear from my time in Lehigh Valley playing for the Phillies AAA Iron Pigs was mainly navy blue, our schools primary color, with gray trim, I made a mental note to remember to bring it to practice on Friday to let him try it out and see how it worked.

Bryce on the other hand, still needed work, but at least had been catching in some capacity his entire playing career, so working with him was easy enough, and the kid improved rapidly day by day. Kid had metric tons of raw natural talent.

At practice yesterday, Thursday, Coach was throwing BP to everyone in the cages, so I grabbed Bryce and James and went over some catching drills with them. We were working on blocking with tennis balls, and not surprisingly, I could see both of them getting more and more comfortable with the idea of throwing your body at it to keep it in front.

Bryce obviously was out shining James at this aspect since he'd been doing it on and off for years, but I could definitely see James vastly improving within minutes. It seemed like Coach hadn't used tennis balls with them before.

I had been musing over the team and the catchers in particular on my short drive home from work on Friday, but my pleasant daydream was instantly crushed and replaced with a sense of panic as I remembered my date with Tegan later.

Normally I'd just go straight from work to the field, change my pants and put on my cleats in the parking lot so I could get there as soon as I could, but today I knew I was going to be a few minutes later than usual since I was going to bring that gear for James and my house was a few minutes out of the way.

I really should have put the gear in my truck and just took it to work with me, but in all honesty I just forgot all about it so I still needed to dig it all out and make sure it was all good to go for him. In the end I decided on my navy blue mitt, chest pad and shin guards from my time in Lehigh Valley and my mask from the Portland Sea Dogs, the Red Sox AA affiliate, since it was the hockey style mask, and the two piece ones weren't legal in high school. After I left AA I borrowed a teammates two piece mask and never looked back, so it was the only legal one I had.

I didn't spend but ten minutes at the house since I had all my baseball stuff organized and in a closet in the hallway, so I didn't feel too bad about having to make the detour when I finally climbed back up into my truck and pointed the truck towards the school.

I was only about thirty minutes late compared to my normal fifteen or twenty when I finally pulled into the school parking lot. Jumping out of my truck and heading for the field I saw the players playing catch along the left field foul line, so I knew they hadn't started yet.

Once I got to the dugout and took a quick look around, I realized Coach wasn't there. It seemed strange because he NEVER missed a practice, so I pulled out my phone that I hadn't checked since around lunch time and saw a missed call and a text from Coach, saying he had a doctors appointment he'd forgotten about and wouldn't be there until the tail end of practice, if at all.

I knew the team had a pretty good sense of chemistry and camaraderie, but I figured some team building drills that still focused on skill building would be a lightweight, easy way for them to get closer, and also get better. That's all baseball is. A love for the game that drives you to become better than you were the day before. Plus, I was still silently freaking out about my date with Tegan later, so I wasn't in the headspace to really put a lot of work into practice.

I decided on a scrimmage with some odd rules, one of my favorite memories from my first few days in AA. We only did it that one time, and I can't remember why, but I just remembered having so much fun with it and feeling an sense of improvement when it was all said and done.

I split up the pitchers and catchers evenly, and told the kids the rest of the teams would be decided in random order with no regard for positions. When I did this in AA, I was the third catcher, so I got chosen at random with the rest of the position players.

Once the teams were randomly decided by a random number generator from my phone, I told each team to take five minutes and decide who would play where. Since there were only sixteen players, each team would be short a man, so they had to decide what position to leave open. Then, I threw the wrench in, saying that each player couldn't play their normal position, and they had to nominate one position player to pitch the first inning, so they also had to decide where the actual pitchers would play in that first inning.

Normally, this wouldn't make any sense, but in my mind, and in my AA managers mind, it leads each player to get a new understanding of a new position, opening their eyes to the overall play of the game. For example, a second baseman knows exactly how to play his position. Where to stand and when. Where to throw and when. What he might not know, or be comfortable with, is knowing how a, say third baseman thinks. Learning that can help get a deeper understanding of each play. It also still got each player reps making plays in the field so they were still improving. Plus it was just fun.

To say it went smoothly would be a lie. It was kind of bad at first. Errors were being made when throws went to the wrong base, or when the first baseman, who was actually our starting center fielder, missed some easy scoops out of the dirt. After a few innings they started to really get a handle on things though.

Everyone was really having a good time and laughing, all while learning more about the game itself, so it was a win in my book. On top of that, another benefit of this was that it let me see who could play where if we ever needed them to. Sometimes a kid just settled into a position because he got put there once, even though he would be better somewhere else.

The entire time the game was going on, I was playing umpire, and having a good time as well. It was therapeutic to me to see all the kids having such a fun time playing the game I loved. So therapeutic that I mostly forgot about my upcoming date. Sure I was nervous. She was, from everything I knew about her so far, my perfect woman, so who wouldn't be nervous in my shoes?

I was taking her to the nice steakhouse in "The City", which was really just a bigger town a few towns over with a population somewhere around five thousand, but at least it was big enough to actually have a nicer restaurant than just a hole in the wall dive bar, like the ones everywhere else around here.

The drive was only about thirty minutes, but I was still hoping and praying everything went right and there was no awkwardness, since even just thirty minutes can seem like an eternity when you're stuck in a truck with someone. I didn't truly worry about that though, because from the bar to our short conversations at the field, plus my one half an hour phone conversation with her last night to confirm the date, I got the impression that we meshed well together and good conversation shouldn't be a problem. Still couldn't shake the nervous feeling though.

If dinner went well, I had two other things tentatively planned, and I'd give her the choice to decide. We could either go see a movie to complete the standard 'dinner and a movie' first date, or we could head over to the river and build a little fire on the bank, kick back, look at the stars, and talk more to get to know each other better. Honestly, I was hoping for the river one.

After we'd played five innings, the score was tied seven to seven, mostly from all the errors early on, so I decided rather than keep playing, I'd make a tie breaker and end practice a little early, letting the kids, and myself, get a head start on the weekend.

I had each team nominate who they thought was their best chance at hitting the ball the furthest, and gave each player from the two teams three pitches to hit the furthest shot, longest one would win the game for their team.