Baseball Stadium ~ A Baseball Player's View
I watched the old man walk slowly across the playing field. Inside the empty
stadium, he was ignoring all. Instead, he was looking down, watching the
impression his steps made in the artificial grass.First one step, then another. He would occasionally look
back, carefully eyeing where he walked. I tried to see what he saw, but I saw nothing. No
impressions, no trail leading from the foul line to the middle of the baseball
diamond, where he now stood. Nothing to tell where he walked. He bent down and
rubbed his hand over the playing surface. He tugged at a blade but no matter how
hard he tried, it would not tear or break.
The man showed no emotion. Instead, he just took a
breath and slowly shook his head. He turned and seeing the pitchers mound,
continued his slow walk. But as he approached, his pace became faster. Reaching
the mound, he scuffed it with the toe of his shoe.
He reached and picked up a handful of dirt. Rubbing
the dirt between both hands, he allowed it to slowly filter out and back to the
ground. He nodded his approval and for the first time, I saw him look around at
the stadium. He looked at it like a baseball player would, first base, second
base, third base. He looked up at the seats and the sky and down at the dugouts.
He looked at the scoreboard, and then home plate. He hesitated, then confidently
took his position on the pitching rubber.
He stared at the plate, getting the sign from some
catcher now lost in time. He started his windup and just for an instant, I found
myself transported back into time when I was a young boy and watching my first
live game. There I saw that same motion, but from a younger, seasoned baseball
player, strong and confident, certain of life and his place in it.
Strike! And the old man nodded his head in agreement. He smiled, and
with another look at the stadium, first base, second base, third base, he
continued his journey to the other side of the field and into the stands, where
he disappeared into a tunnel and the world beyond. Only this time his steps were
crisper and certain. No longer did he look down, or back.
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