Stitches for a First Baseman
When our son Andy was ten years old, he was playing in his 3rd year of Little League baseball. The first couple of years, he played catcher and did a little pitching, but then he wanted to try first base. So, we added a Rawlings first base mitt to his growing collection of baseball gloves and mitts.
In a close game, the other team got a rather “vocal” runner on first and Andy was holding him on base. The pitcher went into his stretch, glanced over at the runner, and then fired a “fastball” to the plate. The batter swung and hit a high pop-up toward first base. Andy called for it and just as he was about to catch it, the runner screamed into Andy’s ear causing him to move slightly allowing the ball to go off the end of the mitt, bang off his head just above his eye, and bounce 15-20 feet into the air.
Down went Andy, out squirted the blood, a hush came over the crowd and the ambulances siren could be heard in the distance. After the EMS guys checked him out, they said he had to go to the hospital for stitches. So, four stitches later, his broken glasses in my pocket, blood on his uniform and an ice cream cone in his hand, Andy said he was thinking of getting contact lenses-and playing catcher again. They get to wear a mask…