Tonight I saw the best and worst of baseball and people. The opposing team had one player who was afraid to take his turn at bat. The team took an automatic out each time his spot in the batting order came up. We had two outs on them and his turn was next. The game was sorta close and there was no way the coaches were going to accept an automatic out.
The kid's name is David, #21. He stood in the box almost visibly trembling. The first pitch was at the bill of his helmet but he swung at it. The next pitch wasn't much better and he swung at it, too. The third pitch was below his knees but he made good contact as he gratuitously waved at it with his bat. A sharp hit ball to shortstop was fielded cleanly. The good throw to first secured the third out.
I cheered for David more loudly than I cheered for our team retiring the side.
Two boys on our team taunted David during his at bat.
The Bible teaches that we are to lift up others and think of them as highly or more highly than we think of ourselves. Taunting an opposing player - especially one like David who was scared of getting hit by a wild pitch - is totally out of line. Who cares if the 8-9 yr old team is on the verge of winning only the second game of the season! What matters is that these kids learn the game and learn to love the game.
David made great progress tonight. At least two on our side of the diamond made an error.
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