A Good Thing That Happened Yesterday (Sunday) Was...

... the Leatherkid desire to play some baseball was re-ignited when Cal put on his new Brewers hat, a purchase Dan and I made when we were at a Brewers-Cubs game at Miller Park over the weekend.  The hat triggered his putting on his Paul Konerko White Sox t-shirt, a tribute he didn't even know he was doing as 40 miles east Paulie was playing his last game (thanks for 16 years, Paulie!), and replacing his mesh shorts with his newly termed "baseball pants" (black sweats).

I don't remember the last time the whiffle balls and bat got some use in our backyard.  Surely earlier this summer?

It was like music to my ears.  Ella and I were pulling dead leaves off of our day and tiger lilies when I heard the sweet sounds of whiffle balls being struck solidly by what I knew was a big, red whiffle bat.  Cal was getting in some long overdue BP.

We've always thought that Cal is destined to play baseball -- I played softball through college, Dan played professionally at the minor-league level, we both played as adults on the Thirsty Whales softball team (worth noting but only appreciated by members of the team), and we both love and understand the game.  Whether Cal would play has never been questioned; and we don't push him to do so.  To date, we've isolated playing time to our backyard, mostly focusing on developing his sweet lefty swing, a swing that came pretty naturally for our right-hander.  The way he was hitting the ball yesterday, we'll soon have to take BP to a larger field.

Cal's Sweet Setup

As soon as I heard the sounds of BP, I hurried Ella and me up to finish our gardening and headed to the backyard to witness the good thing happening in the backyard.  By the time we made it back there, Cal was pitching to Dan.  Once all of the balls were either hit or sitting behind Dan (he takes balls... what?), I helped shag and announced that I wanted to bat.

I swung at most balls that Cal pitched to me, whether they were behind me (most of the time), out of the strikezone but in front of me or grooved.  I did rip one into our deck which would have translated to a double down the third-base line.

Ella Shagging in her Brewers Tee

Even Ella took a turn batting with Dan pitching underhand to her, Cal setting up as the catcher behind her and me (according to Cal) standing behind him as the umpire.  She, too, is expected to play ball, though there's not as much talk about it.  Perhaps that topic is for another blog post.  She made some contact but is clearly in the early stages of learning how to bat.

Eventually, Cal was at the plate again with Dan pitching to him and Ella catching behind him.  She put Cal's glove on (after announcing that she doesn't like my first glove from when I was 9 -- whatevs!) and ran the balls back to Dan as she collected them instead of throwing them to him.

It wasn't long lived, but it was a really nice family affair playing a game that Dan and I love and that we hope to influence our kids to love as well.  And all it took was Cal putting on his new baseball cap.

And to my Schumacher relatives, no, we are not Brewers fans, although we do believe there are worse things we could be.