Chapter 7 Chapter VII

For the next three weeks, the four Browns Little League teams practiced on their own two afternoons each week, usually from four to six.After the Monday night draft, the four teams practiced once a week on a schedule assigned by Nancy at Brandon Little League Field, while another team practiced at a smaller ballpark behind the field. The ballpark is owned and maintained by the town and is adjacent to a children's playground with swings, sand, seesaws, and even several horseshoes for the adults. After three weeks of practice, the regular season kicks off.Each team schedules 12 games, and plays twice a week for a total of six weeks. Each team plays four games with the other three teams throughout the season.All games are played on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights at Little League ballparks, starting at 5 p.m.In case of rainy suspension, it will be rescheduled to Friday night or Saturday morning.If necessary, two make-up games can be played on Saturday.After each team has played twelve regular-season games, the two teams with the best records will play another game to compete for the league championship.

On the way home after the draft, Bill.West said he would call our draftees and let them know that they were going to have their first practice at the Little League field at four o'clock next Tuesday afternoon, but I told him that since I was going to be the manager of the team, Phone calls are my job.His face turned to surprise, then to joy, then to a grin and a nod of approval. Just after seven o'clock on a Tuesday night, I sat down at my study desk to call my twelve kids who were already on the Angels team.I randomly flipped through each player's data card, that is, the documents that Nancy handed over to the managers of the four teams after the draft. To be a Little League player is to vote for a small national league: Todd.Stevenson, John.Kimball, Anthony.Zulo, Paul.Taylor, Charles.Barrio, Justin.Nurnberg, Robert.Murphy, Ben.Rogers, Chris.Lane, Jeff.Gaston, Dick.Andros, and Timothy.Nobel.

After the draft on Monday, Bill.West gave me a kind warning as he walked me outside my house.Most of the kids knew him and the other managers and coaches well, and I was the new face in town, the unknown, and that might have caused a little uneasiness and uncertainty for the players on the team, at least initially.That was a brilliant insight, for which I thank him.Before starting to make a phone call, I scribbled something on a pad, roughly grasping the concise and concise steps, and adding some key words, so that I can refer to it when I call next time.As soon as each player's phone number is dialed, no matter who is answering on the other end, I will introduce myself first, and then ask the player to answer.Then I'll welcome the player to the Angels, say he's good enough to get picked, and the first practice is scheduled for next Thursday at four o'clock in the afternoon.Then, I would ask each player if someone could take him to the court on the day of practice, and if someone would pick him up at six o'clock in the evening.I found that many children were riding bicycles around town.I have forgotten how independent children in the country are.After chatting with the player, I will ask to speak to his father, introduce myself, say I am happy to have his son on the team, and if a parent wants to talk to me during the season to discuss anything to do with their child , You can call me at my home anytime.Finally, I would like to mention that I hope to see the parents of every player in practice or competition soon. If I can get the support of the parents, I am very grateful.If the father happens to be away when I call, I talk to the mother about the same.For the last call, I dialed Timothy.Nobel.

Timothy.Nobel? Yes. Timothy, this is John.Harding, manager of the Little League Angels.I'm calling to let you know that you're playing for the Angels this season. Very good! The first practice is next Tuesday at 4:00 p.m. at the Little League ballpark.Can you come and join us? Of course I would, manager!I will definitely be there! Does anyone drive you to the stadium and pick you up?Practice will end at six o'clock and it will be the same time every time. I have a bicycle, manager.I will go to practice.Mr. Harding, could you please tell me who else is on the team? sure.There is Todd.Stevenson, Paul.Taylor, John.Kimball, Anthony.Do you know any of these people, Zulo?

Will I play on the same team as them?Wow!They are all very strong.We will be a very strong team, a super strong team! Well, Timothy, I'm counting on you to do well.By the way, is your father at home?I would like to speak to him if possible. The young boy's cheerful voice immediately dropped several degrees, and he quickly answered me in a flat, hoarse monotonous voice without a trace of emotion: My dad lives in California. I was caught off guard for a moment, hesitated and didn't speak.How should I answer the call?Finally I said feebly: Oh, in that case, can I have a word with your mother?

She's not at home, she's not off work yet. I glanced at my watch.Exactly seven forty. oh.Uh well, Timothy, see you next Tuesday afternoon. OK, manager.uh Mr. Harding? What's up? Thank you so much for picking me on the team.I will try my best to make some achievements for you. I hang up the phone slowly.My heart suddenly beat very fast.While talking to Timothy on the phone, I turned my head to look to the left.A string of framed family photos hangs on the wall, the one closest to me being a blown-up color photo of my son Rick in a slightly oversized baseball cap, gazing eagerly into the camera lens, At the same time, he lowered his body with a threatening expression, and stretched the aluminum bat in his hand toward the back of his right shoulder.I got up, walked out slowly from the study, came to the open-air platform behind the house, sank softly into the recliner, just nestled like this, staring at the distant woods, until the night fell for a long time.

The seven days of waiting for the Angels to practice for the first time have been tortuous and long.I try to fill every waking moment, trying to find something to keep me physically or mentally or physically busy, so that I don't fall back into that pit of despair that's always there.I forced myself to get out of bed at seven o'clock every morning. After breakfast, I went out into the woods behind the house and took a long walk.Then, with my red velvet golf bag and short irons on my back, I hit a short swing between two flagpoles in the backyard.After dark, jog for an hour, then come home, shower, and change into pajamas and dressing gown.Although there were comfy chairs in other rooms, I sat down at the kitchen table and tried to read for a while.I think that in the years when big companies climbed from the bottom to the top, I bought a lot of the best self-help and inspirational books in the world to help me climb up, such as James.Allen (James Allen) "My Life Thinking: The Power of Ideas" (As a Man Thinketh), Napoleon.Hill's "Think and Grow Rich" (Think and Grow Rich), Norman.Vincent."The Power of Postive Thinking" by Norman Vincent Peale, Kleiman."Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude" co-authored by Stone and Hill, William.I Dare You by William H. Danforth.I now spend many hours each evening searching through these and other books in the series, hoping to find a particular piece of wisdom or words of comfort that might help me cope with the loss.Finally I found some precious words to soothe my heart in an old leather-bound collection of nineteenth-century wisdom sayings, from Benjamin.Franklin and the Greek playwright Anthiphanes of the fourth century BC.

It is said that Franklin said to relatives and friends present at the funeral of a close friend: We have souls.You and my friend, like everyone else, are invited to another place for a party that lasts forever.His seat was ready first, so he got there before us.We can't go all together, so why should you and I be sad about it, because we'll be on the road soon too, and we'll know where to find him. To my amazement, more than 2,000 years ago, Anhiphanes had already written: Do not grieve too much for your loved one who died.They did not die, but completed a journey that each of us must take.We ourselves are bound to go to that wonderful banquet occasion, where everyone gathers together, and all the people who meet in the world live together in another way of existence.

I recalled again my mother's advice in a similar passage to mourning the bereaved.To accept such counsel, no matter who is proposing it, a great step of faith must be taken on the part of the listener.God, how I want to believe what they say! That week was a long wait, during which time I resumed two normal routines, answering the phone and driving the car.I don't know what happened on Wednesday morning, but I actually picked up the phone, and Bill's surprised voice came from the other end. Since then, he has called every day, just to check on my situation.As for the car, I didn't go anywhere in particular, but I backed the car out of the garage one afternoon and drove around for a few hours on the New Hampshire country roads.Despite these efforts, I step into my study at least once a day, open the bottom drawer of my desk, and stare down at the gun.Once I took it out and held it in my hand for several minutes.The deadly thing was cold to the touch, as if it had been wrapped in ice.

On the day of the team's first practice, even though I arrived early in the parking lot at Brandon's Little League stadium, Bill.West still got there before I did, and out of the trunk of his car pulled two canvas sacks, one full of catcher's gear and some boxes of baseballs, the other full of batting helmets and bats. Let me help you, I yelled and stepped forward, behind Bill, and picked up one of the bags.We walked through the opening of the field wall together, turned around and walked towards the nearest dugout, just behind first base, the early players came running towards us, and there were several car doors slamming in the parking lot, Mom They let athletes with promising futures get out of the car.

Bill passed out some bats and suggested that the kids start warming up in pairs.Some were wearing blue jeans and sweatshirts, and some were wearing baseball pants that looked a little tighter this year than they had worn last year.Some wear baseball shoes, others wear sneakers, both high and low.Before long, the players in front of us are standing in two rows of six, tossing the ball back and forth to each other, a few of them visibly nervous, others laughing and lounging.Bill and I walked around the back of the first row, and then around the back of the other row, introducing ourselves to them one by one.We shook hands with every kid and said we were called John.Harding and Bill.West, if they don't like to call us by first name, then they can use the word coach, and we also said that there is no need for people to call us teacher or sir.In addition, when we chat with each new Angels player, we will ask him which position he wants to play and whether he played in Little League last year.We gradually felt that all the players began to relax.There are also more smiles. I was surprised by how many items I practiced for the first time.Bill.West sent several groups of players to the shortstop and second baseman positions, and hit several balls from the home plate in the direction of each player. The players had to catch the ball and pass it to first base.I stood in right field close to the infield and watched how the players moved and reacted to Bill's balls.Two of them, Anthony.Zulo and Paul.Taylor, the catch was flawless and the ball went to first base with precision.Tyler is a kid with a tight sweatshirt and a great upper body, and I'm sure he's put in a lot of time and effort into getting fit. We repeated the process for each of the potential outfielders, feeding a few ground balls and fly balls.We also asked them to pass the ball to the only catcher candidate John.Kimball, hoping to find one or two guys with big enough arms to maybe turn into pitchers.Two of the outfielder candidates appeared to be quick, capable, and pitchers, and they were Charles.Barrio and Justin.Nurnberg. Finally, Bill turned to little Timothy.Noble hit three fly balls.He missed the first two balls, and the third ball bounced off his glove and rolled far behind him.The bouncing ball that hit him passed between his legs and rolled to the right. The team's second practice day was Thursday, and we started with an experimental lineup based on observations from the first practice, with Bill hitting grounders and lobs to each fielding position while I walked around Offer advice on how to catch fly balls most efficiently, the best way to handle ground balls in place, and most importantly, how to pass the ball the right way.The stocky catcher John on the team.I was very impressed with Kimball, who played two years in Little League and had a great arm.Whether it is an amateur baseball team or a professional baseball team, without a good catcher, it must be at a serious disadvantage in playing.The team was lucky to have Kimball as a catcher. The third practice was at another field behind the Little League field, and this time we focused on hitting.I pitched for the kids to practice while Bill took notes on the clipboard, and I pitched for so long that my arms were shaking.The two of us stopped frequently to correct the child's stance, stride, and swing.The team's star pitcher Todd.Stevenson, without a doubt, is also the best hitter.He hit a couple of my pitches off the pitch, and he swung with his left hand so smoothly, it was a joy to watch.Catcher Kimball has been nicknamed the chariot by his teammates, and his strike performance is also very good, and Paul.Taylor and the tall Justin.Nurnberg, later in Todd.Justin should be at first base in games where Stevenson pitches.When it's the turn of the other pitchers to play, we can put Todd at first base, so we can still put him in the batting line to play his talent, and at the same time, we should move Justin to the outfield, but Justin is in the field Playing at first base is much better. It's only been three practices, and the eight on the team seem to be ready for the starting lineup. Stevenson, Kimball, Zullo, Taylor, Nurnberg, Barrio, Murphy, and the infield Rodgers, who has performed well but has poor hitting power, is a natural shortstop player.Chris.Lane, Jeff.Gaston and Dick.Andros, the performance of these three people also has potential. As long as they practice more and gain more experience, they will definitely improve.Finally Timothy.Noble, the least likely player in the hitting lineup is him.Facing this little guy, I tried to slow down the ball speed as much as I could, but his stance was quite unskilled, and his swing was very unstable. Every time he missed his swing, the newly formed army The teammates just giggled, and even I felt embarrassed for him. The laughter of the teammates would last until I turned around to look at them, and the scene quieted down. I glance at my watch.We have notified all parents through the children in advance that the end of practice will not exceed six o'clock in the evening, so that everyone can arrange dinner time.It was only five minutes before six o'clock in the evening.I clapped my hands and shouted: "Okay, everyone, this is the end of today's practice."See you at Little League Stadium on Thursday afternoon at four o'clock! Most of the kids immediately raced to the parking lot, either to their bikes or to the cars waiting to take them home.But Timothy remained on home plate, focused, swinging the bat back and forth.I looked over to the dugout area, where Bill was packing his base bag and helmet into a canvas bag.There was no one else in the strike zone, so I walked over slowly and said: Timothy, can I have a word with you? No problem, he replied, his voice trembling slightly. Timothy, I said, I believe that if you work hard and spend some time practicing, you will become a good player.The more you practice, the more you improve.It's not easy for me to do long practice sessions with one player when you're all around, but I figured if you wanted, I could coach you a little more on both hitting and catching.How about this, are you willing to spend an extra half an hour concentrating on practicing a few basic kung fu after each practice time is over?Just me alone with you.With a little more practice, I'm sure we can make your swing better together, and maybe I can show you a few tricks that should help you catch fly balls or ground balls easier.Before the start of the season, the team still has three practice games.what do you think? I bent my knees, bent down to talk to him so that I could meet his eyes, and he took a small step forward, and for a split second, I thought he was about to fall into my arms. I'd love to practice a lot.He bit his lower lip and said. Will your mother have a problem?Maybe it will disrupt her routine for several nights.Dinner will be served later.What do you think? That's fine.She worked at the Ed's in Concord and didn't get home until about eight o'clock at night.Her working hours are from eleven o'clock in the morning to seven o'clock in the evening, from Monday to Saturday. I don't know why, but I find myself holding back tears. Well, Timothy, let's do it.Is it okay tonight?Do you want to start practicing now? His brown eyes were wide open, and for the first time I noticed a faint freckle on his cheek, running from the left side of his cheek over the bridge of his nose to the right.He nodded vigorously. Also, Timothy, don't tell the rest of the team about this.You and I don't want everyone to think that I'm particularly nice to someone, understand? He nodded again. I turned to face the rest area.Although Bill.West was far away and couldn't hear us, but he looked over with a smile on his face.Finally, before I could speak, he said, John, I'm leaving this bag of baseballs and bats here.You two have a good time practicing.I don't think you need my presence.See you on Thursday. Good night, Bill.