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| The Oshawa Legionaire Pee Wee Select team on the bench. No. 77 is my son, Tavish. |
But you’re not getting older, you’re getting better, right?
Like most of you I rarely think about my age (except on birthdays) because inside I’m still young at heart. Then something happens that changes how you view yourself. For me that day came last week.
Major League pitchers report to camp in the next few weeks. That fact has not been lost on my son Tavish. He loves baseball, watching it and playing it. I’ve been told when the Detroit Tigers visit Toronto on the Aug. 28 weekend we’re going. I’d hate to disappoint him.
I took Tav to the Home Run Baseball Academy in Ajax. He got two baseball bats for Christmas and was anxious to try them out. I rented a lane at the indoor facility and off we went.
It felt good putting on the baseball glove once again and loosening up my throwing arm. Granted it took a bit longer getting used to pitching strikes but Tav was patient. It also helped we had access to a pitching machine to spell me off!
Tav hit pitches for about 40 minutes before he asked to take a break. He was making solid contact with most of my pitches but after swinging the bat for the better part of an hour it was time to put it down and play some catch.
That’s when it happened. With one throw I got OLD.
Last summer I was still a head taller than my son. Tav only came to my shoulder. Theoretically that made me bigger and stronger but even then I knew the day was coming when my son would surpass my staggering height of 5’7”! Today he looks me straight in the eye. He wears a larger shoe than I do. I carry more weight on my frame but other than that we’re the same size.
Another difference we share is our throwing speeds. Tav is officially . . . faster. In fact he throws faster than I think I even did when I was his age!
We were throwing the ball back and forth when I said to him, “Okay, throw me a good one.”
Tav let it fly and as I put my glove up to catch it the ball hit the screen behind me.
“What was that?” he asked sarcastically.
I would have loved to say “Lost it in the sun” but we were inside. Instead I just smiled and shrugged my shoulders. Inside I was thanking God Tav’s throw was to my left and not directly at me. Otherwise our game of catch would have ended horribly.
He threw a few more my way and they were coming in hard and straight. My hand was stinging from the impact. Tav threw hard last summer but these throws had even more velocity on them.
Or maybe they weren’t coming in as hard as I thought. Maybe, just maybe I missed that throw because my reaction time was S-L-O-W-I-N-G down. Maybe his throws were hurting my hand because I was getting soft? Maybe my glove needed replacing?
I’d like to think my boy is just getting bigger and stronger. I don’t want to think it has anything to do with my age.
You’re only as old as you feel, right? Right.
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| Tavish throws a pitch in a playoff game last summer against Prince Edward County. Recorded the win! |
