ajzepp Posted April 16, 2012 Share Posted April 16, 2012 I was watching one of my favorite movies from last year a second time tonight..."Moneyball". It got me thinking about my childhood and how much differently my life has gone than how I imagined it. I had played a season or two of t-ball when I was very young, but I recall the first time I went out for a summer baseball league. It was 1984 and they had tryouts at my middle school (Blue Valley Middle School in Shawnee Mission Kansas). They were assigning us to one of two leagues - the National league for beginners or less skilled, and the American league for kids with more experience and/or better skills. I had a pretty shaky tryout and was thus placed in the national league. Over the next couple of months it became pretty evident to my coaches that I had a natural ability for the game. For a 12 year old, I was putting on quite a show. At one of the games later in the year, we played on a field where the fences were marked, and I had a HR that easily cleared the center fence that was marked 325 ft. I could throw runners out from left field without a hop, could run pretty fast, and was deadly at the plate. I still remember one of the mothers on the sidelines. She was from Puerto Rico and her son and I were buds. She used to always say, "c'mon, hit another one of those BOOMERS like you do!" lol. At the end of the season, I was selected for the all-star team...but not the National league all-stars, the American league team. When I started practicing with the American all-stars, we spent a lot of time in the batting cage that my coach had at his home. He was trying to get me used to the higher quality pitching since I had only seen national league pitching to that point. My teammates would sit near the cage and make comments every time my bat struck the ball. I can still hear the impact in my head, and I remember the looks on the faces of my teammates. By the time the all star game came around, I was nervous as hell. I only got one time at bat that game. The first pitch I swung and missed. A curve ball. Never seen that before. Second pitch came in and TWHACK, solid contact, but a little late in my swing...went a million miles in the air but foul and out of play. The pitcher went back to the curve, and once again I whiffed. That was pretty much the end of that. A few months later my dad would sit us down and give us the news that we were once again moving. We had already moved four times and had only been in KC for eighteen months. While this would lead to my passionate and life-long love for the Bills of Buffalo (I brought Coach Levy with me...you guys can thank me later), in the process I sort of forgot about baseball. I happened to get talked into going out for Track and Field, and although I ended up having quite a bit of success with the shot put and discus during my last year of middle school and all through high school, I wish that I would have continued with the game of baseball. Of all the things I loved and dreamed about as a kid, if there was ONE thing I just knew I could have done, it would have been to play ball. I may not have ever made it to the big leagues, but I know I would have been good enough to give it a serious run in the minors. I'm not sure even Jobu would have helped me to hit that damn curve ball, but of all the sports I played as a kid, baseball was the one that came the most natural to me. So what one dream did you have growing up that you truly believe in your heart that you could have turned into a reality? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mead107 Posted April 16, 2012 Share Posted April 16, 2012 Could have hit a scratch off ticket had not gone on a bus trip to the casino. Was working every Saturday 5 years ago. Took that night off to go on the bus trip so did not get to stop at Stewarts store on way home. On our way down to get the bus at 6:15 in the morning I asked the wife if she wanted coffee for the bus, she said no. A friend of ours stopped at 8 in the morning and saw that the ticket was on number 28. He took a few different $10 tickets and headed to Saratoga for a couple hours. On his way back down he stops am buys ticket number 28 . He now gets $170,000.00 after taxes every year for 20 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajzepp Posted April 16, 2012 Author Share Posted April 16, 2012 Could have hit a scratch off ticket had not gone on a bus trip to the casino. Was working every Saturday 5 years ago. Took that night off to go on the bus trip so did not get to stop at Stewarts store on way home. On our way down to get the bus at 6:15 in the morning I asked the wife if she wanted coffee for the bus, she said no. A friend of ours stopped at 8 in the morning and saw that the ticket was on number 28. He took a few different $10 tickets and headed to Saratoga for a couple hours. On his way back down he stops am buys ticket number 28 . He now gets $170,000.00 after taxes every year for 20 years. Ouch...170g buys a lot of wine!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KD in CA Posted April 16, 2012 Share Posted April 16, 2012 I had a dream that a hamburger was eating ME! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Jack Posted April 16, 2012 Share Posted April 16, 2012 Could have hit a scratch off ticket had not gone on a bus trip to the casino. Was working every Saturday 5 years ago. Took that night off to go on the bus trip so did not get to stop at Stewarts store on way home. On our way down to get the bus at 6:15 in the morning I asked the wife if she wanted coffee for the bus, she said no. A friend of ours stopped at 8 in the morning and saw that the ticket was on number 28. He took a few different $10 tickets and headed to Saratoga for a couple hours. On his way back down he stops am buys ticket number 28 . He now gets $170,000.00 after taxes every year for 20 years. He should give you something for not buying that ticket before him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Hindsight Posted April 16, 2012 Share Posted April 16, 2012 I had a dream that a hamburger was eating ME! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chandemonium Posted April 16, 2012 Share Posted April 16, 2012 Coach woulda put me in fourth quarter, we would've been state champions. No doubt. No doubt in my mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PromoTheRobot Posted April 16, 2012 Share Posted April 16, 2012 I could have bought Sirius stock at 6-cents a share. PTR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SelmonSmith6378 Posted April 16, 2012 Share Posted April 16, 2012 I still have some time left for my dreams, being 16. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeviF Posted April 16, 2012 Share Posted April 16, 2012 Insert cynicism here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Hindsight Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 I still have some time left for my dreams, being 16. What are your dreams Selmon? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fan in San Diego Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 Back in the 80's I wanted to buy a piece of land above Malibu i the hills. It had a panoramic ocean view above Malibu on Kanaan Dume Rd. It was only $60K for the land and I wanted to build a small house. I would have probably sold if for over $1,000,000 7 years later. Of course I probably would have been burned by fires or mudslides during those same 7 years but who knows. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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