The late Bob Lemon, former baseball player and manager (I had to look it up), is quoted as saying, "Baseball was made for kids, and grown-ups only screw it up."
I'd say that was the case in my front yard Wednesday night, though the kids didn't seem to mind.
Our friends Addie and Lily stopped over to pick up their tables left over from last weekend's garage sale. AJ managed to convince Addie to do what he'd been trying to talk me into all evening - play baseball with him.
The problem is, when you only have two players (Sydney and Lily were happier hosting a tea party inside the house), as soon as someone gets on base, you're out of batters. And so Jess and I joined in the fun.
The make up of each team changed constantly. For a while it was AJ against everyone. Then it was kids versus grown-ups (or so I thought until Jess scored a run for the kids' team.) I did my best to minimize my role. My flip flop sandals weren't my smartest choice for footware.
Bottom line, the kids had such a great time it was hard for Jess to pull Addie away. And once they left, AJ managed to recruit two neighbor kids so the game could continue.
Some of my best memories of my neighborhood and neighbor kids in Brooklyn Center center around the pick-up games of baseball, kickball and hot box. Sometimes we played in the field across the street from our house, sometimes in the field behind us (neither of which exist anymore), but mostly it was in our front yard. It's the national past time brought down to a very local level, and it's the stuff that memories are made of.
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