Step Into It

According to the Official Baseball Rules, “The ball shall be a sphere formed by yarn wound around a small core of cork, rubber or similar material, covered with two stripes of white horsehide or cowhide, tightly stitched together. It shall weigh not less than 5 nor more than 5¼ ounces…and measure not less than 9 nor more than 9¼ inches in circumference.” With a few slight variations of the size and height of the stitching, the first hard ball introduced in game play to a seven- or eight-year-old kid, is exactly like the ball being used in high school, college, and the Major Leagues. But, when you were five or six years old, or even younger, you probably played with a ball that was a little softer than normal.

I remember playing with the Mighty Mites when I was little. Back then, the ball of choice was the old Incrediball. It looked a little like this RagBall, only it had a thin red cord imitating seems. When your coach was lobbing up Incrediballs for you to hit, it was rare that he would ever hit a batter. But, if he did, everyone would laugh, including the player who had just been plunked. Although the Incrediball now looks like a real baseball and usually weighs the same as a real baseball, it is still much softer. These days the Incrediball has evolved beyond a piece of equipment used exclusively for t-ball and has found its way into the mainstream. In college, for example, we would have the occasional rag ball game in the gym when the weather was bad. And in high school, we would play catch in the hallways with Incrediballs during the winter months. But, for a five-year-old playing catch for the first time, it makes it easier to pick up the ball and throw it back after being hit in the chin by his dad. Eventually, however, the Incrediballs are left in the practice bucket and the coaches and dads stay on the sidelines—no more t-ball, and no more coach-pitch.

A hardball is much less forgiving than an Incrediball. The first few years of playing with a real ball, facing pitchers roughly your own age can be a little scary for a youngster. Countless practice hours are spent trying to help players stay in the batters box when a pitch is thrown. My personal favorite is the when the coach places an extra bat just behind the batter to deter him from stepping out. Some kids are afraid of the ball right away. Others are fine until the first time they step to the plate and it happens: the bean-ball. I’ve seen plenty of would-be all-stars give up baseball at the age of seven just because they were hit by a pitch.

Once, my youngest brother was pitching to a girl when he was eight or nine and he accidentally threw a pitch high and tight. The natural reaction is to turn your back to the ball or to jump back. This girl’s reaction was to turn into the pitch and put her hand up to stop the ball. She missed, and it hit her in the face. The crowd gasped. I think the girl’s mom fainted. My brother turned around and covered his face with his glove—not because he was ashamed of what he had done, but because he was laughing and trying to hide it. The girl’s father, and also the coach, ran out to help her, but by the time he arrived, she was already back on her feet, reaching for her bat, and ready to hit the next pitch. She had to be told that she was awarded first base because she was hit by a pitch. She was tough. Then again, the pitcher who threw the ball was only seven or eight years old. When pitchers get older, they throw harder, and being hit by a pitch is no fun (except maybe when an Incrediball bounces off your six-year-old head in coach-pitch).

It has been a long time since Craig Biggio, now in his 20^th season with the Houston Astros, has had an Incrediball bounce off of his head. Biggio has been hit more than any active player in the game and is 4 HBPs (Hit By Pitch) away from becoming the all-time career leader in that category. Over the course of those 20 years of baseball, he has been thumped 283 times. Oddly enough, he dishes out just as much as he takes and has currently hit 283 home runs in his career as well. When Biggio is hit by a pitch, I’m pretty sure it leaves a mark more often than not. With most pitchers in the Major Leagues throwing fastballs at 90-94 mph, and a select few throwing even harder (Joel Zumaya, Detroit Tigers, 103 mph, July 4, 2006 – how’s that for fireworks?), being hit by a pitch can be a scary situation. So why in the world would anyone go to bat and try to be hit?

For me, it was just a matter of understanding the situation and my own ability. It has been years since I’ve played in serious organized baseball, but the last two times I have played (once in a high school alumni game and another in a 28 and over men’s baseball tournament) I have stepped into the batter’s box as close to the plate as I could get. In the alumni game, it was the last inning and we were tied. It was my first and only at bat of the game and I was the last of the 30 or so alumni to hit that night. There were two outs and the man ahead of me hit an RBI double to tie the game. Behind me was John Buck, the catcher for the Kansas City Royals, and also a Taylorsville High School alumnus. Since I hadn’t hit for quite some time, I was fairly certain that Johnny would do a better job of knocking in the winning run than I could do. But, I had to reach base, or the inning would be over. So, I stepped in with the frame of mind that “this is going to hurt, but it won’t hurt for too long, especially if it means we’ll win the game.” It didn’t happen exactly like I imagined, though. I reacted to the first pitch and lined it to right field which brought in the winning run. But, in the other game, it did work out like I had imagined and I had a nice bruise with the distinct shape of baseball seams on my inner right elbow for weeks to prove it. But, I reached base and the stronger hitters behind me did their job and brought me back home to score.

It all comes down to winning. You can’t win if you don’t score and you can’t score if you get out. Sometimes you need to make sacrifices to score. Some situations might call for a sacrifice bunt to move a runner into scoring position, and others might call for sacrificing your body and stepping into a pitch to reach base and keep the inning going. Sure, stepping into a pitch in high school or college might hurt more than being beaned by your coach with an Incrediball, but, with the right perspective, you still might crack a smile as you trot to first base.

By the way. . . don’t rub it.