Take Me Out To The Ballgame...

On Thursday, I participated in a charity softball game. It was a fundraising event for the Utah Valley Chapter of the American Red Cross and Action Target donated some money, so we got to send 5 people to play in the game and I was one of them. They told us it was going to be a baseball game, so I was looking forward to that but at the last minute they changed it to softball. However, we were playing at the Utah Valley University Stadium so we were still playing on a regular size baseball diamond, which meant the bases were 90’ apart and not 60’. They had 5 former major leaguers on hand: Vern Law (1960 Cy Young Award winner for the Pittsburgh Pirates), Vance Law (1988 All Star for the Chicago Cubs), Scott Nielson (Pitched 4 years in the majors with the Yankees and White Sox), Dane Iorg (he had the walk-off game winning hit in Games 6 of the 1985 World Series for the Kansas City Royals – the Royals went on to win the Series in Game 7), and Gary Cooper (broke into the major with the Houston Astros in 1991, but played very little – was once named the Outstanding Player of the Pacific Coast League and was a AAA All Star).

Let the game begin…

Dane Iorg was our team’s coach/player while Scott Nielson was our team’s pitcher. Since they didn’t know where anybody played, they just kind of randomly assigned us to play different positions. I got put in centerfield, which at the time was kind of a bummer, I would have preferred to play shortstop and get more action. In the first, our shortstop made 2 or 3 errors and the opposing team scored 2 runs. We got a couple of guys on base in the home half of the first but the guy hitting in front of me made the 3^rd out before I got a chance to hit. So it was a pretty boring start to the game…but my fortune was about to change…

Former Houston Astro Gary Cooper led off the inning. Out of respect for the former AAA All Star (and at the recommendation of Scott Nielson), I backed up in centerfield. Although I had backed up, this was still softball so I wasn’t that deep considering I was playing on a field where the centerfield wall was 427’ from home plate (I as maybe 275’ deep). Nielson’s first pitch to Cooper was hammered into straightaway centerfield. I began sprinting backward as everyone on the team was shouting, “Back! Back! Back!” About 8 steps into my run I was realizing that Cooper’s ball was going to sail over my head and back towards the wall for what would surly be an inside-the-park home run (I came to find out later that everyone else thought the ball was way over my head too). As I continued to sprint back while looking over my shoulder, the ball kept sailing and stayed in the air longer than I expected. Just as the ball was passing over my head I decided that I’d at least try and make a play on the ball (even though it was surely out of my reach). So I stretched out my arm and glove as far as I could without diving, all the while looking over my shoulder at the ball. And just when I was sure the ball was in fact out of my range…Thud... I caught it (as much to my surprise as to everyone else’s surprise in the stadium)! I instantly started to hear cheers and congratulatory remarks coming from the stands and all over the field. I couldn’t help but grin. At that moment, I was grateful that on this evening I was a centerfielder and not a shortstop.

I only got to field one more ball in centerfield the rest of the game (and that was a groundball hit by Vance Law), but I got the chance to make the play of the night (according to the rest of the players and former major leaguers), probably the best outfield catch I’ve ever made in my life, and rob a former major leaguer of an extra base hit (if not a home run)!

But the game didn’t stop there. I led off the bottom of the 2^nd hitting against former Cy Young award winner Vern Law (Dan Iorg made it a point to yell up to the announcer that I was the guy who made the catch in centerfield and the announcer mentioned it as he announced me nex to bat) and hit a ball in the hole between 3^rd base and shortstop. Former major leaguer Vance Law was playing shortstop, so I knew I had to hustle. He came up with the ball, but I was able to beat the throw to first. As I crossed the first base bag, I saw Vance’s through get by the first baseman so I took off to second. I eventually scored our team’s first run to cut the lead to 2-1. That’s right I got a single and scored off of a former Cy Young award winner, nevermind that the man in now in his 70’s and was pitching slow pitch softball, those are just details.

Both teams went scoreless in the third. The guy hitting in front of me led off the bottom of the 4^th with a triple and went for the inside-the-park home run and was thrown out easily at home. I then came up and laced a single past third and into leftfield (so much for my RBI opportunity). I would later score our team’s second run and tie the game at 2-2.

Both teams went scoreless in the fifth. I led off the bottom of the sixth and doubled over the outfielders’ heads into right centerfield. I then scored our team’s third run and put us ahead at 3-2. Both teams continued scoreless in the 7^th. In the eighth I doubled over the outfielders’ heads (I guess they just didn’t learn their lesson – ha!) into left centerfield and went on to score our 4^th run to put us up 4-2. My team added 2 more runs in the eighth to lead 6-2.

The game finished off with the opposing team getting one more run in the top of the 9^th and we won the game 6-3. I finished up 4-4 with 2 singles, 2 doubles, and 4 runs scored. However, the highlight on the night was getting to rob Gary Cooper of an extra-base hit. That catch earned me kudos from Dane Iorg and Scott Nielson as well as the rest of my teammates. Later Gary Cooper thanked me for catching ball because it “saved [him] from having to run all that way.” My colleagues from work mentioned that my catch would have earned me a spot on ESPN’s Top 10 Plays of the Day.

I know this sounds like I’m bragging and I probably am, but it was a fun night for me. I couldn’t stop grinning with the success I had. It was fun to meet these former major leaguers (Vance Law was the only one I can actually remember watching as a kid) and be complemented by them, even if it was just a charity softball game.

We finished the night off by getting some autographs and chatting. As I was leaving the ballpark with Megan and Nathan, Dane Iorg was joking around with Gary Cooper, telling him that he had Gary played perfectly all night. Dane started saying something about the catch in centerfield as I was walking by. He noticed me walking by and said, “Hey it was this guy right here.” Then he said to me again, “Hey that was a great catch.” I grinned, said thanks, and walked with my family out of the stadium. It was a fun night!