The 747 stepped to the third base side of home plate, dug his feet in and rocked back and forth until he was comfortable and took a few practice swings. It was a normal swing for a right-handed racquet, except that he was holding the racquet with only his left hand. His right arm was at his side, the velcro on his broken right hand more or less pointing towards the catcher.
The field came at chest height. The 747’s swing was smooth and level, propelling the ball left between converging infielders who wobbled it. The 747 hit the throw with ease and hit first base as teammate Geronimo crossed home plate.
Another playoff RBI for the one-arm wonder.
The change of coach was not without recent precedent. Earlier this season, one of the team’s stalwarts, the Tedster, who was also sidelined with a broken hand, became involved in a game. In hindsight, he might wish he’d tried a one-armed swing.
In three playoff games, The 747 one-armed against teams from Steubenville, Follansbee and Brilliant, reaching base in eight of nine at-bats with five hits, three walks and a strikeout. Throwing at a kid who was hitting one-armed was bound to confuse opposing pitchers, especially when he was smacking on every good pitch.
He had to play a position and he could still catch, so the coach put him outfield.
The 747 played left midfield against Brilliant in the season championship and started a highlight doubles game. He caught the longest fly ball of the game and sneakily threw it off his glove to shortstop Citizen Kane, who threw it to Geronimo for a runner trying to make it back to second place.
After the playoffs, during Saturday’s All-Star Tournament, a Follansbee coach walked by the Oak Glen dugout and grinned when he spotted The 747.
“He killed us in the playoffs” he informed onlookers nearby.
The 747 also had a big grin. It’s been on his face for days.
Our daughter Shark’s two boys, Lamppost Head, age 10, and The 747, age 9, are solid young baseball players, thanks in no small part to the tutelage and training of their father, Snickers. Snickers coaches their baseball team, one of two that Oak Glen fielded in this year’s 25-man Mustang Division of the Ohio Valley Youth Baseball League. It’s a community league. Every child who wants to play is put on a team.
Lamppost Head is an outstanding first baseman. The 747 is a surefire second baseman and catcher. Both pitch. Both hit for power but can be mixed and have been third or fourth in the batting order for most of the season.
The boys love sports and play in local football and basketball leagues. Of the two, the 747 is the more fanatical. He looks at every sport, absorbs the rules, scores how the game is played. After seeing cousins Bob and The Favorite compete in a swim at Thompson Park, the next day at the State Park pool, the 747 asked his mom to help him with his swim strokes and flip turns.
The 747 is also the one that takes the most to heart when it makes a mistake on the field. More than once when they were little, Snickers had to go onto the field to comfort a crying 747 after throwing on the wrong base or dropping a fly ball. Lamppost Head takes their game seriously, but doesn’t beat themselves up so much when things go bad.
Ten days ago, the 747’s right hand was hit by a pitch while he and his brother were playing and helping an older Oak Glen team with a small roster. The next day he watched the entire first game of the playoffs for his own team and his hand puffed up like a pillow. The Pittsburgh Children’s doctor diagnosed a greenstick fracture of the metacarpal bone of his ring finger, but said he could play if he kept his hand in a splint and didn’t use it.
Two days later, in the middle of the second playoff game, the team was battling bottom and needed baserunners. The 747 had shown his dad he could swing with one arm, so Snickers put it in, hoping to at least get a walk. He has a hit.
After losing to Brilliant in the championship game, the Oak Glen boys lined up to receive their second place trophies.
When the 747’s name was called out, the brilliant coach said to his players: “You’ll see him again next year, and then he’ll play with two arms.”
Today’s breaking news and more in your inbox