Last At Bat

It was on the baseball field where my journey to confidence began to take momemntum.
And it was on a Spring day in my senior season of high school that a power I had never seen on the Diamond made me a fan for life.
We trailed the Northport Tigers 2-1 in the last inning.
As I walked to the plate, I was determined to make up for my two strikeouts which summarized my weak effort on this day.
Apparently, my coach shared my view. With the tying run perched on 2nd base, he felt the need to insert a pinch hitter.
I talked him out of it and then immediately wondered what I done.
I was gambling with my future in high school baseball.
The tall Tiger southpaw smiled with recognition as I approached the box. It looked to me like he was grinning. Why not? One more out and he had his 2-1 victory. What kind of threat did I pose? I had two miserable whiffs.
As I was about to dig my spikes into the left-handed batter's box, I caught the scene over the right field fence where our student center had newly been constructed.
It was a beautiful day in late May (weather would become a powerful dynamic in my future life) and the kids, sat in their convertibles and on the hoods of their cars, catching the first rays of the year and maybe some baseball, if their vision was strong.
Suddenly, a flash.
I heard the crack of the bat and then I picked up the ball bouncing wildly in the green grass beyond the shortstop and splitting the outfielders.
With my speed, that kind of hit, could be a game winner.
Imagine what kind of highlight that would be for me and what it would do for my confidence.
I would be forever remembered as a ballplayer, a real ballplayer.
The umpire interrupted my reverie.
PLAY BALL!
The first pitch was a fast ball and I made great contact and true to my glimpse, the ball headed in the very same direction of my mental preview.
Forty plus years later, I still have friends say to me:
YOU WERE THAT BASEBALL HERO!
Of course, it would have all changed if I hadn't seen what would happen before it did happen.
Maybe that was the turning point for me on my journey to confidence.
But I was only 18.
What did I know?
Where was I heading?
Who really cared?
And if anyone cared, who could do something about it?