I've been getting a bunch of PMs from members who asked if I would be posting anymore in this thread, so I decided it'd be best if I did so. This will be the last post I will put up here, simply being that the summer season has come to a close. Thanks to all that have read it and appreciated what I've said, it's helped me to write everything because now I can look back and relive some of things that slip my mind from the summer.
We ended up with a 35-22 overall record, winning the Coastal Plain League Southern Division title. Unfortunately, we were upset in the playoffs by the Edenton Steamers, who went on to the championship round of the CPL before bowing out to the Forest City Owls.
Our season finished up on Friday, August 6th. The game in which we got eliminated was an away game, and our bus arrived back in the stadium parking lot around 1 AM. To our surprise, there was a collection of about 40 people standing in the parking lot, with signs and confetti and noise-makers. They all cheered when we got off the bus and we took pictures with them, signed a few more autographs and thanked them once more. It was sort of surprising to see this crowd there. We'd known that the town was behind the team, being that attendance was good and there was good coverage in the area. But the reception in the parking lot put things into perspective. There was a collection of little kids who leaned against their parents in tears because the season was over. There were adults who painted their faces with Marlins colors and pleaded with the underclassmen to return the following summer. We saw that the team was more than an event that they could enjoy and a league that we could just play in to get better. The populous of the town really connected with the team, and put their hearts and souls into cheering us on.
I became close with a young man this summer named Aaron. Aaron was 19 years old, recently a high school graduate. He suffers from severe cerebral palsy, causing him to be wheelchair ridden. He frequented our games in the early part of the summer, placing himself near the dugout in the stands and very much in view of the team. He quickly began to strike up conversation with us, and we kindly obliged. Most of the guys simply felt bad because he was disabled, but quickly grew a bit detached from Aaron because frankly, he made some obnoxious comments. He was trying to fit in with our sense of humor (baseball dugout jokes are typically very vulgar), and was at first taken the wrong way. I got sick of the kid in the wheelchair making fun of me initially, and sort of placed myself accordingly so that I didn't have to speak to him much.
Over time he sort of grew on me though. He was obnoxious, but he was funny. And he could take a joke in return. I started speaking to him more, and some of us developed a friendly relationship with him. One day, he asked me if I could drive him home after the game. I asked him why and he said that he didn't want to wake his mom up. I grudgingly obliged and drove him home. The next day, I pitched very well and we snapped a losing streak and being that I am a baseball player- and superstitious- it was a no brainer...I had to drive Aaron home again. And lo and behold, we won the next game as well.
And so it began...I would pick him up from his house everyday and get to the park for batting practice. He would hang out in the dugout, messing around with the team. Sometimes we would have a catch with him on the side. The team owner quickly gave him a job at the park as a ticket collector and an usher, and he would sit in his usual location next to the dugout and intently watch every game. After all the fans cleared out and we ate our post-game meals, I would help him out of his chair and into my car and drive him back to his house.
One day, Aaron decided that he wanted to shag fly balls with the team. He went up to our head coach and asked for permission, and our coach said "if Josh is out there with you to make sure you don't get hurt, sure." So he wheeled himself out to left centerfield and shagged with me during BP. Every ball that was hit in our direction would be given to Aaron to toss in towards the bucket. About halfway through the session, he turned to me and said "the greatest day of my life was the day I got to meet the Tampa Bay Rays after their game. But this is the second greatest day of my life. I'll never forget this man."
Aaron called me in tears after we lost and told me he was going to really miss everyone. I told him don't worry, the team will be back next year. He said he didn't want next year, he wanted the same group of guys and he didn't want anything to change. I reassured him that change was part of the beauty of the game of baseball.
After an absolutely miserable drive back home to New York (Washington DC traffic is no fun), I finally settled back into my own bed. Since February, I had previously spent a total of 12 hours at home. After my college team lost in regionals I had just enough time to get home, get laundry done, eat a meal and go to sleep before getting on the road and going to North Carolina. The relief of being home, seeing the family, and being able to relax for some time has been absolutely fabulous.
This year has been quite the roller coaster for me personally. In February in a span of two weeks I had two seizures in my dorm room at school. I had never had any neurological problems previously, and the random events were unexplainable. I saw a specialist and basically said to him "give me whatever you can so I can get back on the mound." He told me I couldn't drive a car for 90 days, I couldn't drink any alcohol and prescribed medicine called Keppra in pill form, which I have to take twice a day everyday. Since February 15th, I have never missed a pill, and have had no ill-effects since. 2 weeks later I was on the diamond again, and considered it a blessing. My college team finished in 3rd place in our regional- the first regional appearance in school history. I led the conference in ERA for the second year in a row, which pleased me because allowing the least amount of runs means my team has the best chance to win the game. My summer team won our division and I continued to have success on the mound.
I will be heading back to school this Friday, and next Wednesday is the first day of classes. Saturday the 28th is our first day of fall practice...my first day as an upperclassman on the field in college.
Thanks to everyone who read all these posts over the last few months once again, because it allows me to look back and remember things from my experience. I encourage anyone who has experiences that could help others to share them, because I learned a lot about the game myself just from reading on this site alone.