MrBumstead posted:Several years ago my 2016 wanted to throw a short pen after practice since he hadn't thrown one in several days. So I grabbed the mitt and crouched behind the plate. (We were both younger, so I didn't need all the gear.)
After a few minutes, I noticed son seemed to be distracted. There was soccer practice on an adjacent field (and he's ADD, and it was late on a school night) so I didn't pay it any thought. A few pitches later, he motioned for me to come out the mound with a concerned look on his face.
"Dad, there's some guy hanging on the screen watching me."
"So?"
"It's creeping me out a little." (All his teammates were gone, so it was him, me and the mystery man at the baseball field.)
"I'll check it out."
As I turned and trotted back to home plate, I gave a quick glance at the guy against the screen. I turned, got back into my crouch, grinned and gave son a thumbs up to let him know everything was OK. "Three more good ones!"
He threw three good ones, and we headed toward the dugout.
"Hurry and get your gear."
"Why?"
"Just hurry. I'll explain in a minute"
He packed his gear, and we walked out from around the dugout toward the backstop, which was on the way to the car. The man was still standing there watching us as we approached. So we walked right up to him.
"Son - this is my favorite Atlanta Brave of all time - John Smoltz." (He was there to pick up his daughter from soccer practice.)
Lucky!
