The things we do

Twotex, what a good question!

Here's the unexpected role I filled:

When my son was about 16 years old, he realized that his pitching mechanics were all wrong. When he tried to throw hard he would hurt his elbow with his old mechanics. So I helped him find a website that discussed pitching mechanics, and started videoing him while he practiced different mechanics, so that he could look at his own motion and compare it to proper mechanics. Two very nice baseball dads from this website offered to help us, and one of them reviewed video that we sent him twice a week for quite a while.

For about about three years' time, I probably videoed him practicing pitching mechanics, or pitching in actual games, an average of 50 times per year. I actually learned quite a bit about pitching mechanics myself, and gave a workout to three different camcorders. (The camcorder would be set up on a tripod behind a net for the indoor sessions in the offseason, and sometimes it would get hit by a pitch. Mom never got HBP, though!)

Julie

Photos - Joe and me
http://www.facebook.com/photo....83a3c1c&id=581138254

Joe playing college ball
http://www.facebook.com/photo....5be3a75&id=581138254

My son was in Little League when I would catch for him while he was practicing pitching. I missed a pitch which hit me in the shinn and I had a bruise clear down my leg and my foot began to swell. That was when I decided not to do that anymore and paid a player who from then on caught at pitching lessons. As far as hitting, I would soft toss him a bucket of balls, he and I would pick them up then hit the other direction (On football field). I will never forget that quality time we spent together. I did that until he quit hitting (college).

MN Mom, I love the photos. I need to get one with my son. At 15, it can be hard to get him in a posed photo.

LHPitcher, I've been pleasantly surprised with the quality time we've had due to baseball. Sometimes he will ask me to watch him and tell him what he can do better, or have me run the video.

My earliest memory of baseball is at about the age of 3. My family lived in an apartment complex outside of New York City and had a playground in the back of the complex, which overlooked the vast parking garage and a golf course in the distant rear. Most of the kids that lived in the apartment building played on the swings or in the jungle gym in the playground with their parents keeping a watchful eye on them (well, sometimes maybe one watchful eye, and the other in a magazine while sitting on the bench). But I kind of got bored of the swings (the back and forth repetition wasn't as exciting for me as most 3 year olds) and the slide was about 8 feet high, which provided for about a second's worth of thrill before I was forced to climb my way back up the stairs just to do it all over again. Because of these things, my favorite thing to do in the playground area was play baseball.

My dad worked later into the evenings in NYC, and my mom was home in the afternoons. At the time, my baseball equipment collection consisted of a whiffle ball and one of those Little Tikes bats, that had a flat part to it. And lo and behold, chances are you could find my mom and I out behind the apartment building in the playground playing whatever baseball game we could think of. We would play home run derby, strike-em-out, and my personal favorite...the game where I hit the ball and Mom had to go chase it and throw it back to the plate before I got there, otherwise it was a home run.

These games stopped after a year or so, after I hit a screamer back to the mound (Mom, underhanding it about 20 feet in front of me) with enough force to crack her sunglasses when it made contact. That's when my parents decided to sign me up for Little League.

Now at the not-as-tender age of 20 I am still playing ball (no longer hitting, but now finding myself on the mound myself) in college. And while Mom doesn't make her way onto the playing field with me anymore, there's always an extreme comfort level that I feel when her and/or my father are in the stands watching me play. After games, wherever they may be, I spend time recapping with Dad. We analyze the pitches I threw and how results could have changed, etc. But when I need an emotional lift, or an ego check, I always turn to Mom. She'll tell it how it is, with respect and love. After all, she's been watching me play longer than anyone else has.

No matter how many thousands of people show up to watch the games I'm playing in, memories of whiffle ball with Mom will be forever. It's difficult many times for kids to take a step back and appreciate all the things done for them, but without motherly support 99 out of 100 successful baseball players wouldn't be where they are today. Whether mothers soft toss to you, bring you Gatorade, or drive you halfway across the country to play in a tournament, they do it simply because it makes them happy to see you happy.

JH, what a wonderful tribute. I hope you mom sees it. Thanks for posting.

Fun question! MY son is 15, recently I have;

Shagged ball in the outfield tons of times.....my throwing arm keeps getting stronger! Ha Ha
Went pee in a million hot, sweaty, gross outhouses during games and tourneys!
Attempted to hit balls to him in the outfield
Video him also, great mom job!
Keep pitch count

Yep, what us moms do! But I love it and wouldn't have it any other way.

Ok JH- you made me cry!!! I think my son appreciates all we have done for him too but he is not an eloquent writer like you. Very touching, thanks for sharing this with us moms.

What a great post JH!
Thanks for writing this.

twotex, thanks for this thread. J H, I got all choked up too. Thanks for posting that.

I was a single mom and a lifelong baseball fan when 2B was in the plastic ball and bat stage. Stepdad came into the picture during that time, but he was a swimmer so totally useless for baseball.

I was an assistant coach for four years in Dixie Youth baseball in GA. Mostly just made sure they had their cleats tied. I still throw with 2B in the back yard, soft toss, shag, and pitch BP when he wants to hit and his friends aren't available.

I'm the announcer during the HS season, which is a blast. Plus I swipe credit cards and write checks. And cheer. A lot of that.

Wouldn't trade it for the world.

A little story for those who wonder, as I did, if they will ever "get it" - do they realize and appreciate all that gets done for them - no matter what path they choose to travel?

As a typical baseball mom, I did the mom kind of things - could not catch with him (dad did), but I ran the snack shack at LL, was a team mom in HS, and drove him everywhere he needed to be whenever he needed to be there, flew with him too when he went to out of area tournaments. When it came time to decide on where to play in college, we talked and talked. And he made his decision, and we packed him up and sent him off for his Freshman year (last year). We went to as many games home and away as we could.

This past Mother's Day, we were lucky, and the team was playing another close to our home, so we got to go. My husband had taken the time to buy me a little gift and a card, and gave it to him, telling him to sign the card and hand the package to me. Son did, and handed me the gift (with a hug and a kiss) as the team was boarding their bus back to college. Not having time to open the card or gift before we said our goodbyes, I waved to him as he rode off, and carried the package to the car, where I opened it before we left the field.

At reading the note enscribed in the card, I burst out in tears. It reads something like this "It wasn't until college that I finally realized all that you did for me, and all that you continue to do for me every day. Thank you. I love you."

The card sits on my dresser and likely will stay there for many years to come. He gets it. I am so very proud of my kids and am thankful that our Good Lord saw fit to bless me with them.

Oh and JH, you do get it! Great story, just wanted to share mine too from a mom's perspective.

My wife doesn't read this site but hears the highlights. Our 2011 has had many opportunities to play this summer to the extent that he and mom have been gone all except 3 days since memorial day. I wasn't sure he understood how important that was for her to give up her entire summer and the many dollars that it cost for him to be gone all summer until a few weeks ago. The local paper caught up with him on the phone and did a great front page article on him and his baseball opportunities. Near the end of the article, he said me and mom spend a lot of time together (and dad when he can) so that I can have an opportunity to play the sport I love. I realized then that he got it. Last week she was home for good for the last week of the summer until he called from Ohio and said his coach was not going to fly him home like he had promised. She got packed and got in the car to drive 6 hours at no notice to pick him up and bring him home.

Jeff, so nice to hear that many of the kids (I think most) do notice the contributions their parents make.

Sounds like they've had a great summer.