He had just turned five and was allowed to play up with the "older kids" in the t-ball league...
In his first game - he caught a fly ball at SS and threw it to 1st base to double up the runner who (of course) didn't know to tag up. Nobody told him - just knew to do it. Later in the same game he made a diving stop and made the throw from his knees from SS to 1B for the out.
I had my first hmmm moment with my yet to be born grandson when my 5'10" daughter married an athletic 6'2" guy this year. I've instructed them the bottle goes in the baby's left hand.
Great idea. And to think all these years I could've trained myself that way with the bottle.
Great idea. And to think all these years I could've trained myself that way with the bottle.
Ha ha ha ha. 
I have always thought of myself as a “baseball guy” however to be honest I really didn’t appreciate the level of my sons skill set until around age 12. Not so much because he wasn’t a good player…looking back I think it was more because the level of talent he played with on his local travel team was so good he was just another one of the guys.
At that time I don’t think any of us knew that the boys on that team (built from their local Pony Baseball League) would turn out as accomplished as they did. Of the 14 kids on that team all but one played high school ball and 9 played beyond high school. (7 pro/college and 2 college only). I’d say that team would kinda skew’s the odds conversation that has been running on another thread.
It wasn’t until we moved to another part of the country that I saw how good he was. After the first day of 6/7th grade try outs I got a call from a coach saying that while the tryouts just started he wanted to know if I would be okay with Jerseyson playing on the 8th grade team? Hmmmm….
Guess all that whiffle ball my wife played with him as a two year old paid off. 
You really can't be sure what you have until a kid proves he can perform on a 60/90 field against quality competition. But as PG pointed out most of the hmmm moments were a display of a passion or mind for the game more than their talents. John Saunders (ESPN) once said he never doubted his kids would have the athletic ability. He played pro hockey. His wife was a college athlete. What he questioned was would they have the passion and motivation.
I had my first hmmm moment with my yet to be born grandson when my 5'10" daughter married an athletic 6'2" guy this year. I've instructed them the bottle goes in the baby's left hand.
I don't have any of those 8U moments, mine was a late bloomer. However there was that day when he was 2 and insisted on throwing the ball with his left hand...
Now a D-I LHP...
Great idea. And to think all these years I could've trained myself that way with the bottle.
Ha ha ha ha.
I recently took a tumble on some black ice while on business travel. Somehow managed to break my right arm in 7+ places.
I can honestly say, you can't learn to use that left hand in your 40's. I wrote like a 5U until I got a cast that allowed me to use my figers on the right hand again.
9 years old playing in Little League. Coach asks at a Saturday practice if anyone will be able to make a Sunday morning BP session when that coming Sunday was when all the young, Catholic kids make communion. My son raises his hand and says, I can, Coach." The assistant coach, knowing my son attends a Catholic school, then asks, "Don't you have to go to church son?" My son replies, "Baseball is my religion Coach."
That was a pretty good indication he was serious. Practice did not occur on that given Sunday but we were on the field. Have been ever since. He's 15 now.
You really can't be sure what you have until a kid proves he can perform on a 60/90 field against quality competition. But as PG pointed out most of the hmmm moments were a display of a passion or mind for the game more than their talents. John Saunders (ESPN) once said he never doubted his kids would have the athletic ability. He played pro hockey. His wife was a college athlete. What he questioned was would they have the passion and motivation.
Many have God given talent, but the passion and the motivation have to be there too in order to be successful...
There are many times when it was pretty clear that my son was a ball player. I played Frisbee (competitively) and ball sports were nothing I had done since my pre teen years.
My son was given a wiffle bat and ball for Christmas when he had just turned 4. He picked up the bat and naturally held it in his hands and we tossed the ball to him and he slamed a line drive right back at me 4 hard shots in a row, the first 4 of his life, and I knew he would play baseball, and I hung up my disc bag.
But a memorable play for me was when he was 9 or 10 playing 1st base(because he could catch any throw that came his way) and an opposing player during an All-Star game hit a hot line drive about 3 feet foul. My son dove and snagged that ball out of the air for an out. I knew he would do anything to catch a ball after that, and fortunately today he plays with that same level of passion and commitment.
My youngest son, now 14, was 6 at the time... he was the bat boy for his older brothers 12 year old team.. We had two players get hurt and were a player short. I asked the other coach if he minded if I put Ethan in RF, he said "its fine with me, and chuckled"
Ethan was in RF and a runner at second with 1 out. the batter hits one deep in RF and Ethan goes back and catches the fly ball, then throws a bullet to second and doubles the runner off second, ( who never dreamed a 6 year old would catch the ball)
He then went to the plate and got walked.... I guess having three older brothers, he was not scared. I'll never forget it.
I hesitate to write this because it sounds fictional. My 2 yo DD, unprompted, dribbled a basketball into the living room one day. She made a triple play in her first 5yo TBall game. She could beat me at almost everything at 8.
When my son was four.
We were playing catch in the backyard. He wanted to use a real baseball because that is what they guys on TV played with. He got upset because I was underhanding the ball to him.
I threw it overhand to him. He missed the ball with his glove, it bounced off his forhead and went about five feet behind. him. His eyes welled up for about 10 seconds, then he ran, got the ball and threw it back. He wanted to keep playing catch for the rest of the afternoon.
I still think that 75% of baseball talent is desire. Many four year olds are afraid of the ball. My son never was.
My recollection is when he was a little older...11 or 12. I mean, he did a lot of the things that have been mentioned previously...like running kids down on the base path in T-ball instead of throwing the ball to someone else because they couldn't catch it(had to talk to him about that!)...diving plays at short...etc. But, the play that really sticks out is when he was playing centerfield on a high level travel team. Game was tied in the top half of an extra inning game with the bases loaded and 2 outs...ball was smoked into the left center gap...he sprinted to it, left his feet, and made a full length back handed grab. As often happens, he was leadoff hitter in the bottom half of the inning...runners at 1st and 2nd(playing Calf. tie breaker) and he lined one up the middle to win the game. I definitely went hmmmm...he's now patrolling the outfield at a D1.
