Family: Dead or Alive: Variation 2

The on deck circle can be many things to a batter in baseball. It’s a place to ‘get your hacks in’ and mentally prepare yourself for the ensuring battle. Today that war would be exemplified on both the batter and pitcher. For today they were playing at Yankee Stadium. This was a game for the scouts, to evaluate the players and see who had the talent to make it to the Bigs, where fame and fortune awaited. Jerry is well aware of the stakes while he swings two bats around in the on deck circle, watching the at-bat unfold.
“Strike one!” Jerry hears the ump bellow. His breaking ball is working well today he thinks to himself. “Strike two!” again the umpire yells out. Boy, that curve ball is going to be tough to beat. He watches the pitcher during his windup, ready to walk to the plate anticipating the strike-out. The hurler snaps the ball over to first base, trying to catch the base runner off balance. This gives Jerry an idea, watch his elbow in the delivery, it may dip and tip off the curve. Carefully this time, he studies the pitcher. No dip in the elbow, but the pitch was a straight sailing fastball which sped above the swing of the bat. “Strike three!” The umpire barks to the delight of the other team. Two down, one on. I can beat this guy.
Jerry hustles to the plate; takes two more practice swings, each one deliberately timed for the curve ball. He digs his back foot into the box and glares out towards the pitcher. With this game, Jerry could change his life forever. The pitcher begins his delivery. No elbow dip. “Strike one!” The fastball lived up to its name. Resetting, Jerry zeros onto the ball. The wind-up, and the pitch. The elbow dipped! Jerry takes a mighty rip at the ball with bad intentions! “Strike Two!” He missed the curve. That was it, his golden opportunity at stardom sank faster than a line drive. The sparse crowd “ooh’d” and “aww’d” at the pitch that embarrassed Jerry. He took a moment to gather himself, Three strikes, three outs. That’s baseball. One more chance. He chokes up on the bat ready to become Rod Carew, a notorious contact hitter. Jerry hears the catch shuffle his feet. The pitcher kicks his leg up, no elbow dip, and releases the pitch.
Once the scouts left the stadium after the game, Jerry walked up to home plate. His day ended one for four with three ugly strike outs. The scouts didn’t even bother talking to him. He digs into the box, now in his work jeans and t-shirt, and relives his moment. Jerry again sees the pitcher in his wind-up “He kept his elbow level” he says to the empty stadium. He imagines the fastball coming in faster than ever, closes his eyes and takes the swing. Jerry had slapped the ball to right field. The very short right field, and it carried up and over the wall for a homerun. He trots the bases just like he had done earlier, a hero in the first inning. When he reaches home, no teammates are waiting for him this time. Instead he walks off the field, ready to continue his life.