The Music of Baseball by Connor F.

Some people think that just because something is inexpensive, or not as expensive as what they have, that it’s worthless. If you were to compare my love of baseball to a winning scratch ticket, it would be considered valueless. But if I were to pick a winning scratch ticket over my love of baseball, there would be no contest. So what gives people the right to determine the value of certain things? And what is more important something of extreme value, or something absolutely priceless?

I step onto the dirt mound, perspiring, and tired from the effort of recent pitches. I threw three straight balls and it felt like throwing a strike was near impossible. Standing in on the mound, I am reminded of the fundamentals that have been spoon-fed to me a painful amount of times throughout my baseball life. The sweaty glove feels like a 10-pound weight on my right hand. I settle in, staring at the batter and patiently waiting for the sign from the catcher. One – that means a fastball. I arch my right leg high and deliver the pitch. Strike one. I steep onto the mound with a boost of confidence and I am armed and ready to deliver the next pitch. Stepping back onto the mound I stare into the batters eyes using my peripheral vision to read the catcher. Two – curveball. I bring my leg high once again and train my arm to throw a curveball. The ball looks like it’s at the top of the strike zone, and the batter swings there, but to his mockery it drops low for a second strike. Now I am back in the game. It’s a 3-2 count and there’s 2 outs, all I need is one last strike. The catcher puts down a 2 but I shake him off, then he calls a 1. I nod my head in agreement and deliver the pitch. Taking all of the energy out of me I deliver the fastball, the pitch goes straight by the batter for a third strike. I am victorious and have fought through the almost impossible inning.

Baseball is one thing in my life I have always known and loved. My favorite professional baseball team is the Boston Red Sox, and I hate the New York Yankees with a passion. The positions I play in baseball are Pitcher, 1^st base, and the outfield. I am a southpaw so those are basically my only options. I will be starting High School baseball this year and I hope to make the junior varsity team and next year maybe make Varsity. The biggest accomplishment baseball wise I have had is winning the Sandlot Tournament. We faced our rivals Ludlow, who we were 0-3 against so far that season. Ludlow was a great team and they probably had better players than us, but we wanted it more. Ludlow beat us in two championship finals, and it was our turn for revenge. We wanted to beat them also because they recruited players from other teams, and we never recruited any. So it was very satisfying when we won because we beat them with our own players, not any others. We were also the first team from South Hadley to win this tournament since 1972.

When I was younger I absolutely loathed long car rides, but ever since my last birthday this has changed. It’s not because I am growing older and I realize that to go somewhere fun, sometime it takes time to get there. It is because I now have an Ipod. On my way to Ogunquit, Maine, this year my ipod came into great use. It is usually a three hour car ride, but when I listen to my ipod it feels like it’s less than an hour. Although we hit traffic, I barely noticed because I was so into the music that was playing. I have numerous types of music from rock, to metal, to rap, to country, even some techno! You basically say that I have a wide variety of music on my ipod. I don’t only have music on it though, I also have video. I don’t have much because it is expensive, and takes up a lot of room, but I have a few. I have around three episodes of South Park, and one episode of Chapelle’s show. My ipod is easily my most valued financial worth object. It is because I love music, TV, and when I listen it makes the time go by faster and I enjoy listening to every song.

I value and love both baseball, and my ipod, but on completely different levels. The value of my ipod is $250, and a couple bought videos. The value of baseball to me is completely priceless between everything I have experienced with it. My Ipod is probably my most expensive possession, but if it came down to my ipod vs. baseball, baseball would be the clear and marginal winner. Both of these things though give me a sense of freedom. When I play baseball, I forget about everything else, I focus and try my hardest to be successful. Listening to my ipod also takes my mind off everything else, and I just listen to the music. So if I were to pick a perfect day, I’d sit back, listen to my ipod, and I’d watch the sox game.