Last week, I drove half way across Canada to my home province of Nova Scotia. I went there for three reasons.
Reason 1 - Family reunion. I spent some quality time with my sisters, nieces, nephews, cousins, aunts and uncles. It was especially good hanging out with my cousin Bert almost every day. He and I were very close when we were kids. Bert’s the first person I’m picking for my team when the apocalypse comes.
Reason 2 - Baseball tournament. Last year, the commissioner of my baseball league approached me about playing on a team at ‘nationals’ - a big tournament that takes place every year, each time in a different Canadian city. He tried to butter me up by telling me the tournament was going to be in Halifax, the city where I was born. It worked. I thought it would be a good excuse to get home for a visit.
A few days before the first game, I found out that I’d be playing my games in a park just a few miles from where I grew up, in Mt. Uniacke. Extra-sweet. I was pretty much in my old back yard and it meant that lots of family and friends could come watch.
I was the new guy on the team this year. I didn’t really know anyone - especially not the manager and coaches. So they didn’t really know what I could offer the team either. For game 1, I was brought in in the last inning as a defensive replacement. A few balls came my way and I gave a 110% effort on some tricky plays.
Game 2 was a blow-out. We beat the other team pretty bad. I guess the manager figured it was a safe opportunity to try me out on the mound. I made the most of the opportunity. I ended up pitching the last two innings of the game. I didn’t give up a hit and I struck out four of the six batters I faced (see above). I guess that got the manager’s attention because I pitched in every game but one after that.
We won every game we played and advanced to the championship final. Late in the game, we were down by a score of 5-1. In the 6th inning, we scored 5 runs to take a 6-5 lead.
I was brought in to pitch the last two innings and preserve our 1-run lead. I got the job done. The game ended with a 1-4-3 double play. We won 6-5. National champs.
I only gave up one hit all week and after the final, I was named MVP.
Let me tell you something. A few years ago, I started asking myself how much longer I can play. I’m getting older. It seems to take longer and longer to recover from aches and injuries. I’ve known for a while that my time to hang up the spikes was coming. The thing that pushed me to continue the last few years was my wish to feel the thrill of victory one last time. It would be very difficult to explain to you how it felt to be mobbed and hugged by a group of burly men I hardly know - some of whom had tears in their eyes. It’s kind of a weird thing when you think about it. But holy shit, it felt good. And I could hear my family members cheering in the stands. I’ve only felt that way a few times in my life and this time might have been the greatest because the stakes were so high and we had to mount a big comeback to pull it off. It was amazing. I’m still buzzing. And it happened just a few minutes down the road from where I grew up! I won’t forget the feeling as long as I live. And then to be named MVP! Me! The new guy! Man-o-man…
Oh yeah…
Reason 3 - Record digging. To top all of this off, I managed to squeeze in a little record dig and scored HUGE! I came up on five or six holy grail-level records, some of which I had been searching for over half my life.
My week in Nova Scotia couldn’t have been any better. Probably the best week of my life. And it feels extra sweet because if you had asked me a few years ago, I might have guessed that the best of my days was behind me. I never thought I’d feel good like this again.
