“If the first one’s in there... bust it”
I got an email from an old friend tonight, inviting me to the Drew University Alumni Baseball Game this October. He has invited me for several years, but because of Dayna’s soccer schedule, I have never gotten there. This year, I told him I will be there. And I WILL be there. He will be 77 years old, Drew University Class of 1957! I met him when I worked for The Mennen Company about 26 years ago. We ate lunch together everyday. They had self serve frozen yogurt in the cafeteria and we had a running competition to see which of us could stack the frozen yogurt the highest. (As a result, they eventually added a scale and the frozen yogurt had to be paid by weight...yeah, we ruined it for everyone!! haha!) Almost every day we would talk about baseball. He had tried out for several major league teams following college, came close, but had never been signed. At this time, he was still hopeful...waiting for the call...or at least, joked about it a lot. He was in his 50s then. He must have come to Mennen after our softball league had disbanded, because he had never played with us. Mennen was the perennial champion of the DTP (Determined to Play) league...a co-ed league, where you had to have 2 token girls on the field. I was one of them. I played second base. At this time, my goal in life was to turn two. Usually in a DP situation, they would switch things around, bring an outfielder in and I’d go into the outfield, so they’d be sure to make the double play....until the short stop told them to leave me alone and let me do it... and I did, several times. He was awesome... I loved him! I was also allowed to hit, as opposed to the other girl that was often told to lean into the pitch, let it hit you, and take your base. (haha.... yeah, that really happened). But, you know, when a girl was up, they would bring the field in so shallow that it was actually insulting and I embarrassed several guys at least for my first time at bat until they knew that I actually was able to hit the ball. Couldn’t slide to save my life though and I do remember one mortifying moment where I was coming into third with everyone yelling "hit it, hit it!!" I did... the result... not pretty. Good times... anyway...
So, growing up, I played softball and my dad was a coach. I was taught to always take the first pitch. I was also taught to always take on 3-0. Warner tried for as long as we worked together,to convince me that that was just plain wrong. He would tell me to “Tell Verl (my dad) that if the first one is in there... BUST IT! Same went for the 3-0 pitch. So ,I sent him back an email telling him that I will be there this year. I got this email back:
Dear Torrie,
I'm very happy to hear that you are going to attend the alumni game. I hope that you won't be too upset when I go for the first pitch.
Love,
Warner
My response:
Dear Warner, I’ll be OK with it... you can even swing away on 3-0.
Love, Torrie
77...still playing! AWESOME!!
“If the first one’s in there... bust it”
I got an email from an old friend tonight, inviting me to the Drew University Alumni Baseball Game this October. He has invited me for several years, but because of Dayna’s soccer schedule, I have never gotten there. This year, I told him I will be there. And I WILL be there. He will be 77 years old, Drew University Class of 1957! I met him when I worked for The Mennen Company about 26 years ago. We ate lunch together everyday. They had self serve frozen yogurt in the cafeteria and we had a running competition to see which of us could stack the frozen yogurt the highest. (As a result, they eventually added a scale and the frozen yogurt had to be paid by weight...yeah, we ruined it for everyone!! haha!) Almost every day we would talk about baseball. He had tried out for several major league teams following college, came close, but had never been signed. At this time, he was still hopeful...waiting for the call...or at least, joked about it a lot. He was in his 50s then. He must have come to Mennen after our softball league had disbanded, because he had never played with us. Mennen was the perennial champion of the DTP (Determined to Play) league...a co-ed league, where you had to have 2 token girls on the field. I was one of them. I played second base. At this time, my goal in life was to turn two. Usually in a DP situation, they would switch things around, bring an outfielder in and I’d go into the outfield, so they’d be sure to make the double play....until the short stop told them to leave me alone and let me do it... and I did, several times. He was awesome... I loved him! I was also allowed to hit, as opposed to the other girl that was often told to lean into the pitch, let it hit you, and take your base. (haha.... yeah, that really happened). But, you know, when a girl was up, they would bring the field in so shallow that it was actually insulting and I embarrassed several guys at least for my first time at bat until they knew that I actually was able to hit the ball. Couldn’t slide to save my life though and I do remember one mortifying moment where I was coming into third with everyone yelling "hit it, hit it!!" I did... the result... not pretty. Good times... anyway...
So, growing up, I played softball and my dad was a coach. I was taught to always take the first pitch. I was also taught to always take on 3-0. Warner tried for as long as we worked together,to convince me that that was just plain wrong. He would tell me to “Tell Verl (my dad) that if the first one is in there... BUST IT! Same went for the 3-0 pitch. So ,I sent him back an email telling him that I will be there this year. I got this email back:
Dear Torrie,
I'm very happy to hear that you are going to attend the alumni game. I hope that you won't be too upset when I go for the first pitch.
Love,
Warner
My response:
Dear Warner, I’ll be OK with it... you can even swing away on 3-0.
Love, Torrie
77...still playing! AWESOME!!