Two years ago, in 2008, I began to realize that the ballplayers that I looked up to are people too. I live within fifteen minutes of a minor league ballpark and being one that loves baseball, I went to a lot of games. My friend's family hosted a player; which means he pretty much lived at their house when the team was home. A kid who lives up the street from my friend was considering having his family host a player in the next season. One day, he asked a couple of players who he had become friendly with to come over to his house for dinner. I was astonished when they accepted and thought about how neat it was that this was even possible.
That August, I went up to Cape Cod and stayed in a large house in Orleans like my family does every summer. I had been following the Orleans Cardinals (at the time) throughout the entire summer and was so excited to finally get to a game. My family sat on the stage in right field at Eldredge Park; and before my first game of the summer I was getting one of the players to sign my 2008 Orleans Cardinals Yearbook. Because he was a returning player from the previous season, I began asking him questions and talking to him about the players I looked up to from the 2007 team. I was shocked at how willing he was to talk to a fourteen year old kid.
That night, I began thinking about the way that the kid who lives up the street from my friend had ballplayers over for dinner. I asked my grandpa if I could do this, and being the selfless person that he is he told me to invite the whole team. I got the 'okay' from my parents and decided to ask a player to come to pizza with me and my grandpa.
That night after the Cardinals' game I went up to the player and told him my name and began talking a little bit more. Then, I asked if he would come to pizza with my grandpa and I. He then wrote his phone number and email address down in my yearbook. He said we could figure out a date and time to make it work. Also, we both agreed that Orleans Villa Pizza had the best pizza in town so we would eat there. I was thrilled and a bit nervous at the same time. I became the center of attention around my big family. My three sisters and six cousins all wanted to come join us.
Pizza day came and my grandpa, my sister Emily, my cousin Maria, and I filed into one of the booths at Orleans Villa Pizza. The only problem was that I lost my voice from screaming at the previous Cardinals' game. My grandpa ordered a large plain pie and a large pepperoni pie. We waited for about ten minutes until the player showed up. He introduced himself to my grandpa, my sister, and my cousin and then we ate the pizza.
My grandpa started most of the conversations due to my inability to speak. He told us all about his background, high school career, and his long road to becoming the ballplayer he is today. He also talked about the Cardinals and his college team for a little bit, too. He was very grateful that I came up with the idea and thankful toward my grandpa who helped make it all possible.
A couple of days later, I left the Cape. I was saddened that I had to leave before the last game of the season, but was happy knowing that I had become friends with a ballplayer.
Throughout the next eleven months, I stayed in touch with him via text messaging. I learned that he was a Christian and a pretty clean person all in all. I turned to him for advice that helped me get through my freshman year of high school. He also told me that if I ever had any questions regarding my religious faith that I could ask him.
The 2009 season came around and he had been invited back to Orleans for another season. This time, he would be playing for the newly named Firebirds. I had very high expectations for the summer, for the team, and for myself. I started a blog and a Twitter page to become more connected to the team.
August of 2009 rolled around and I had not talked to him in about three weeks or so. I had grown out my hair and looked very different from the summer of 2008 (when I had a Mohawk and was four inches shorter).
I showed up at the field with my cousins Matt and Bobby three hours before the game. The Firebirds were taking batting practice so we looked around to find him and go on the field. He was standing in center field and was about thirty feet from another player. A single up the middle was hit his way and rolled under his glove and to the outfield fence. "Nice Catch!" I screamed sarcastically. He turned around and looked at me for a couple seconds, then turned around. Then, he looked at me again and seemed confused. My two younger cousins and I walked out on the field toward him. Then, it was as if a light had gone off in his head and he recognized me.
We scheduled pizza for the same day that Orleans was to host Chatham. This time, all of my sisters and four of my cousins came to pizza along with my dad, grandpa, and uncle. We set up three tables and twelve chairs that spread across Orleans Villa Pizza.
When the ballplayer came in, he filled my dad and uncle in on his background and everything was a lot more casual than last time. The adults and the ballplayer then broke off into a long conversation that could have been about politics, religion, ethics, or all of the above. I chimed in every so often, but mainly stayed out of it. He also told me a couple of funny stories that happened when he was out fishing with a few other players.
After pizza, he told me to come over to his car with him. He opened the trunk of his car and pulled out a Barnstable Bat and handed it to me. On the bat it read "Shane, thanks for being a good friend!"
Later on that week, my sister Emily came up with an idea. The ballplayer's birthday was coming up soon. She took one of the old Cape League balls we had sitting at our home and wrote "18 Days Until Your Birthday!" on it. The signatures of "Shane, Emily, Hope, Melanie, Maria, Ana, Matt, and Bobby" covered the other blank spots on the ball. It still sits in his room at his home today. For the first time, I felt like my sisters and cousins were joining into the friendship, and it felt pretty cool. Then, my cousin Matt got a bat from him at the end of the summer. This was almost like the player was welcoming Matt into the friendship. The friendship was no longer between two people, but was now between nine people.
The player will not be in Orleans this summer, but we are still in contact via text message, email, and Facebook. I shared my first version of the story with him and he liked it a lot. At 3:58am I received a long text message. He told me to add in the story about the 'Birthday Baseball' and how he still has it in his room. I've been writing about how my friendship with a Cape Leaguer has impacted me, but not about how it has impacted him. At the end of the text message he said that he gets a lot out of our friendship, too. It is cool to see how much of an impact a Cape Leaguer can have in the lives of kids; and how much of an impact those kids can have on his life, too.
