Life of Wry

Notable deja vu text of the day: “I can’t, I have practice,” said Peter, when I suggested we have a phone conversation this early evening.

Practice refers to baseball; the team is the UCSD club baseball team.

Now, this baseball thing has been an interesting road. Let me go back….

When Peter ended his Davis baseball career last June, the question of whether he’d play again (competitively) was an open one. At times, he seemed eager to play again, and at other times he seemed more inclined to prioritize his studies. One thing was clear, he wanted no input from us.

For most of the summer, he was expecting to attend UC Santa Cruz. He and Solly talked about playing club together, we presume, but nothing was certain. When he found out he’d gotten into UCSD, the conversations–again, we presume–continued, but this time with Ray.

When it was time to pack, he opted not to take any baseball paraphernalia. He got a bit testy when I suggested he take stuff just in case. He acquiesced to taking a glove, but made what was clearly an important distinction: he would not pack it together with his other belongings… it had to sit, uncommitted, on the back seat.

We didn’t say anything.

When it came time to unload the car, the glove stayed behind, and remained in the car for the next four days.

We didn’t say anything.

It wasn’t until the last moments before Jim and I were heading back to Davis, that, in a sudden spontaneous move, Peter leaned into the car and swiped his glove off the backseat.

Jim and I looked at each other with raised eyebrows, but didn’t say anything.

For the next couple weeks, no mention was made of club ball, but Peter did say that he and Ray were playing some catch here and there.  A couple weeks ago, we learned that Peter and Ray were participating in a surprisingly lengthy (1-2 weeks) tryout. A couple days after these tryouts started, Peter asked us to send a box of baseball clothes. A few days after that, he needed medical information for some insurance forms. We learned that the final stage of the tryouts was to pitch in a game weekend before last, which he did, and apparently did well enough to make the cut. He mentioned this pretty nonchalantly. This past weekend, he traveled with the team to Las Vegas for a big tournament. The Tritons won their first three games. Ray pitched and won a complete game! Peter started in the fourth and final game, the championship game and went 5 1/3 innings. They lost that game, and he said he didn’t pitch his best, but it was a lot of fun. We are visiting him this coming weekend and we learned tonight that there may be a home game against USC. He said he’s enjoying playing on the team and likes the guys.

Can you believe that paragraph ^^ ?  Wow!

Now, I love baseball. I love Peter playing baseball and I love to watch him play. But I was also totally fine with him not playing in college. I thought it would be wonderful for him to have a community of friends, especially a bunch of baseball guys, especially in a nerdy, sciency place like UCSD, and have a ready way to keep active and fit… but I was also okay if he was done with baseball. It was totally up to him.

Duh. He’s a college guy now. An adult college guy who is ready to make his own decision.

But hey! He decided on baseball. At least for the fall season. I’m thrilled for him and I just hope it’s worthwhile and full of friends. He should do it–if he wants–as long as it’s fun.

Here’s a pic… a screen shot of the UCSD Club Baseball Facebook page… as much as I could get in a single screen shot. There’s a bit of a write-up of last week’s double header against the University of San Diego Toreros. Peter’s name is mentioned a couple times:

How about that!!