Baseball Smunch

I've been more than a little remiss in posting photos of Smunch playing baseball. After all, he's played lots of baseball already this season, even though he's only had three games. And all those games have been for his recreational team, the Giants. But he's also been practicing with the "club team", the Thunder...the one he tried out for a couple of months ago. Tomorrow is their first game and I can't wait to see it!When it comes to my kid playing baseball, I'm not über competitive. He really wanted to try out for the club team. Although it's another time sink in the week, I'm really glad he made the Thunder.

The Giants team is a bunch of 2nd and 3rd grade boys from his elementary school. That's always fun. There's only one other kid on the Thunder from his school. But the big difference is really in the experience and enthusiasm of the boys. The Giants' kids run the gammut. There are several who have never played baseball before. Some of them are catching on quickly. Some? Not so much. Some have been playing for the last 3 years, like Smunch has. But even among them, there are some huge differences. You can tell which ones really hate baseball, but their parents think they should play. And you can tell which ones are potentially losing interest. You can also tell which ones...well...baseball's just not gonna be their game.And then there's Smunch. I'm not sure any of his Giants teammates are quite like him. He may not have quite as many skills as some of his teammates on the Thunder, but holy cow is he starting to stand out among his Giants teammates. It's not that he always catches the ball or hits tremendous fly balls to the outfield. He doesn't do either of those, but the difference, at least today, is that he really, really cares. When his teammates watch the ball roll by them, he's sprinting to get it and to tag a runner out.He doesn't just get it, he really wants to play. I'm so glad he's got a team of boys to play with who are more like him in that respect. He doesn't stand out in the least on the club team...except that he's #1...which really only serves to indicate that he's the shortest kid on the team, although perhaps he's #1 in enthusiasm too!