A high school game my senior year we’re playing in a tornado watch with extremely high winds. Our field was down in a bowl so it only really affected fly balls. Second inning our 140 pound 2B takes one out to dead center (over 400 feet). 5th inning I’m pitching and a semi-truck traveling on the road up on top of the hill gets caught by a gust of wind and rolls down the hill onto the JV field.
A couple funny college stories:
My junior year I was pretty solid, getting some looks from the Reds and Pirates. When that didn’t happen and I was going into my senior year knowing I was past draft age with a medical redshirt under my belt, I would tie one on the night before games on occassion…ok, regularly. We’re playing the defending conference champs the next day so I decide to take it easy and get to bed early. I get to the park, go down the pen and proceed to use every part of that bullpen, from the backstop to the dugout. I’m all over the place and mess. I walk back to the dugout thinking I’m in for a long afternoon. Just then it freakin downpours, I mean wash away grandma’s house downpour. As soon as our equipment is packed I am running for my room and start pounding. I wake up the next day, pop 4 advil, another 2 in dugout before I take the mound and proceed to beat them on a 6 hit complete game with 10 K. Taught me a lesson, never break your routine.
Two starts later its senior day and I’m starting against some crap team we bring in to cream so the seniors go out on a high note. I have nothing, I’m pitching on 3 days rest for the 5th straight start (thanks coach). I’m struggling, sweating, stomping around the mound, working my ass off to a 5-3 win. The best part is about the 4th inning this kid hits a liner back off my inner thigh, not a glancing blow that richocets to the 3rd baseman, this thing hit and dropped right at my feet. I’m already pissed and working my ass off and with my parents, my grandparents, my aunt and uncle, my girlfriend and half of her freakin family in the stands I yell “MOTHERF-R!!” and throw the guy out. Grandma didn’t say a word to me at dinner that night.
Last one, my freshman year of college we are going down to St. Louis for our annual trip to play Greenville and McKendree and there is a frat party that the whole team goes to the night before. Bus leaves at 4 am and we have ALL been up all night. We’re stumbling onto the bus reeking of booze, all doing our best to avoid eye contact with coach sitting in the front seat sipping his coffee. I hurry past and sleep in the aisle in the back. Our senior pitcher who is starting game 1 decides to take the seat right behind coach, sits down, kicks back and puts his feet up, only to kick coach in the back of the head. LOL. Coach didn’t say a word. We get to the park and we all head out to the OF to get some running in and at the first pole our senior catcher who turned down a wrestling scholarship to Iowa stops all of us and says if we don’t win all 4 games he’s going to kick all our asses. We swept all 4 and coach never said a word about anything. I don’t even want to know what would have happened if we had dropped a couple down there.