Baseball has always provided me with a sense of comfort. No matter if you win or lose, there is always tomorrow. At the end of the year, there’s always the promise of next year. When a playing career is finished, there is always coaching. And after viewing baseball fields from an airplane window with their beautiful diamond arranged on a field of green, I am convinced that after I die, I’ll be watching games alongside the angels.
How fitting that baseball also granted my 7-year-old son Ben’s pitchball team with one final chance to end the season with a win. One more chance to taste victory. One more chance at comfort. The “Consolation Championship.” Don’t ask, because it takes a while to explain, but our 2-9 team had one more chance at victory. It did not really matter that we were playing for 11th Place out of 15 teams, we had a chance to end the year on a high note.
Ben continued his recent streak of solid hitting. My 9-year-old son Sam continued to keep the younger kids in order, as my Bench Coach, just as he has so faithfully done all year. My 12-year-old son Jacob was available to serve as Third Base Coach. I operated the temperamental pitch machine. All four of us were on the field. A man and his boys all at play. I was a lucky man. Somewhere an angel looked down and smiled.
The game was fitting for a championship. Down to the last half inning, the winning run on third. A little dribbler toward the pitcher. The runner bolted toward home. A throw. A slide. A foot crossing home. Our team had won! A victory that the boys could savor all off-season.
I was however the real winner. For one sunny afternoon, I was given a chance to celebrate my boys. Play a game we all love. End as victors. All of us had played a role. All of us were happy. I was indeed a winner. Consolation Game or not, we were champions. A family that was given a precious moment to bask in the warm summer sun.
A man with his greatest blessings, his precious boys, at the third base bag where the daring sprint home began. May sunshine find you as well and surround you with blessings so great that your soul cannot help but smile.