Baseball is....

"Baseball is ninety percent mental, the other half is physical."

-Yogi Berra

Sammy is in high school now, and is playing spring baseball. Unfortunately, at Catlin Gabel baseball is not the all American past time that it is most everywhere else. Baseball actually does not have a great reputation at Catlin and the boys that play sports prefer to play tennis or golf or another sport off campus like LaCrosse (crazy private school). But Sammy's passion for baseball will not be squashed by a team that rarely wins or a few chuckles from other kids. Well, truthfully, he did consider playing tennis with Joey, but the baseball coach and I put a stop to those thoughts.

The guy on the left is Sammy's coach, Chris. He has taken Sammy under his wing and is prepping Sammy to be a pitcher next year. On the right is the assistant coach, Peter.

Sammy did pitch one inning last game, but he usually plays first or third base.

He gets a lot of action and usually makes the play.

Something tells me he knew I was taking his picture....

Looks like a strike to me. Sammy did get a couple hits this game and made the only run, so that was awesome. They lost 1-4. This was an away game in Vernonia, about 45 minutes from Portland. Interestingly enough, we have spent a bit of time in Vernonia as Sammy has attended a basketball camp out there and we have driven out for Catlin basketball games. Vernonia's Little League team was the team that beat Sammy's team last summer and knocked them out of the state tournament.

He does make it home.

A little pep talk between innings

"I never blame myself when I'm not hitting. I just blame the bat and if it keeps up, I change bats. After all, if I know it isn't my fault that I'm not hitting, how can I get mad at myself?"

-Yogi Berra

"When you come to a fork in the road, take it."

Gotta love Yogi Berra.