All Eyes on Jimmy

A Spec-Taters Tale

Chip Murphy, Julien Frye and Jimmy Grotten were walking home from school. It was Friday, and they had the whole weekend ahead of them.

“What do you guys want to do?” asked Julien.

“I heard there was going to be a pick-up baseball game at the city field,” said Chip.  “I think we should go over there and get in the game!”

“That sounds good to me,” said Julien. “I heard that Smash Brown is going to be there. It sure would be nice to get a chance to play against him again.”

“That’s right!” exclaimed Chip. He doesn’t know how much we’ve been practicing. I bet he’ll be surprised when he sees how much we’ve all improved since the season ended!”

“I don’t know,” said Jimmy. “I think I might just go home and study”. Jimmy really didn’t have that much homework, but he was worried. He had been practicing after school with his dad for weeks, working on his throwing, hitting and fielding. He just didn’t feel like he was getting any better.

“Oh come on Jimmy,” said Chip. “You’ve got all weekend to do your homework. Let’s drop our books off and play some ball!”

“Well…” said Jimmy.

“Listen,” said Chip. “I know you’re worried about the other kids making fun of you, but we’ll make sure they lay off”. Chip nodded at Julien as he said this.

“Yeah, and we’ll make sure you get picked this time,” said Julien. “You can play on our team.”

“You’ve been practicing a bunch,” continued Chip. “We all have. I don’t think you realize how much better you’ve gotten.”

“I don’t know guys,” Jimmy replied unhappily. “I just don’t have as much fun playing baseball as you do. I know I’ve been practicing, but I’m still not very good, and all the other kids will just tease me again.”

“Ah, forget about them. Remember what Coach Potato told us when we played pee-wee football?” asked Chip.

Jimmy looked at Chip quizzically. “You mean when he said I can get back at them in fifteen years when they’re working for me?”

“No!” laughed Chip. “When he said that you can’t be a winner if there isn’t a chance you’ll lose.”

Jimmy paused. He didn’t like it when other kids made fun of him, but he loved playing baseball. “OK,” he said. “Let’s play ball!”

“All right!” shouted Chip and Julien.

The boys ran into their houses, dropped off their books and changed. Five minutes later they met in the street and headed off to the city fields, which were near the center of their town, Tooberville.

“Let’s stop and get Candy on the way. She’ll want to play too!” said Chip. Candy was Candice Yam. She was an excellent soccer player, but she liked to play other sports as well and she was every bit as good as most of the boys that would be at the ball field.

When Chip, Julien and Jimmy turned the corner they saw Candy in her front yard, tossing a tennis ball against the wall of her house and catching it over and over.

“Hey guys!” she exclaimed. “What’s up?”

“We’re heading over to the city field,” said Chip. “Do you want to play?”

“Sure!” Candy tossed the tennis ball over to Julien and ran over to join them.

They all started off toward the field. As they got closer, Jimmy got more and more nervous. What if he messed up? What if he cost his team the game?  

  “Now Jimmy,” said Chip, sensing something was wrong, “You can do this.  Remember, we’re a team. You don’t have to win the game, just play like you’ve practiced  and you’ll do fine.”

“I… I guess so,” said Jimmy, still worried. Chip would never say it, but Jimmy knew that Chip would be disappointed if they lost because he chose Jimmy for his team instead of a better player.

When they got to the ball field, there were lots of kids there throwing, catching and running around. A big kid saw them coming and pointed at them, shouting, “Look everyone, Chip brought Candy and Rotten Grotten!” Some of the other kids laughed.

“Smash Brown, you keep quiet!” yelled Chip. “I’d take Candy before you any day of the week, and I have a feeling that Jimmy is going to have a great game today!”

Smash’s real name was Clarence, but only his parents and the teachers called him that. He was very good at sports, not so good at school, and generally a troublemaker.

“Yeah Smash, pipe down!” shouted Candy. “You’re the root of all evil!”

Some of the kids laughed. Not Smash.

“Whatever,” said Smash. “Let’s choose ‘em up Chip.” Smash and Chip usually chose sides because they were the two best players.

The two went back and forth picking kids. Chip chose Julien with his first pick and Candy with his second pick. Then Chip surprised everyone with his third pick by taking Jimmy.

“Are you kidding me?” laughed Smash. “You can have him!”

“That’s fine with me,” said Chip. “C’mon Jimmy!”

Jimmy walked over to Chip’s side and the two boys continued to pick until everyone was on a team.

Chip’s team took the field first. Julien played first base, Candy was at shortstop and Chip pitched. Jimmy took his usual place out in right field, hoping that no one hit the ball in his direction. The first couple of batters struck out. Chip was really throwing well!

The next one got a hit just over Candy’s head. Then Smash came up to the plate. Chip threw him a fastball, right over the plate. Smash rocketed it high into the air, straight at Jimmy!

Uh oh, thought Jimmy. He did his best to get under the ball, but it was going over his head. He reached out and had it in his glove for a second, but then his feet got tangled up and he tripped, knocking the ball out. It bounced away from him and rolled to the fence. By the time Jimmy got the ball and threw it to the infield, Smash had already gone around to score.

“Aww, Grotten!” yelled the players on his team. The other team started chanting “Rot-ten Grot-ten! Rot-ten Grot-ten!” Jimmy hung his head. His team was down 2-0 and it was all his fault!

After the next out, Chip, Julien and Candy tried to cheer Jimmy up. “Don’t worry about it,” said Chip. “We’ll get those runs back! You have to relax and play like you do when you practice.”

“Just keep your head in the game!” said Candy. “You never know when you’ll get another chance!”

But another chance is exactly what Jimmy didn’t want. Each time he got up to bat he struck out. The calls of “Rotten Grotten” kept getting louder, with Smash Brown being the loudest of all. The only good thing, thought Jimmy, was that no one hit another ball out to him in right field. It looked like he might escape without having to try to catch another ball.

In the bottom of the 5th inning the score was tied 4-4. If Jimmy’s team didn’t score they would have one more chance in the last inning. Smash was coming up in the top of the sixth, and every time he had batted he had gotten on base and scored! Jimmy’s team needed to score and break the tie. Candy led off with a double. The next two batters struck out. That meant Jimmy was up! He walked to the plate, dreading that the game was up to him.

Smash laughed as Jimmy dug in to the batters box. “Hey, it’s “Rotten Grotten” again! Easy out!”

Jimmy tried to block out all the laughter and teasing. He heard Julien yell “You can do it Jimmy!” and he heard the rest of his team cheering him on. He concentrated on the pitch as hard as he could. It came across the plate. Jimmy shut his eyes and swung with all his might - hard. So hard he that he spun around like a top and landed on his backside. He missed the ball completely! Once again the teasing started. All Jimmy could hear was “Rot-ten Grot-ten, Rot-ten Grot-ten”!

Jimmy got up and dusted himself off. He could do this! He had plenty of hits when he practiced with his dad. It just seemed so much harder in a real game.

“C’mon Jimmy,” Julian yelled. “Just like practice!”

Jimmy took a deep breath. Smash wound up and threw a fastball right over the plate. This time Jimmy kept his eyes open and tried to watch the ball hit his bat. He hit it! The ball sailed over the first baseman’s head and into right field. Jimmy couldn’t believe it!

  “Run Jimmy!” screamed Chip. Candy was rounding third and heading home.  Jimmy started running as fast as he could to first base. If he didn’t get there before the throw from the right fielder the run wouldn’t count! Jimmy’s foot hit first base just a second before the ball got there. He was safe! The run counted! They were winning!

“Great hit Jimmy!” yelled Candy. Smash glared at Jimmy, and Jimmy just smiled back at him.

“Lucky hit Grotten” mumbled Smash. Jimmy was surprised, because Smash ALWAYS called him “Rotten Grotten.” But this time he just said Grotten.

Chip was up next and he hit a hard ground ball to the shortstop. Jimmy wasn’t fast enough to get to second base before the ball got there. He was out!

“Don’t worry about it Jimmy,” said Chip as they took the field. “We’ve got the lead. All we need to do is keep them from scoring and we win!”

Chip was pitching great, and before anyone knew it there were two outs, both by strikeout. One more out and they would win!

Smash strode to the plate, looking very confident. Chip wound up and pitched a fastball. Smash swung and crushed the ball…right at Jimmy again! Jimmy started running backward, trying to get into position. The ball was hit well over his head. The only way Jimmy was going to have a chance to catch it was to dive! The ball came flying down and Jimmy dove for it, tumbling head over heels. When he finally came to a stop, Jimmy looked around for the ball. He couldn’t find it anywhere!

Then the whole team came running over. Jimmy couldn’t figure out what was going on, but then he looked into his glove. The ball was in it! He caught it! The game was over and they won!

Smash slammed his bat down and stormed off. Jimmy didn’t notice – he was too busy getting patted on the back by all of his teammates, each one of them saying “Great job!” and “Nice catch Jimmy!”

As they walked home, Jimmy kept replaying his hit and his catch over and over in his head.

“Bet you’re glad you decided to play today, aren’t you Jimmy?” asked Chip.

“Well,” said Jimmy, “I know I’ll never be as good as you, Julien or Candy, but today I was good enough!”

“You sure were Jimmy!” said Julien.

“I wonder,” said Jimmy, “If I might be good enough tomorrow too!”

Then Chip, Julien, Candy and Jimmy all laughed. “You might,” said Chip, “but there’s only one way to find out!”

“See you at the field tomorrow Jimmy?” asked Julien.

“I’ll be there!” exclaimed Jimmy. Then he ran inside to finish his homework so he could play again the next day.

Copyright 2008 by Richard D. Tierney III

All Rights Reserved