Banquet Day

With the round robin portion of the Canadian Little League Championships complete, it was time Thursday night for all of us to gather for dinner. It was a time to highlight some of the great plays, great players, and dedicated volunteers who have made the tournament such a success.

The evening was highlighted by special guest speaker, Hall of Famer Fergie Jenkins, the greatest Canadian to ever play baseball. I sat there totally captivated as he recanted some of his stories from his playing days. It was a brief look into the life of an athlete who came from small beginnings in Chatham, Ontario and rose to the top of his sportt. My one wish was that he could have had the floor all night. I love hearing these tidbits. Nobody can recall the details of their life the way a professional athlete can.

Of the stories he told, I couldn't help but laugh when someone asked how many batters he hit in his career and how many were intentional? He quickly replied "84 and everyone of them." For those not "in the know" in his playing days hitting a batter was a part of the game. It was a matter of protecting teammates for one reason or another. Another Hall of Famer, Bob Gibson, who was known to be one of the meanest pitchers of his era once said his three best pitches were, "the knockdown, the brushback, and the hit batsmen."

Some wonder why I love baseball so much because to the untrained eye it seems like such a slow moving game - Pitcher stands on mound. Pitcher throws ball. Batter swings. Batter misses. Or Batter Hits. Repeat Scenario 200 times in 3 hrs. To those that know the game though, it is so much more than this. There is so much that happens that you don't see. And it's the stories that Fergie Jenkins told last night, that so wonderfully illustrate this.