Last week, I was standing in the outfield at a local
baseball field. It was getting late in
the game, and the teams were battling back and forth all night.
All night I had been playing center field and didn’t see
much action. I had caught a fly ball and
fielded a couple of grounders, but nothing too difficult. By the way, I play at night, with the heat,
the humidity and the resulting haze, it’s tough to see the ball. And that’s not even counting the low light
towers at the field.
With the game close and a runner at third base, I imagined
myself catching a fly ball and then gunning the runner out at home while trying
to score. It’s a fairly routine play you
see on TV.
(Of course, in reality, I would have hit the cutoff man
because my left shoulder burns intensely with pain whenever I throw hard. That won’t stop me from playing however.)
With the very next pitch, I hear the crack of the bat and I
see the ball immediately. It’s headed
right for me! Just like I had imagined a
moment ago.
I see the ball.
I’m lined up perfectly.
This is going to be an easy catch.
I start a few steps forward to get my momentum forward.
I reach out with my glove.
This is going to be perfect.
Runner is tagging…waiting…
The ball comes in…and hits off the end of my glove and drops
to the ground.
NO!!!!!!
@#$%^&*()!!!!!
I COULDN'T BELIEVE IT!!!!
That’s not the way it’s supposed to happen!
The first rule of playing outfield is to catch the ball!
This isn’t the first time in history when things haven’t
gone according to plan. While this was a
baseball game, I know there have been plenty of times when this has happened in
the past dealing with money and life in general.
Luckily, we ended up winning the game. I scored the tying run from first base thanks
to a double late in the game and he scored later for the win.
This is why we have contingency plans, backups, and
insurance. Because there is always the perfect plan…until it wasn't.
