This One is Different

Excerpt from my manuscript, “Between the Lines: A Father, A Son, and America’s Pastime” There’s no feeling in baseball, maybe not in any sport, like the feeling of hitting a home run. As an oversized kid playing on an undersized Little League field I was lucky to learn that at a young age. No matter […]

Spring Training

It is a good practice. Just Sam and me. I hit fly balls to him in the outfield, because he needs to practice catching and slamming into the wall like New York Yankees centerfielder Johnny Damon. Evidently, slamming into the wall is necessary even on ground balls that don’t make it to the wall. We […]

The Best Game Ever

No, not game 6. The best game ever was played when I was eight years old on Doc Branson’s lot across the street from the house I grew up in. Excerpt from my manuscript, “Between the Lines: A Father, A Son and America’s Pastime.” Baseball is cool. It’s way cool, in fact. As a young […]

Just Being a Kid

Excerpt from my manuscript, “Between the Lines: A Father, A Son, and America’s Pastime” I sit in the living room and watch some big, dark clouds blow in over the trees. I keep checking the clock, as if somehow that would speed things up so game time would arrive before the rain. It’s supposed to […]

Now It’s Over

“It’s over,” my mother says in the early innings of so many Cubs games. Frustrated, she changes the channel. Those words were uttered by baseball fans across the country in the past few months as their teams were eliminated from the playoff race. (Unfortunately for mom, much sooner than most). In the coming weeks the […]

The Third Sunday in June

As a child, I didn’t know the date of Father’s Day. I knew my friend Bob couldn’t come out and play because his family celebrated with his dad. I’d walk past his house anyway, hoping he would see me. When he didn’t come out I would hang out in the tree house; or ride my […]

Moms

Joe Shrode is a father, and a 19-year youth baseball coach. He is the author of “Between the Lines: A Father, A Son, and America’s Pastime.” BTL goes beyond balls an strikes, hits and outs, and wins and losses. It’s about relationships. To see excerpts, visit www.btlfatherson.blogspot.com.             There is no game tonight, so Sam […]

One More Opening Day

Joe Shrode is a father, and a 19-year youth baseball coach. He is the author of “Between the Lines: A Father, A Son, and America’s Pastime.” BTL goes beyond balls and strikes, hits and outs, and wins and losses. It’s about relationships. To see excerpts, visit www.btlfatherson.blogspot.com. One recent Saturday morning, I took the field […]