Posted on 03/31/2012 3:58:55 AM PDT by Kaslin
The urchins were startled. "Hey, let's go outside and play some baseball," I said.
Outside? Are you kidding me? Inside, the two 8-year-old boys have an Xbox, iPads and personal computers at the ready. Outside?
So I dragged them down to the ball field.
"I need a helmet," one wailed. "Where're the helmets?"
"And what about a heart-guard?" the other one said. "Mom says I have to get a heart-guard before I can play."
"We're just going to practice," I replied. "No danger. Let's just throw the ball around and hit a few."
The boys looked confused.
"But we need helmets!"
The year was 1957, and two Central Nassau little league teams were on the field. There were no helmets. No heart-guards. Just a dusty field with dirty bases and a coach who sat on a splintered bench drinking beer.
I was 7 years old. Billy Weir was on the mound. I was at the plate. He threw; I swung the bat. The ball rocketed into left field. My first hit ever. I'll never forget it.
"OK, I'll hit you guys some grounders, and you throw the ball home. Got it?"
The boys looked even more confused.
"What happens if the ball hits me?" the smarter one asked.
"Pain," I said. "But that's why you have a glove. You catch the ball in the glove, and that protects you."
I hit a slow grounder to the slower boy. He stood like a statue as the ball rolled through his legs.
"What was that?" I asked.
"It was too low," he replied. "It has to be higher."
"You're supposed to bend down and catch the ball, " I said gently. "That's how you get guys out. You catch the ball and throw it to first."
The kid looked bored. The kid was bored. There were no electronic zombies to kill. There were no gadgets in sight.
"OK, let's do some hitting," I said, attempting to refocus the boys.
"I only use aluminum bats," one of them said. "Mom says wood bats are too dangerous."
Luckily, I had the aluminum model.
"It's too heavy," the kid wailed.
"Choke up, move your hands up the handle of the bat."
I threw the urchins some soft tosses, and they began to hit the ball. On contact, the bat made a loud noise, which they liked. Reminded them of the noises that feed their gaming addiction.
"OK, now we're going to run the bases."
"Why?" they said in unison.
"Because after you hit the ball, you run from base to base. That's how you score runs."
"My mom doesn't want me to get dirty."
How about I bury you under the pitcher's mound?"
The kids ran to first. But they began to tire after reaching second. They both stopped and just stood there looking at me.
I looked back.
"How long are we going to do this?" the smarter one said. "I need a helmet if we're gonna keep playing."
A little ‘morality play’ - particularly poignant for Preppers....
I wonder if people realize how accurate this is for baseball today? And how accurate the ‘safety first’ issue has become? I happen to be a big fan of lacrosse and in many places lacrosse is starting to take over for baseball as the sport the kids are wanting to play. Even five years ago the thought of kids walking around with lacrosse sticks outside of maybe Maryland, upstate NY and Long Island was pretty small. Now where I am in Florida you are seeing it more and more and you don’t see ANY kids carrying a baseball glove.
It really is amazing to see ‘America’s Past Time’ start to lose out among the younger kids. One benefit to this is that in lacrosse the kids are running a lot more than they do in baseball. I’m more concerned with the article’s focus on kids not wanting to get dirty or exposed to some pain than the desire to play the games indoors.
Our kids have sort of split between being athletic and being indoor gamers. This really hasn’t changed from the past. There were plenty of kids who played sports in my day and plenty who didn’t because they didn’t like sports, and therefore weren’t in shape in the 60’s and 70’s when I grew up. What’s different today is that the gamers seem to be more obese and stick out today, while the athletes of today are FAR more in shape and stick out that way. In my days the gap was much less pronounced.
My son is a good example. He likes the games but is very health focused, not because I drove him that way but because he wanted to be that way. He has a gym membership and uses it 3-4 days a week, plays high school volleyball and bowls on the team, plays basketball outdoors a few times a week, eats a heck of a good diet for a 17-year old, etc.
If only he focused on his grades so much . . .
I’m shocked that the byline is non other than BOR....
I wonder who he watched do this liitle human drama because he would never....
"My mom doesn't want me to get dirty."Oh boy. IMO that's the whole problem today and why kids are so sickly. They're never exposed to any g-e-r-m-s.
When I was the age in BO's story we got 'dirty', real dirty. But that's because we left the house at the crack of dawn to 'play outside' and didn't come home until the street lights were on. Except to maybe get some necessity like a ball, bat, and glove. Or our cap gun, marbles, or a Pea Shooter! (Oh Noes!!!) and then it was scoot -- right out the door. See ya later mom.
I'm series we played only in dirt, like the 'sand hills' (great for War). After a day of that we looked like we worked in a coal mine. But oddly none of us ever got real sick. Maybe due to those germs and 'toxic metals' (Lead) we were exposed to in those 'Sand Hills' -- a Foundry dumping ground!! (We also played on the Train Tracks and the embankment and none of us died)
And even when we did play in the grass at a park we still found some dirt. Had to have dirt, can't really 'play' without it.
You really have to feel sorry for today’s children
If this is “evolution” I want no part of it.
I spent many an hour digging emplacements for army men and then throwing dirt bombs at them. Dirt is good for you. No a/c keeps you outside, too.
My kids box and wrestle. Much more valuable life skills. baseball is a waste of time.
I actually do. I look at our grandchildren and shake my head. Natch, I have to keep my yap shut.
But at least our Granddaughter, the oldest, is in the Girl Scouts now and does get outside on camping trips, even in 'colder' weather so that's good (Very conservative Troop leader, no femi-nazi bs). But our oldest Grandson's only exercise is Twaikondo class, him I worry about. IMO he's too 'big'.
(Our 3rd is still too young to 'really' worry about, he has to stay inside except for playing in their fairly big, Gated, backyard)
... and when you came home at dusk, dirty and even a little bloody from dumpin' your bike or something, it was, "Wash your hands and come to eat"
If there WAS any questioning it was like,
Where were you?
Out
With who?
Bobby
I don't ever remember getting grilled until I discovered girls around 14 or 15 .... THEN the questions were a little more directed and difficult to answer .... honestly.
Great Post!!
And when they do play a real sport it is rarely a pick up game - helicopter parents/coaches are there to the point that the boys aren’t learning about the healthy jockeying/squabbling to see who is in charge/ fine tuning the rules/ etc. These are important life skills and when the adults are hovering they don’t get a chance to work it out among themselves.
And you're right about A/C, the house was too hot even with fans blowing and all the blinds and shades drawn. Outside was a bit cooler. Or it just seemed that way ;-)
On real hot days we'd play with the Tar Bubbles from the street patching, even get a glob and chew on it (Good for the teeth, or so we were told). And we'd also wait for the Milkman to get free chunks of Ice to chew or suck on. (Think that was when I got my 1st 'Brain Freeze' - wow!)
I spent many an hour digging emplacements for army men and then throwing dirt bombs at them. Dirt is good for you. No a/c keeps you outside, too
I used to have a lead solder mold with three different solders in different positions I would melt down lead which my dad got from the shipyard he worked at and made many an army with it all this was done outside with a real fire and lead pot over twigs and sticks or scrap lumber. would paint them different colors and like you bomb them with dirt bombs when us kids werent throwing dirt bombs at each other lol.
I didn’t do the tar balls but I drove my bike behind the mosquito truck. (That probably explains a lot)
Even though my girls do have DSs and computers, etc, they really do still prefer to be outside. We have a soccer net and a volleyball net and a trampoline, and they ride their bikes around the neighborhood. But my husband is a sports addict and has always coached whichever sport they are playing at the time. It’s been this way since T-Ball. I know a lot of kids do nothing, and I’m not sure if it’s maybe the military community thing (since we always seem to be on the move), but our entire community is the same way.
Are you familiar with what the girl scouts have become and what their agenda is?
I really don't see that. What I do see, however, is the inability of kids today to play baseball outside of "organized ball". What I mean by that is, the neighborhood kids don't hop on their bikes and ride to the playground to play pick-up ball amongst themselves all day long. Or two kids playing fast pitch against the school wall.....Or flies and grounders.....
I'm over 55 now and I live for softball as do a whole bunch of other "seniors". Weather permitting, we're playing 4 mornings a week with anywhere between 20 or 35 guys showing up and picking up teams. If there are 28 or more guys, we choose 3 teams and keep rotating - bat, field, sit......
Here in S.E. Michigan, we've been playing steady for the past several weeks now and some of us were even at the field a couple times in January and February for batting practice......
In hindsight I think we all really were a live version of a Rockwell painting 'back then'. The 'good old days', really were 'the good old days'.
Back then nobody 'had a lawyer' and no ones parents called the cops when you got in a fight. And unless you were bleeding really bad, scrapes & scratches were 'treated' with any 'clean water' we could find.
And girls. Oh man, when we all of a sudden 'discovered' them did things change, like light speed. One day thinking they were icky and had cooties, to wow she's really cute.
Back in Carteret, NJ we used to go to the “Blue Mountains”. This was some sort of toxic waste dump where the ground was a blue clay (cadmium?). It was next to the dump so we hunted seagulls with our bows. We also had to watch out for the “wild dogs”. It was an all day affair with a 5 mile walk each way. All illegal (bows and trespassing). Nobody got hurt. We were kids. That’s what we did.
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