The Pennant Ballet

The should-be shortstop strode to the plate while hope swirled through a screaming stadium, the home team down by a run in one of the most important games of the year. It was a perfect August Wednesday evening, cool enough to be pleasant, warm enough to know it was still summer, even if the baseball on the field felt like October. Forty-one thousand people rose to their feet, their screams echoing off the river into the night sky. A ball. A strike. A ball, a ball, a ball. Richie was on base.

The game was supposed to have been a pitchers' duel with two of the top pitchers in the league starting the game, but things were ugly from the very beginning. The man whom the manager refused to bench was playing short, and his errant throw on the very first play of the game permitted the Pest to reach first. It was ruled an infield hit, but a better shortstop, which includes nearly every shortstop in the Majors and many in the Minors, too, would have thrown the Pest out. One on.

The second batter singled, and the enemy had two runners on with no one out as the future greatest-hitter-who-ever-played came up to the plate. The powerful pitcher, though, had no fear, and he induced a weak groundball out of this prince of hitting. Alas, the slippery-handed shortstop booted the ball, and the bases were loaded for a fading slugger who was struggling to come to terms with the end of his career. When he swung the bat on a pitch that was up, he seemed to regain the talent of his youth, and the ball found its way to the outfield seats for a grand slam. Home team down 4-0.

Fast forward to the ninth inning. The mighty catcher, who had only recently in his career become mighty, found himself in a position to be a hero. The stadium shook with the energy of an earthquake as the once fearsome closer stared down at the signs and threw. The catcher fouled off the first pitch as the radio announcer mentioned the last time he hit a home run. And then, the impossible happened. The once fearsome closer released the ball. A bat began its motion, a graceful arc cutting through the night, and the lumber and the leather danced together in the pennant ballet. The bat bowed out and let the leather sphere perform its solo, a majestic dance through the stars under the incandescent glow of the stadium lights. When the dance was over, the crowd erupted into ecstatic applause, for they had just witnessed one of the most dazzling dramatic performances of their lives. Fireworks exploded in celebration as the mighty catcher rounded the bases, throwing up his helmet in victory as he met the cast of characters before the curtains closed.