My First Love

Well...As I was thinking about a topic to blog about, I thought of telling y'all about my first love in life. It came into my life at a very young age, I was 4 years old. It started as a social event called Tee ball but has evolved into a passion for the sport of baseball. Baseball is the first thing I can ever remember loving. And I loved it a lot! I began playing in what was then called East Madera Babe Ruth - EMBR -(However they have renamed it to Liberty Ranchos Babe Ruth). All of this took place at a school out by my house called Webster Elementary. I can remember after my own games watching my brother's games and running back and forth between the field and the snack bar. My career began on the Tee Ball field where I played for the Giants. Now this was a problem because I was a Dodger at heart and vehemently disliked the Giants. After moving on from Tee Ball I played at the Minors level where I enjoyed time on both the White Sox and the Red Sox. Once completing my time on that field I moved up to the Majors level where I was on the Athletics and then finally my dream came true and I was on the Dodgers for my last year in the Majors. But of course all dreams must come to an end and I was drafted by the Giants again, my career began and ended with the Giants. However this was not the end of my career as a baseball player, I continued on into high school where I played at Fresno Christian for four years. This is my sophomore year. But back when I was still hanging around Webster Elementary I received a job umpiring for the Minors and Majors divisions, and it was during that time that I learned that parents of little leaguers are a very nasty bunch and not one that I liked to be around as they took pleasure from harassing a 15 year old umpire doing the best they can but when little Johnny looks at 4 strikes in a row I must call him out (I often let one go if I felt like the kid was struggling). Also during my time around EMBR I enjoyed playing many hours of Butts Up and working in the snack bar. A map courtesy of Google Earth of Webster.My summers were spent on a baseball field. After baseball was over in May, All-Stars would start. Our East Madera All Star team would travel all over the San Joaquin Valley playing in baseball tournaments that would often include a game on a Thursday or Friday night, anywhere from 2-5 games on Saturday and then the Championship game on Sunday if we were fortunate enough to make it which we often were. This was one of my All-Star teams. Weekdays were filled with hours of practice at the field and then swimming at friends houses.
I apologize for the poor quality of the photos however they were all scanned onto my computer.

This is my freshmen year at FC. I never actually used batting gloves but borrowed someone else's just for the picture.
This was my senior year, my brother Casey, my coach, and of course myself #44.