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I was 9 years old in the summer

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of 1966,

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and

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I was playing baseball at the local

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vacant lot with some of the neighborhood kids

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like we did every day during the summer.

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You would find us there.

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I was playing catcher.

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And back

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then, the catcher did not squat right behind

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the batter because we didn't have equipment.

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We stood maybe 10 to 15 feet behind

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the batter to be able to catch any

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errant throws,

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get foul tips before they got by us

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because in this vacant lot that I played

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in, where I was standing, I was right

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at the edge of a gentle slope that

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ran downhill towards a busy two lane road.

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And one of my main jobs was to

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prevent the ball from getting by me and

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onto that road because then if that was

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the case, that road also sloped and we'd

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be chasing it a while. And we usually

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only had 1 baseball, so

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the catcher had an important role to play

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in our pickup games.

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Well, it just so happened that the batter

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hit a foul pop up,

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which was a real rarity

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in

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pickup baseball. But also possible because our pitchers

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didn't lob the ball in. They threw it

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with with some velocity.

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Maybe not the velocity of our organized leagues,

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but kind of a cross between batting practice

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and live pitching.

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So I don't know who it was, but

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he hit a foul pop up and it

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was right over my head. And I was

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excited about the fact that I actually had

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a chance to catch a foul pop up.

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The thing was though, it was right behind

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me, so I had to run down the

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slope tracking the ball at the same time.

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And when I stopped underneath it and caught

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it, the very next thing I did was

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step on a nail

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to the degree that I saw it protruding

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through the top of my foot.

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Hello. My name is Byron Copely, and this

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is All About Baseball, the podcast whose name

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fulfills its purpose. Sometimes baseball is the main

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character. Sometimes

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it plays a supporting role. Sometimes

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it's the silent partner.

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In this podcast, in which I'm calling baseball,

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is all about our DNA.

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I'm not gonna wax nostalgic about those days

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of playing pickup baseball, or talk about the

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fact that

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it's something that

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isn't done anymore. In fact, I don't remember

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my own kids doing it.

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I think it was a pursuit that was

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exclusive,

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based on my observation,

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to kids born from maybe,

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well, from I don't know how early they

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started playing, but I know anyone born after

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1975

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wasn't playing baseball in the street or in

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vacant lots.

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Maybe I'll have another podcast about that to

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talk about

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how those kids may have missed out on

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an experience

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that I think benefited me in more ways

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than I can imagine.

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It definitely made me a better baseball player,

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that's for sure.

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I was able to hone my skills

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without any kind of pressure or stakes

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with kids that were as good as or

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better than me, some of them 5, 6,

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7, 8 years older,

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who in an earlier podcast I mentioned didn't

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give me or any of us any quarter

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in terms of

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the competition. They set the level of competition

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that we had to try to achieve. And

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as I got older and improved, I think

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I improved because of the fact that I

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played in those games against kids that were

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much older than me. We all learned the

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value of fair play. Cheating was not an

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option. Anyone who tried to, and there really

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weren't very many ways you could cheat playing

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pickup baseball, but anyone who tried to gain

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a competitive edge

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in a way that we felt was outside

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the boundaries of our written and unwritten rules,

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we let them know about it. I really

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can't think of an example right now, but

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in the rare occasion that it did happen,

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it wasn't tolerated.

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And another aspect of fair play was we

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wanted to get the call right. There were

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no umpires. We were our own umpires.

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Umpires. We wanted the game to play out

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as it was naturally. So

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if there was a disagreement, we would discuss

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it. Sometimes, you know, with raised voices like,

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you know, you're full of crap, I was

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safe.

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No, you weren't, you were out. And we

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had the fail safe measure that we would

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sometimes resort to if we could not reach

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an agreement, and that was takeover.

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And if someone suggested it, we all agreed

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to it, we just wiped the slate clean

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and started again. There was a situation to

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get granular here. I do talk about the

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fact that this podcast is to examine certain

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aspects of baseball under a microscope.

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One of our rules was because of the

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number of players or the lack thereof

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that participated in these games, if we had

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10 kids, we had a full house. We'd

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have 5 on each side. Catcher, pitcher, 2

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infielders, and an outfielder on each team. That

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was rare. We were usually playing with anywhere

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between

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4

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7 kids,

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so we would switch sides a lot. We

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had ghost runners. If you're on 2nd base

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and you're up, then you just go go

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bat. And if there was no one to

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take your place because they were on base,

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that's where the ghost runner came in. I

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digress a little bit, but it's all about

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the fair play still in terms of how

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we wanted to maintain that standard of fair

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play,

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along with the standard of competition.

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And we would often have disputes because of

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the fact that if there was a ball

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hit in play and it was fielded,

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to retire the batter runner did not require

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the infielder to either step on 1st or

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throw to 1st because there was no 1st

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basement there. What he did instead was throw

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to the pitcher. Pitcher's mound was out. You

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can envision in a close situation where the

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ball is going to pitcher while the batter

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runner is crossing 1st base that there may

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have been some cause for dispute. The point

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being is that we discussed it and then

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made a decision and moved on. The other

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aspect, the other virtue, I think, in terms

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of made myself and the rest of us

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better ballplayers, if we played organized ball. And

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just to digress a little bit, it was

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not easy to make a little league team

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in the 19 sixties.

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When I was 10 years old,

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there were 18 teams in the league. Each

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of them had 15 kids.

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When I was 10 years old, it wasn't

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just 70 kids that tried out for the

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team competing for 15 spots.

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There were 70 10 year olds trying out

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for 5 spots,

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and actually 4, because the coach's

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son was one of the 10 year olds.

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Now he could play.

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No one considered him as someone who was

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gifted that spot because he was good. So

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there were 70 kids trying out for 4

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spots.

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The next year, they doubled the amount of

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teams to 36. And I don't recall the

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level of competition changing all that much. There

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were just that many kids who were good

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enough to play at that level.

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So getting back to my point about repetition.

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When we played baseball all day for hours

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on end with only 5 players,

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It wasn't like an organized game where the

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right fielder, the left fielder, or the center

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fielder might see 1 or 2 balls the

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whole game.

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We were constantly fielding balls in the air

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on the ground. We were constantly throwing to

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bases. We were constantly making decisions. So we

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got a ton of repetition in the field,

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but also at the plate too. Dozens of

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at bats in the course of a pickup

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game. Against pitching, as I was saying, that

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was I'm gonna keep going through this

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lawnmower here. Sorry if it's a distraction. But

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against pitching,

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that was like I said, a cross between

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batting practice and live pitching.

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Usually, the older kids pitch because

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they had more control and more command. And

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to be honest with you, we recognize the

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the importance of safety even back then. And

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the idea of a 10 year old kid

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pitching against a 15 year old kid. We

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knew the risks. Didn't want that 10 year

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old kid to have to face a line

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drive, hit right at him 40 feet away.

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I also think one of the most valuable

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lessons that I learned that kinda just dawned

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on me now was

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adaptability.

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I can't say I always apply that lesson

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in real life now, but

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pickup baseball was trying to teach me that

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lesson

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at a very young age, even to the

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point of making the decision to play. The

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way that we coalesced, we didn't text each

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other obviously, we didn't send each other emails.

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We just went door to door, the kids

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that we knew

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that would be interested in playing, and we

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would just

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someone would show up and say, let's go

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let's go down to the field. And 2

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of us would go down the street and

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we'd split up and gather as many kids

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as we could, and we'd head down there.

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And if the parents answered the door, we'd

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let them know, hey,

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let Scott know that we're playing ball.

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So we had our own way of making

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it viral,

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and and word got around. Because back then,

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neighbors talked to each other. So we'd get

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down there, we'd pick teams, we'd start playing.

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And we'd adapt,

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Constantly adapt

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to the flux in rosters, to trading players

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mid game. Kids had to leave. Kids had

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kids would show up once they got the

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word.

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And we made room one way or another.

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No one was ever left out who was

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willing to abide by the standards and the

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rules that we applied. Baseball was in our

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DNA.

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Why that was the case? I don't know.

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But it just was.

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So we made every possible excuse to play

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the game in the summertime.

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And as a result, I think it made

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me a better ball player and also a

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better person, ultimately.

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I would have missed something had I not

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had that experience.

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So anyways,

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there I was,

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sitting on the ground with a board through

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my foot and the nail protruding.

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And I do remember some of the faces

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and names of the kids that gathered around

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and they were genuinely concerned. And I must

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have been in a bit of a state

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of shock because I don't remember

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crying or screaming much,

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but just the disbelief of seeing a nail

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through my foot attached to a board.

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I remember one of the kids

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one of the kids said, you're gonna get

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lockjaw,

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as if

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it was gonna happen in the next 5

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seconds.

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So what did I do?

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I pulled the board out of my foot

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and hobbled home.

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And it wasn't too many days later that

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I was back at that field,

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playing the game that I loved with the

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neighborhood kids,

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Learning virtues along the way that have been

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with me ever since.

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My name is Byron Copely. This is all

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about baseball.

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As always,

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if you like this podcast, feel free to

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refer it to family and friends. If you

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have comments, suggestions, ideas,

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or feedback, email me atbcpodcastbaseball@gmail.com.

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Until the next time. Thank you.