Ballball Research Paper

GOING… GOING… GONE! One blistering summers’ day in Northwest Florida, home for college, Jay was cleaning out the garage. This was apart of his mother’s summer clean sweep project, which she did every year. Jay comes from a family who is very involved in sports. So as he was singing the childhood clean up and going through and sorting the football pads, softballs, baseball, batting and fielding gloves, sweet bands, and other athletic equipment and sports wear he came across a recognizable object. It was his old bat. The Bat he used in little league almost 10 years ago. This was the first bat that Jay ever had. As Jay held the dusty, paint chipped, dry-rotting but yet still majestic bat in his hands, fond memories of the typical day at the ballpark began to flood his mind. As Jay held the bat a strong but at the same time pleasant rubbery smell jumped out first, which stimulated his mind back to all the wonderful smell the he experience at the ballpark. The most hypnotizing smell of a ballpark is the food. Scorching popping grease overwhelms the air. The smell of the burgers, hotdogs, sausages, and chicken on the Barbeque grill adds a sweet delicious smell that can almost be tasted in the air. There is a potent smell of chemical at the ballpark. The smell is most commonly referred to as the “new” smell. This
smell comes from the new uniforms of the well-dressed teams, new bases put out for the start of the season, and the new balls base used in the games. Oh the smells of the good ole ballpark never get old to Jay. Touching the bat, gripping the bat, and getting in a hitting stands trigger a flashback for Jay of the different feelings you experience at the ballpark. On game day the adrenalin is the first feeling that is notice. Adrenalin levels of the teams reach record heights even before arriving at the ballpark. The feeling of the freshly cut grass ruffling under Jay’s feet when tracking down a fly ball is far from a stranger. Actually catching the liner and feeling the string in his hand was surprisingly satisfying to Jay because he knew it was to help his team win the game. The feeling of the red laces of the baseball cutting and taking micro amounts of skin from his pointer finger just before leaving his hand comes to mind. Also the feeling of stealing second base and getting a hand pick strawberry sore perfectly printed on your knee from the tough dirt. Getting in a hitting stands, wiggling the bat with a slit sway of the body bring the best feeling of them all. Hitting a Homerun!!! Not just any home run, a full count, two outs, two runners on base, sixth inning (last inning), six to six tied balls homerun to win the game homerun. There are not too many feeling in jay’s life thus far that could match these. Glancing over the bat and seeing the wear and tore for sitting in the muggy garage for years sends Jay’s mind wondering out into left field about the countless memories collected at the ballpark.
The bat has small but noticeable stops of paint missing, which created little potholes. This reminds Jay of the ups and downs of a baseball game and a baseball season. Every baseball player should know that there are only a few at bat key and a few key plays in the field that true impact the out of come of a game. The game could swing in your favorite at any moment of time during the game. The plays come unannounced that why baseball is a battle of ups and
downs. Jay’s baseball bat was long pass its’ glory days of hitting homeruns and the like but the baseball bat speaks of the priceless unforgettable moments Jay experienced at the ballpark to be thrown out during the notorious annual summer cleaning. Jay’s mom demands that the bat have to be gone. So… the bat is GOING… GOING… GONE, Right to Jay bedroom place in a trophy case to keep and preserve those unparalleled memories.