"Shortstuff"

My son is playing baseball for the first time this year. He is in boy heaven.

His uniform is purple, and he plays or practices 4 days a week. He's had three games so far, and his team has won all three. So we haven't had to talk about losing yet, although I'm sure we will. I wonder how he'll take it?

He's not been struck out yet, although he has been thrown out a few times on base. Last night, according to reports, he ran home on somebody else's hit, leaving a dusty wake. His coach called his running "scary". He should've seen him as a toddler, running like a bull at Pamplona, head down, barreling away for all he was worth. Now THAT, sir, is scary.

I should be able to see a few games before his short season is over. According to his father, in some practices he and a little girl run around trying to put grass in each other's hair. According to Dante, it's just the little girl because she has a crush on him. In his games, he is apparently deadly serious.

I asked him what position he played. Silence. He has no clue. So I tried to describe it geographically--are you behind third base out in the grass??--and he says, "Well, in practice, I sort of stand behind second base and one of the coaches keeps calling me 'shortstuff'. I don't like that."

Ohhh. Shortstop. In real games, he's in the outfield with about 5 other kids, trying to keep out of the way of those that "know" how to play baseball, probably all giggling and trying to put grass in each other's hair.