Patience.org

It was opening day in the Peter Stuyvesant Little League yesterday. It’s his first organized T-Ball experience. He’s in the Reds and they were playing the Mets. Obviously he would have preferred to be in the Mets, but you can’t choose, but he’s got an excellent coach, so it doesn’t really matter.

After a long and winding parade through Stuyvesant Town, we eventually arrived at Con Ed fields, the baseball fields behind the large Con Ed power plant on the east side of lower Manhattan. Suburban life, this ain’t. All the kids sat down and listened patiently to the league commissioners, a couple of local pols and Cardinals and Mets (and Seinfeld) legend, Keith Hernandez, who was there, along with his wife and dog…

and who threw the ceremonial first pitch…

Anyway, on to the game (at a different field right next to the FDR Drive). After a brief bit of throwing and catching practice, we got down to business and this is his first at-bat in organized baseball:

He had two more bats (as did all the kids) and did well each time. He also made a couple of throws to first base.

More than four hours after we got to the parade start, we were finally able to get the bus back home.

Update: there are many more pictures of his first game in the April 2007 folder of kids pictures. As usual you’ll need a username/password, but if you’ve got one, you can click here.

Hopefully the news from Craven Cottage tonight will prevent my son from switching allegiances. It was perhaps inevitable, but after yesterday’s game he came to one of those markers on the road of life. “You know, Fulham really aren’t very good. I think it’s time we choose another team,” he was heard to say.

Still, with a new manager, a new shirt coming in the summer, (though hopefully they’ll still be wearing them in the Premier League), I can make sure there’s no way he will go to the dark side.

So thanks to Cookie for 10 years of service as a player and manager, but it was clearly time for a change – in fact that time was probably a couple of months ago.

Just in time, Chairman Mo, just in time.