You could be a kid for as long as you want when you play baseball. ~Cal Ripken, Jr.
Well, I finally did it again. Got a mystery picture that flummoxed you all, and I really thought this one wasn’t that mysterious. Just shows what a difference it makes when you know what the photo is before you make the bit of picture a mystery to everybody else.
I wanted to pull something off one of my book covers and had in mind using a Hidden Springs mystery book cover. But then I pulled up Freak of the Week, my book for middle readers or those young at heart. When I snipped a little bit out of the picture – that bit of the baseball glove right below the “k” in Week in the title – the picture just seemed to work as a mystery photo.
That leather tie made that clove Melissa and Paula saw. Most of you guessed some sort of pastry until you had me wishing for cinnamon rolls with that good frosting on them. But instead it’s just the lacing and seams on a baseball glove. Others saw a cake or pies and Emily got specific with her lobster tail pastry with cookies & cream filling. I’m just wondering if you all headed for the pantry after you guessed to get a doughnut or honey bun. Robin changed it up a little by saying burrito and Ola said she was stumped. So she just said food.
Susan and Linda came in late with gourd guesses. I guess that was as good a guess as pastries. Susan D saw a quilt or blanket with a string. Amy saw a caterpillar on a basket. Phyllis saw an acorn. Karen and Loretta saw a baby getting a diaper change, but Marji’s guess had me smiling the most. She said a duck bill between the toes of a pig’s foot. What made me smile the most was that I could see that.
But no, it wasn’t any of those things. I stumped you all, every one. I’ve only done that once before several mystery photo games ago with the funky middle part of the bloom of a peace plant. The reason I stumped you with this one could be that none of you are baseball fans. Did you ever play baseball or softball? Maybe play catch with your kids? I used to do that some. I was never much of a player, but it could snag the kids’ throws sometimes.
I do like baseball. Used to listen to the Cincinnati Reds games back when everybody called them the Big Red Machine. My grandmother loved listening to baseball games too and so did my father-in-law. It’s just relaxing. Something about the game makes me think summer and fun. That’s why I let my young hero in Freak of the Week love baseball and be an aspiring pitcher. But as the following quote says, it can be a lonely game with the out or hit that wins or loses a game on you. That happens to Clay in the story, but of course he learns from it all.
Baseball is a team game but, at the same time, it’s a very lonely game: unlike in soccer or basketball, where players roam around, in baseball everyone has their little plot of the field to tend. When the action comes to you, the spotlight is on you but no one can help you. ~Chad Harbach
Besides without baseball, we wouldn’t all know about Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, and all those other great players who became household names. Plus, Yogi Berra gave us a lot of smiles with all the fun sayings attributed to him.
Baseball is ninety percent mental and the other half is physical. ~Yogi Berra