AARON'S DOUBLE PLAY

by Danna Shirley

We moved to Vancleave, MS in 1986 when Aaron was six years old. It was a lovely, family-oriented, church-going community. When T-ball was advertised, we signed him up and bought his first glove. Practices kept us at the field a few nights a week and games were well-attended with everyone rooting and encouraging ALL the children on both teams. Of special mention was the fact that nothing was scheduled on Wednesday nights because it was a church night; no practices, no games, no homework by the teachers.

As Aaron began to play baseball, it was obvious he had a knack for the game. He had a good arm for throwing and an eye for catching the ball. Although there was a pitcher in position at this age, the children batted off of a T stand that held the ball.

The coach rotated the children in the field so everyone had a chance to experience each position. Aaron still didn’t quite have total understanding of the game but he knew how to hit the ball, drop the bat, and run the bases.

In one of the earlier games of his career 😊, he was in the pitcher’s box when a player hit a fly ball and Aaron caught it. There was a runner on third base going for home. As sweet as you please, he ran over and tagged him out on the baseline and made a double play. The crowd went wild and his coach, as only a female can do in the excitement of the moment, ran out, grabbed him up in her arms, and started jumping up and down and turning in a circle. Aaron was clueless. He didn’t even realize what he had done.

With each new season, his skill increased and he made All-Stars every year. T-Ball graduated into pitch ball and he rotated positions from shortstop to pitcher. There were a few injuries along the way, like the line drive that broke his nose. Ouch! He was fast and accurate with his pitching and was well on his way to becoming a great player. And then…

We moved to Japan in 1992 when Aaron was eleven. Although baseball is very popular in Japan, we didn’t realize there would be no baseball team in the DOD school in Sasebo. Why? Because land is a premium in Japan and the school was landlocked by buildings. There was a gym for basketball but no baseball field. The Japanese didn’t allow Gaijins (foreigners) on their teams either. What a disappointment.

The housing area for the Navy families had a baseball field but nothing was organized and there were not enough kids to make up two teams for a real game. Aaron made friends quickly and just as quickly learned that most of them had never played ball because they had grown up in the cycle of moving from place to place, usually on foreign soil, and did not have an opportunity to play the game or develop any skill at it. The kids would get out on the field and play at batting and throwing the ball around but there were no serious players to give Aaron competition to keep up his skill or develop beyond what he already knew.

He came home one afternoon very disappointed that he couldn’t get anyone to stand in front of his pitched ball because they were afraid of being hit. His ball was too fast and too hard. That was the end of trying to keep going with baseball.

We returned to Vancleave in 1997 when he was seventeen. After being dormant with this sport for five years, all of his teammates had advanced forward and developed beyond where he had been at age eleven. He never went back to baseball again.

Hindsight is 20/20 but I don’t know how we could have changed anything because my husband’s job took us where he could earn a living. Five years in Japan paid for college for our children and a house when we returned.

There is one positive in this story; Aaron’s daughter, Mackenzie, has picked up the gauntlet/ bat 😊 and has carried on with the great talent passed on through Aaron’s genes. She plays softball and has made All-Stars every year playing for Vancleave Middle School and then Vancleave High School. She is also a good soccer player and runs cross country. Everything she sets her hand to, she’s good at and has a sportsman’s heart…just like her dad.  

Even though Aaron did not follow through with his baseball, his future has been in God’s hands and God has set his feet on a lighted path for a good future.