I'll hare with you one of my experiences about when i thought i was a hot shot Catcher.
I had made Varsity first string Catcher as a sophomore the same as my Dad had when he went though the same high school in our home town. We had a game going with a team in our league, toward the end of the game when "Frankenstein" was due up at the plate. This guy was pimple face ugly as a hot day is long and he was flat out huge, way bigger than anyone on our football team and taller than anyone on our BB team. Left handed, he really got into one, way out over our right fielders head and as we had no fences, it rolled a good ways. I first thought it a no doubt about it home run but the guy, as big as he was, was exceptionally slow and after three nice relays, to my surprise, i had the ball in glove as he rounded third base.
So here he comes and i meet him up the line to tag him out. To my surprise, he never slowed down, just kept coming with that slow deliberate strides and instead of stopping for me to tag him, i mean the guy was out by a mile, should have taken the stand-up triple, he kept coming and then lowered his shoulder into me without breaking stride.
I literally flew through the air. If i could tell just how far i flew i'd say but it had to be near ten feet or more. I ended up back on the other side of home plate and the ball was laying on the ground. He was safe, i was shook up but not hurt, not physically anyway. Learned a valuable lesson that day and much ball, many years later, put the hurt on lots of guys but had never again been taken out at the plate.
Joey
"It's all about knowing what your firearms practical limitations are and combining that with your own personal limitations!"
