Baseball Calms Temper Tantrums

On Friday night, we attended a game at in Peconic.

My youngest had already had enough before the game even started at 7:30. By this time, he would normally be getting into the bathtub. By the third inning, he should have already been in bed.

But this was a special night. It was his and his older brother’s first baseball game.

At ages six and three, attention spans run short and long days breed cranky pants.

Daddy doesn’t like cranky pants.

This is why I have yet to take the kids to a major league game, or even to a minor league game. That will change when my oldest celebrates his seventh birthday at Yankee stadium next month, but we’re not bringing his brother because he can’t handle it. He proved that on Friday night.

After nearly two hours of running around the park emulating baseball players and, for some reason, football players, it wasn’t really a surprise that the little guy had a meltdown of epic proportions when we decided to leave the game in the middle of the seventh inning. What was a surprise, however, was how one of the ballplayers, tossing to a relief pitcher at the back of the field, turned what could have been a messy end to the night into the perfect end.

As we walked back to the car my little guy was wailing uncontrollably, my oldest had a nasty sour puss, and the ballplayer noticed.

“Hey guys, come over here,” he yelled.

I gave the boys a gentle shove of approval and they ran over to the fence.

“What’s wrong little buddy,” he asked.

“I don’t wanna go home,” he said between sobs.

“Neither do I,” my oldest said shyly, his eyes agape as if he were talking to Derek Jeter himself.

“Well, maybe you guys can come back and see another game soon,” he said, trying to sooth my little guy by rubbing his blonde mop.

“Can we dad,” my oldest asked.

“Of course buddy,” I said.

The whole conversation made him feel a bit better, but the little guy wasn’t bouncing back from his ultimate tantrum, especially after having to say goodbye to the ballplayer and walking away... again.

“Hey little buddy, come back here real quick,” he called out. “I got something for you.”

The little guy refused to go back, but his big brother darted to the fence and the ballplayer handed him a ball. “Share it with your brother pal, okay?”

“Uh huh,” he said with a wide smile. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” he said, patting him on the head.

You’d think the baseball made of gold.

The entire ride home, the boys were calm and quiet, passing the baseball back and forth, gently rubbing it with their fingertips.

That’s an experience that I suspect can only be had at summer league baseball game.

You can still catch quite a few games across the North Fork in the coming months. Click here for the full schedule.