ISU Baseball

It was the spring of 1974 and my heart was racing for the legendary coach of the Iowa State baseball team just told me that I would be starting the next day in centerfield against the Oklahoma Sooners in Norman.  Oklahoma had been to the college world series the last 2 years and in the mind of this small town Iowa boy, they were the giants of Big 8 baseball.  All of their players had 48” chests and 30” waists.  They could run the 100 yard dash in 6.7 seconds, every one of them could hit the ball 500 feet and most importantly, they looked really good in their uniforms. 

I was a walk-on that fall that had made the team and now I was getting a chance to get out of the stands and play with the big boys.  As you might expect I had a difficult time getting to sleep and when I finally nodded off, I had this incredible dream.  I dreamt I was at bat and although a right handed batter, I hit a blistering line drive down the first base line.  I rounded first base and stopped at second with a stand-up double.  I told me roommate my dream the next morning and although he laughed he told me he hoped it came true.

My turn to bat finally came in the third inning (I’m hoping that I batted ninth as a second lead off position) and just as in my dream, I hit a scorcher over the first baseman’s head and into right field.  In practice I had the fastest time from home to second base, not because I had great speed but because I knew how to round the bag without slowing down. Now this skill served me well and I sprinted to second with my feet hardly touching the ground.  I stood at second, breathing hard but trying my best to look cool.  My image said this was old hat, no big thing.  I did this all the time. But inside I was screaming at the top of my lungs and dancing like no Baptist ever should.  Much to my surprise I heard mad voices from our first base dugout.  I glanced at my teammates and they were yelling at me and gesturing with anger.  Totally confused I looked at the third base coach for the first time and he was just as mad and just as animated.  I had just done something wonderful and yet I was now berated my those who should have been happy for me.  I finally turned and looked toward right field and I could see why everyone was disgusted.  After having stood at second base for at least 5 seconds, the ball was finally coming into the infield.  The one slow player on the Oklahoma squad was playing right field – where every slow player who could hit was generally hidden.  I could have read the paper at second base and still had time to walk to third. 

The only player in our dugout who was laughing was my roommate.  He knew that in my dream I stopped at second so there was no need to even think about stretching that hit into a triple. I learned a valuable lesson that day.  Dreams can come true but sometimes we don’t dream big enough.