Medium Soda Please

Charlie Brown may be synonymous with losing baseball games, but at least his plight was fictitious, mine was real. My illustrious little league baseball career began with a two year winless streak.

All I wanted was to experience the sweet taste of victory. It had grown old being known as the guy who couldn’t win a game. To make matters worse, there was a local burger place that would give out free sodas to the players after every game; a medium for the winners and a small for the losers. Needless to say, I was tired of asking for a small. Even the guy behind the counter knew it was a small soda when he saw the maroon baseball shirt coming through the door.

Thank goodness the streak ended in my third year when I finally received my first medium soda. It was July something 1978. I still remember there was one out in the final inning and I had been put in right field mid-way through the game because of my marginal skills.

We were up by a run or two when the batter lofted a ball in my general direction. I remember saying to myself, “Oh please, just let me catch it.” Then the unbelievable happened, the ball landed in my glove. I heard the fans yelling at me to throw the ball to first base to double off the runner. Another miracle occurred; I beat the startled runner back to the bag.

A feeling of elation overcame me as I ran toward the infield like I had just won the World Series. For one night I was a winner. For one night something had finally gone my way. For one night I could walk up to the counter with my head held high and say, “medium soda please.”

“Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all.” ~ Dale Carnegie

Swavel