The taste of dirt, the cheers of the fans, the smell of juicy hot dogs,
the pat on my back from my teammates when I return to the dugout – I love baseball. I love the sights and sounds and smells and tastes of baseball. All my life I’ve played baseball. But I’ve never played a more intense game than when I was 12 years old, playing in the Little League All-Stars tournament in Cooperstown.

I ran out of the locker room to many cheering fans, all eyes on us with their hands out waiting for our high fives. I ran around the whole stadium slapping every hand I saw. I ran into the dugout and waited until it was my turn to bat. I grabbed my bat and stepped onto the dirt of the baseball diamond, waiting for them to announce my name so I could step into the batter’s box.

“Now batting, Alfred M.,” the announcer projected. After waiting so intently I gripped my bat tightly and stepped into the batter’s box. A group of fans yelled my name: “Let’s go, Alfred!” I had a mix of emotions: fear, fright, excitement. First pitch was a ball, I stepped out and looked at my coach for the sign. He told me to swing away and hit. I stepped in, I saw the ball, it was like time slowed down. I whacked the ball into the outfield and got a double. Later I realized thousands of people were watching me get that hit on their T.V. at home, that feeling made me on of the happiest people alive, knowing that everyone was watching me. I love that feeling when you know you are the center of attention.


The bond I made with my teammates, the way I connected to my coaches, the feeling baseball lay upon me, made everything come to life in that game. I came back to the dugout and got congratulated by my teammates. It was the best feeling of my life. Everyone has a dream, and everyone can fulfill that dream. One of my dreams was to play baseball in front of a bunch of people, and this experience in Cooperstown, New York fulfilled that Dream. Those 2 hours, of that game were the best two hours of my life. We didn’t win the game, but it was defiantly a win in my book, after all the friends I had made, and after so many dreams came to life for me in that game. Before the game, I would have never thought that one game could bring me so much.


When anyone ever asks me what the most significant time of my life ever was, I just think back on that game in Cooperstown, and all the friendship, joy, and tears that that game brought to me. Even when I get Older, and retire from my baseball career, the memory of the taste of dirt, the smell of hotdogs, and the cheer of the fans that came to life in that game will still stay with me for the rest of my life.