East Lake High’s Finest

“ Strike three. That’s the ball game,” announces the umpire. 

“ Oh come on Joshua that’s three times today.”

“ Man, not again Josh.”

“ Boo! You suck.”

That was my third strikeout of the game. I haven’t gotten a base hit all season and the only time I’ve reached first base is when I got hit in the arm by a pitch. I had a bruise for like two weeks. Every time I strike out, my team always makes fun of me and puts me down. By now I’m pretty used to it, being that today was our last game of the season. My team, the Cubs, only won one game this season. Most of the kids on the team hate me and would say that all the losses this season were my fault. Thank gosh the season is over and I’ll never have to see these punks again.

Well if you didn’t already know, my name is Josh Miller. I’m an only child and you could say my mom is a single parent because my dad is in the Marines. I don’t really know my dad all that well because he went off to the Marines after high school. It’s to bad too because according to my mom, he was the best baseball player she had ever seen. Next year I will go into high school. I plan to play baseball, but my chances on making the team aren’t to good. At East Lake High School, everyone takes baseball to another level. I hear that on game days, the school lets the players sleep in and then gives them money to get a good breakfast. Jeeze, its my dream to play for the East Lake Eagles. 

“ Joshua honey,” 

“ Yes mom?”

“ Someone is on the phone for you,”

“ I’ll be right down.” That is probably my friend Mikey. In fact I know it’s Mikey because sadly enough he’s one of my only friends. 

“ Hey Josh, wanna come down to the arcade with me?” asks Mikey.

“ Umm honestly, I’m kinda worn out from my baseball game earlier. I think I’m gonna pass today,” I exclaim.

“ Oh come on man, its not like you did anything any way. Lets go and we both can relax at the arcade and get some ice cream too,” he says.

“ Oh alright. I’ll meet you there in about forty-five minutes.”

“ Ok.”

“ Hey mom, I’m gonna head down to the arcade with Mikey later on is that okay?” I ask. 

“ Yeah sure go ahead,” she replies.

I think it’s about a five minute ride on my bike to the local arcade from my house. So I throw my jeans on and a t-shirt and now I’m ready to go. It’s a cool afternoon in the month of April and I love the wind going through my hair. I can see the arcade from where I am now and then BOOM! All I see is black and I don’t know what happened.

“ Hey little Joshua. Haha,” say one person.

“ What do you want from me?” I manage to get the words out of my mouth. One of my eyes is swollen shut from the crash and the other is full of tears. I can’t see who the people are who attacked me but I can recognize one of the voices. Ralph. Ralph is an extremely great baseball player and I hate him for it. He hates me to because I suck so bad. Now every thing makes perfect sense.

“ So I hear you wanna play baseball for the Eagles next year?” he spits.

Everybody laughs.

“ All of the coaches plan to take you on the team just because of your legendary daddy. But I’m gonna make sure that doesn’t happen. Imagine the greatest baseball team in the county with a little rat on the team. Were not gonna let you ruin our reputation!”  

“ What are you gonna do to me?” I croak.

“ Were gonna let you go this time but I hope this will make you think twice about trying out for the baseball team.”

I barely saw them leave on their bikes and I got up off the ground to inspect mine. My front wheel was dented and the handle bars were a little messed up. I figured I would trash my bike and just walk home. I’m sure I have a black eye and my mom is gonna question me so I’ll take as long as possible. I feel bad because I ditched Mikey but he’s gonna have to understand.

As soon as I walk in the house and walk into the kitchen, my mom drops the spoon that was in her hand and rushes towards me. I guess I look worse than I thought. 

“ Joshua what happened?” she asks worriedly.

“ I fell off my bike. No big deal ma its fine.”

“ Oh honey you have to be more careful.”

“ I fine ma sorry.”

Later I called Mikey and explained every thing to him. I knew he would understand. After earlier I felt that it was time to put my mitt away and quit baseball. Not that Ralph and his friends intimidated me, but I sucked anyway and I had no chance of even  making the team. I decide to discuss it with my mom. 

“ Hey ma, I was thinking about not trying out next year for the Eagles.” 

“ What?!? You know that your dad was a hero to the Eagle baseball program. His old coach still coaches there and I’m sure he’ll love you.” she explains.

“ I know I know its just that there are lots of kids who have way more talent than I do and I don’t want to look like a fool.”

“ Well if that’s how you feel then I’m not going to change your mind. Just do me a favor and think it over some more. Don’t you want to follow your Fathers footsteps?”

“ Yeah. Ill think about.” That was the end of the conversation. It was getting late and after what happened earlier and my ball game, I was pretty beat. Hopefully tomorrow is a better day and I can hang out with Mikey or something.

“ Knock Knock Knock” somebody was knocking on the front door. Ill just let my mom get it. “ Knock Knock Knock”. Oh come on.

“ Joshua. There is somebody hear to see you.” says my mother.

“ Be right down,” I come running down the stairs to see who it is. I was hoping to find Mikey or something but I was way off.

“ Hello Joshua, my name is Coach Peterson. I’m the baseball coach at East Lake High School and I happen to know your father very well. He was one of the greatest baseball players I have ever coached and seen. I received a phone call yesterday night from your mother regarding you not wanting to play baseball. Why don’t you want to play?” 

Coach Peterson was an older man, maybe in his mid-seventies. I had no idea who he was until today and he is kinda scary. “ Hi coach nice to meet you. The reason I don’t want to play is because I am not the most talented kid in the world and I don’t want to make a fool of myself. I hope you can understand.” I exclaim.

“ Well I sure can respect that. How about we make a deal. I will coach you all summer and when it comes to the time when try outs take place and you still don’t feel comfortable with trying out, then you can leave and there will be no harm no foul,” he says.

“ It looks like we have a deal coach.” 

“ Alright Josh nice to meet ya and we’ll start next  Monday.” 

Coach Peterson and I would go and practice at the local baseball field every Monday through Thursday for the whole summer. He gave me Friday and the weekend off to relax and have me time. We established a really good relationship and he really liked me. One day he was hospitalized because he had a stroke. I was never so worried in my life. We both cared for each other and it was kind of like he was my second dad. He was fine and was released from the hospital later that day. 

When it came time to try out, I was scared. All of the kids who never liked me, including Ralph, were there. I felt like Ralph was going to hit me upside the head with a baseball bat. After three days of hard working days of try outs, they were over. The coach let us know that the names will be posted in his office the following morning.

That whole afternoon and next morning my heart was pounding. I didn’t know what to expect. So I raced to school on my new bike that morning to see the list.

1. Ralph Smith

2. Teddy White

3. Tom Parker 

4. Ricky Jackson 

5. Bobby Kendall

6. Daniel Bradshaw

7. Joshua Miller 

8. Luke Greene 

9. Brad McDowell 

10. Garret Farmer

11. John Fisher 

12. William Wilson

I made it! I couldn’t believe it! I actually made it! I was so excited that I made the team that I skipped school and went home to tell my mother. When I got home and opened the front door I saw the look on my mothers face. It was a devastating look. Before I even knew what happened I could tell it wasn’t good. 

“ Hi honey. Listen…. Something happened this morning,” she said mournfully. 

“ Well what is it come on,”

“ Son. Coach Peterson died of heart failure this morning…”

I was speechless. I couldn’t form the right words in my head. Before my mother could say anything, I was out the front door. I hopped onto my bike and started riding. I didn’t know where I was riding to, but I just wanted to get away. It must have been at least fifteen minutes of riding before I stopped at a creek in the woods nearby. I didn’t know what else to do but cry. I absolutely loved Coach Peterson. Eventually I fell asleep and dreamt that he was still hear even though in reality he wasn’t. 

I woke up to leaves being crumbled underneath somebody’s foot. “ Who’s there?” I ask.

“ Didn’t I tell you that if you tried out for the team that it would mean bad news? Well I meant it. Now that your other “daddy” isn’t hear I can do what I want.”

“ You watch what you say about Peterson!”

“ What are you gonna do about it? Punch me hahaha.”   

“ That’s exactly what I’m gonna do,” Before he can react I punch him in the face. He falls to the floor and I jump on him and keep punching him. I was so hyped up on an adrenaline rush, that I kept hitting him and wouldn’t stop. After I realized that he was almost unconscious, I stepped back from him and rode my bike home. 

The next day was just not a day to remember. I was still mourning over the loss of Coach Peterson. When I got to school I was immediately reported to the principle’s office. He yelled at me for about five minutes about the importance of staying in school and not ditching. Once I was through with him, I was confronted by all of Ralph’s friends and they gave me a wedgie and threw me in a trash can. When I thought my day couldn’t get any worse, it did. I was called up to the coaches office. The new coach was a man named Coach McDonald. From the minute we made eye contact, I could tell that he had something against me. He told me that he was in charge now and not Coach Peterson. He explained how he was going to make some changes on the roster. One of those changes included kicking me off the team. Ralph told him that I beat him up and now coach McDonald doesn’t want me on the team because all teammates should not be enemies but friends. I tried to explain to him my side of the story but he is a stubborn man and wouldn’t budge.

I later found out that him and Ralph were related.

Two whole months had passed and the regular season was coming to an end. The only game that remained was the All-County Championship. It is to my knowledge that the starting pitcher blew his shoulder out. So, a week before the championship, McDonald asked me to fill in the pitching spot. I agreed to do it under one condition: no player will call me names or put me down at anytime. He agreed on our terms and now I realized that the All-County Championship game against North Side High School laid in my hands. I practiced all week and watched film of North Side for about 24/7 hours a day for a whole week.

Finally, it was game day. I was the guy who will pitch for the Eagles and decide the outcome of the game. I was able to sleep in that day. I also was given 50$ to get a haircut, eat a good meal before the game, and to spend on anything I wanted. When I showed up to the baseball stadium at our school, every body was there. I swear I didn’t even think the New York Yankees had more fans than this. All of the Cheerleaders were in uniforms and cheering for us. The Marching Band in the background playing the fight song. All of the science nerds were in the stands wearing baseball caps with our school logo on it. And now it was game time.

Through 9 innings there was a score of North Side 2 and East Lake 3. It was the last inning and all I needed was to get three more outs to win the championship. Everybody was on their feet cheering. I scanned the crowd in search for my mom and I found her. I couldn’t believe it. Standing next to her was my father. He came all this way home just to see me play. I knew that I needed to get the win. The first batter came up. I threw three straight fastballs and made him strikeout. I made the second batter pop up to the second basemen for the second out. Now with only a one run lead, all I needed to do was get the out. Strike one called by the umpire. Strike two called by the umpire. Ball one called. Everybody froze on the last pitch and no one made a sound.

“ Steerrriiiikeeeee Threeeeee!” yells the umpire. “ That’s the ball game.”

The crowd roared and I couldn’t believe that I had won. All of my teammates came up to me and congratulated me. Even Ralph gave me a hug despite all our differences. My parents came up and both hugged me. I had barely known my dad but when he wrapped his arms around me I felt like I’ve known him all of my life. Lizzy, the cutest cheerleader, came up to me and kissed me and then gave me her phone number. I could have never been more happy to win that game.

The next day, we visited Coach Petersons memorial site. We all paid our respects and left. I had left my championship ring that I won from the game on his tombstone. My mom, dad, and I went to have lunch. Immediately my dad announced that he is no longer a Marine because he retired. Me and him became much closer. We had established the same kind of relationship that me and Coach Peterson had. In the end everybody was happy and couldn’t ask for anything more.