For me the best part of the game of baseball or softball has been hitting. I wish I had a batting coach when I was younger that could have taught me the fine art of hitting. Giving my daughter a coach is my gift to her. Here is one evening where I spent some time with my daughter at her batting cage...

As I gazed back and forth between my daughter and this other girl I realized that after about 20 more minutes of hitting and talking with her coach that this girl (we will call her this girl) was smacking the ball. Projectiles were streaming off her bat. That loud crack from her bat was reverberating in the facility.

It dawned on me… That this is why I love this game so much. I loved that crack of the bat. I loved hitting that ball so right. I loved it when the ball whistled in the air. Enjoying the other aspects of the game like base running, fielding, and throwing were great. But, I was deeply passionate about hitting. The supreme challenge was why I started playing this game and why I continue to enjoy watching it today. The anticipation of watching a great batter gets ready for the pitch. Digging in, focusing on what the pitcher is doing and what the pitcher will do. Awesome.

As I continued to watch my daughter, Manteee, and this other girl hit better and better I could not help but feel an enormous amount pleasure. They were transforming in front of me. Whatever those coaches told them and whatever those two girls absorbed from their coaches was generating solid hit after solid hit. As a parent I felt that what I was doing was contributing to my daughter’s life.

I could not believe how happy I was for my daughter and the girl I did not know. There is something wonderful about learning and that willingness to be taught. Even though I only watched them I felt as if I was part of what was evolving in front of me.

As I was leaving that night I felt like my daughter had made progress. She was doing what she loved and getting better at it. Wow.

Feel free to pass this on to anyone you think would enjoy reading about baseball.