Shane and Shaun (Day #153) made it to Springfield for our second game of catch. I watched the Dodgers playing the Cardinals in St. Louis as Shaun texted me while his brother drove through the city with the Arch. I found a few old baseball cards of their favorite teams as a welcome gift. Donuts will be saved for Sunday morning.
In my mind, the hardest part of being a twin would be that every milestone, whether it’s birthday or high school graduation, would be shared. Comparison would be never ending. I think friends would get lazy and, instead of referring to them by name as individuals, would simply call them “the twins.” So, for this weekend of playing catch, even though all of us will be involved, the stories will focus only on one or the other, Shane or Shaun.
First Shaun. He likes White Men Can’t Jump and is a fan of The Simpsons (Springfield!) and would love to play catch with Ken Griffey Jr. almost as much as he would like to play basketball with Jordan.
I figured he would want to see in person the field I use most often in Springfield, so we went to Fassnight Park, dragging bats and a bucket of baseballs with us. Fly balls and grounders accompanied the game of catch. No other people or speakers hanging from the rafters to dodge, a completely different catch playing experience than the lawn of the Jay Pritzker Pavilion. Of course, after last night’s heroic grand slam, I had to wear my Salvador Perez t-shirt. I was honored that Shaun wore the Catch 365 shirt.
Shaun has been an avid supporter of Catch 365 from the start, encouraging me through emails and texts since January. To make the most of his time in the great Queen City, I took him on a storytelling and Catch 365 tour of Springfield. At each location we threw the ball at least ten times.
We visited:
Delaware Elementary — where my first team practiced.
The church parking lot and the dogwood trees on Portland Street — where playing catch with Dad started, along with a gifted lost ball at Christmas.
The French Fries — Art!
Bass Pro Shops — the grand-daddy of all sporting goods stores and where I purchased my George Brett Wilson glove.
There were so many more places I wanted to go, but we were getting hungry. So I saved Andy’s for after dinner.
On tap for tomorrow — more of Springfield and roller coasters!
