We went to our last Sounds game of the season Saturday night.
Nashville beat Memphis 6-3. We stayed after the game for fireworks and so Things 1 and 2 could join 1,000 other kids in running the bases.
Before we left the house, I read online that one of our best hitters, a guy named Taylor Green, had been called up from the Triple-A Sounds to join the Milwaukee Brewers, and I remembered the time we went to a late-season game 5 summers ago, and Thing 1’s favorite player wasn’t there.
Corey Hart (photo by majorvols/Flickr)
Thing 1 was only 6 years old, but she’d noticed that Corey Hart would usually get on base if not drive it out of the ballpark, and when he wasn’t there, she noticed.
When we got home, Thing 1 got ready for bed, and I went online to find out what had happened to Corey Hart.
“He’s been called up,” I told her. “He’s gone to play for Milwaukee.”
It was late, Thing 1 was tired, and she started sobbing.
“What’s wrong?”
“I miss him!” she said.
“It’s OK. This is a good thing. The guys who play for Nashville want to play for Milwaukee.”
“When’s he coming back?” she asked.
“Well, unless he gets hurt or something, he probably won’t be back. He’s playing for Milwaukee now.”
Thing 1 began crying harder and said, “I want to send him a letter.”
I thought that was very sweet. “What do you want to say?” I asked.
“COME BACK!”
“OK,” I said. “We can write him a letter in the morning. Time for bed.”
She was still crying a little when I tucked her in. “It’s OK,” I told her. “He’s happy. This is what he wanted.”
She said, “I miss him. He’s the best baseball player I ever saw.”
She was asleep before I could turn out the light.
Wow! Corey Hart went from his music career to baseball? Who knew!
We made the same the same thing, every time he went to the plate, but my favorite joke was a few years ago when the Sounds played the Dodgers’ Triple-A team, the Las Vegas 51s, and there was this Taiwanese player named Chin-lung Hu. Whenever he’d hit a single, I’d say, “Hu’s on first!” every time, because, honestly, how often does a guy get to say that?
What ever happened to Hu? Then again, what ever happend to Thing 1? Nice story, Todd.
Hu started the season with the Mets, but Wikipedia says he was sent down to the minors this spring. Thing 1 is 11 years old and 5-foot-10. She just started 6th grade. The girl’s basketball coach is very excited.
So cute!
Thanks, skip!
So did Thing 1 write the letter? And that Hu’s on first bit is hilarious.
She didn’t. I think she was a little embarrassed the next morning, frankly. (Good thing she doesn’t read the blog!)
Cross my heart, hope to die, stick a needle in my eye: I popped in to read this hoping there was a Thing theme to it. I’ve missed reading about them. This one’s a classic.
Glad you liked it, Hipster!
Hey, does this mean you’re back online after the earthquake/hurricane/locust/zombie invasion?
Funny you should ask. Honest engine, the day after the hurricane, there was a locust on my deck. I took its picture but haven’t been able to post it because I can’t figure out a way to make that look like a function of my work!
Cable came back yesterday. Tales of hilarity/inanity. . . . well . . . tales to follow.
Awesome. You’ve seen some great players over the years. Cool memories for the Things to grow up with minor league ball. (And what a sweet call-up for the Green kid, especially this year.)
The first season we started going to the Sounds, it was Corey Hart, Prince Fielder, Ryan Braun and Ricky Weeks. The games were a lot of fun.
So funny how tragic things are when they’re tired. Great that she focused on the game enough to know the players.
She’s 5’10?
Yep.
That’s adorable. My thing 1 is 6 now and his favorite thing in the world is The Orioles (yes, I know how tragic this is . . .) and he was devestated when Derreck Lee was traded to . . . I don’t know, somewhere else.
He just this year has become a huge baseball fan and is learning all about the game, so this current roster of players is of course his favorite. He knows all the players and their stats and everything, so when Lee was traded he felt like they were taking away one of his friends and he was so very sad. He cried a little. We had to explain to him that this is very normal and happens all the time and he was going to have to get used to it. It’s so interesting seeing things through their very innocent perspectives. But it’s also sad to see them hardened just a little when they learn that life isn’t always going to stay exactly as it is right this instant and how you want it to be.
That’s sweet. We were watching the Brewers last night (gotta love the Roku and that MLB subscription!), and I pointed out to our Thing 2 the Sounds players who’d just gotten called up, and he just doesn’t understand why they can’t stay in Nashville and make the Sounds a great team.
There’s a lot of great players that I’ve seen come through single A ball here in Florida. Sometimes I wish they would come back too.