Saturday was special here in my neck of the woods. The American men in our city decided to get together and hang from noon on. In this city of many millions (literally), there are only a handful of Americans who live here permanently. My guess is 30-50 in total. This is probably a generous guess, as I personally only of know 22. Of that number, 11 are men.
Ten of the eleven men I know in this city decided to dub the 6th day of last week. . . “Baseball Saturday”. The content of the day was simple; American food and baseball all day. We were to both play baseball and watch baseball in the midst of gorging on red meat and other such American culinary delights.
We met for lunch at McDonald’s (the only “American restaurant” within an hour of where I live). After destroying our bodies, we headed over to a local university in search of a field to play baseball. Between all of us, we have seven baseball gloves, two baseball bats, and four actual baseballs, so “playing baseball” is a pretty generous description of what we were planning.
We found a soccer field, but were quickly dispersed by an official university function.
We ended up finding our way to a dimly lite, closed basketball gym on campus. We decided the place was perfect for our “Plan B”.
If you are not familiar with wiffleball, it is awesome. Basically, baseball with plastic bats and balls. Wiffleball gear (bats and balls) are sold in both sports stores and toy shops in the States. We pooled together three wiffleball bats and five wiffleballs which we had brought here from America, so we were set. Side note. . . what does it say about me that as a 41 year old I still haul wiffleball gear literally around the world with me?
Wiffleball can be played with as few of four people, but is ideal 6-12. Yesterday, we had 10 players, so it was perfect. The gym is an ideal size. Hitting homeruns into the stands was a challenge, but not impossible. It was deep enough to feel the sense of accomplishment when knocking the plastic white balls into the seats, but shallow enough to where we probably had a total of 5-8 homeruns.
We played hard. We laughed, competed, sprinted, and, overall, had an outstanding time of play (see the video below). Though a child’s game, wiffleball absolutely wore us all out. Bodies ached as we watched the Braves beat the Nationals in a tape delayed game, ate steak, and the completed the day by taking in the cinematic classic “Major League”.
It was a great day.
Living as a foreigner in Asia for much of my adult like, I increasingly see the vitality of days like yesterday.
Living and working here is stressful in many, many ways. Don’t get me wrong, I love Asia, the people, the culture, and place in and of itself. However, doing life in a second language, with food I did not grow up eating and customs different from my own, in a location so far away from “home”, takes a toll on you.
“Baseball Saturday” was much bigger than simply grown men getting together to play like kids and indulge in our carnivorous ways. It was more about the value of recreation, rejuvenation, and disconnecting from the stresses of everyday life for a Saturday so that we can be more connected, concentrated, and focused in being faithful to the bigger callings in our individual lives. I don’t know if all of the participants of “Baseball Saturday” view the time from this vantage point, but I know I do.
I praise God for healthy play, laughter, and other types of outlets like “Baseball Saturday”. I once heard the 18th century church leader, John Wesley, quoted in saying “Rest and play as hard as you need in order to be as effective as possible in your callings of God.”
Saturday was a good time of rest and rejuvenation.
I pray now that we will be effective during this week for Christ. . . for the glory of God.[pb_vidembed title=”” caption=”” url=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfIzNY9fISE” type=”yt” w=”480″ h=”385″]
(Two things converged to produce the above video. First, I purchased some basic video editing software. Second, Andrew Ols (Smange) is here to give me a brief class on how to use it. I don’t claim it’s good, but a start to learning. Hope you enjoyed seeing some of our wiffleball game!)
Great post. Would’ve loved to have been there. Did you really put together a “video” of the event? Bongos at the end?
Guilty as charged. Next year we will be giving out gift bags as everyone leaves the field of play.
I’d love to have a “baseball Saturday” like that here in the states! That facility you had was perfect. The dog somehow rounds out the ambiance of the setting.
Even though Wiffleball is low impact, it still has “pulled hammy” written all over it for me. So I will now continue to live out my sports fantasies vicariously through a 40ish guy I know in Asia.
Not like the softball days you drafted me to back in the day, but fun nonetheless. You are welcome to come over when we do it again next year!
Dude you definitely don’t have a baseball haircut
Nope, that one cost me 15元 and even at that might have been a rip off.
Haircuts cost much more than they used to
Yeah, and you ought to see the price of pork! Everything is much more expensive now. . . it’s been too long, my friend, we need a visit from you. Good seeing your name. Hope you guys are well!
You could put cubes of steak in the goodie bags for people to take home. Watched “The Great Outdoors” yesterday, there is a great fighting bats scene in there that made me think of your story!
Never thought of that…brilliant! I have never seen “The Great Outdoors”. Need to check it out.
love seeing Albus joining in on the fun!
He seemed to enjoy himself.
Awesome! Next year stop the video for a 7th inning stretch, singing and peanuts and crackerjack
Phenomenal idea…definitely up for next year.
At 41 with whiffle balls in your bag indicates you might want to consider growing up!
Wiggle all keeps me young and vibrant. It is a staple in all the fashionable crowds. (Not really.)
Wiggle All huh? Please don’t write a post on whatever that is…
???
Looked really fun, John! Now that you are editing your own video, I willl be looking for the addition of costumes and song in the next and for the “Baseball Saturday Boys” to give the “Golf Boys” a run on YouTube. The way I see it….
Baseball Saturday= Soul food for grown men!
I will check that video out. Thanks for the reference! The day was definitely “soul food”; good analogy. Have a great day!
If you are not a fan and follower of golf, it may not be so funny to you. But the video might ‘inspire’ your film making. Bubba Watson is one of the GBs. I think he’s from your ‘neck of the woods’, right?
Yeah, not a huge golfer, but I’ll give it a shot.
Why are you not wearing you Jason Heyward jersey?
Dude, taobo keeps locking me out. Tried to get some the other day.
How many takes did you need to finally hit a bomb off Gregory?
Jealousy, thy name is Matt.
You should combine this with the hotpot challenge. That would make a great video.
I’ll try to throw something up on that in a few weeks. Got some decent video footage on that.
Like to see you guys doing something like this in the next game. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_4obHO6ADc
Ok, I had no idea there was something like this out there. These guys have taken something fun and made it into a colossal waste of time! Actually, it is really cool, I just can’t imagine how much time these guys invest in wiffleball. Thanks for the video. . . really cool to watch.
The hair cut should stay!
Thanks for the confidence! I think it will be a temporary look, but might keep it at least a few more weeks. It’s really comfortable during the heat here.
What an awesome group of guys! So jealous and sad I couldn’t be there for this…reminds me of my year in Germany when I toted all my wiffle/baseball stuff and attempted to teach Germans to play…they were confused, but had fun!
You need to come for next year’s time!