I was at a little League baseball game recently while visiting my sister out of town. Her son, my nephew is new to baseball and the entire family is behind his efforts to succeed both on and off the field.
Brandon is a tall, lanky kid with potential to be a good athlete once his arms and legs begin to listen to his brain. Right now though, he stumbles a lot, has balance issues and problems running into things normal people can avoid at ease.

My nephew is being moved around the field, each position new and more challenging than the last. My sister encourages him to keep trying and finally had a talk with the coach and together they decided Center field would be a good home for the too tall baseball player.

The Saturday afternoon was perfect baseball weather. 80 or so degrees with no wind and the day carried with it a promise of a wonderful baseball day. We took our seats in the bleachers and I watched as the teams warmed up. Snack bar Little League food was our choice for lunch and the hot dogs were surprisingly good.

Brandon and his teammates took the field and I hoped for his success. Beside me sat a mom who's own son was playing short stop, a position Brandon had done miserably at. According to the mom, it was a coaching error and poor judgment on his part that the team was in such disarray.
I heard this after watching her son bobble the first hit of the game, a slow grounder toward the second base side of short.

Her son, Billy, couldn't make the play because the ball remained trapped inside of his glove-the bright red Rawlings outfield baseball glove. Looking more closely, I could see the glove had a certain appeal to it. The problem as far as I could tell is that the glove did not match her son or the position. The glove was way too big for a short stop.

Brandon, on the other hand was using a First baseman's glove, one his mother claimed he loved. According to her, it hinged easily and the break in period had been less than a day. His confidence was obvious when, in the second inning, he ran down a fly ball, snagged it over his head, a rather difficult feat for any player at any age, but long arms and an even longer glove helped, I am sure.

Infielders gloves are typically shorter than an outfielder baseball glove. I explained this to both baseball mom's, but they insisted they were right about the choices.

Billy made another spectacular dive for a line drive and although he caught it when he slid on his side to the right, he was unable to find the ball once he made the play. In the seventh, he booted another routine grounder, again because he was using the wrong glove. An open web design glove is just wrong for the infield. The pocket is too deep and once the ball is trapped in there, a player is on a hunting expedition trying to locate the darn thing.

I did agree with both mom's about the coach and wondered why he let his center fielder use a first baseman's glove and why he permitted an outfielders glove at short. Perhaps the ladies were right, but the longer I sat in the stands, the more I was grateful for the opportunity not to coach. Coaching kids means coaching parents and a bit of empathy was felt for Brandon and Billy's coach.