A baseball story we all need to read, it will make you cry and smile

This read will take some time but it will be well worth the time it takes you to finish and there is a reward at the end and there will be test later in the day and another tomorrow. We face them every day and this will help you get ready for what’s due up next……..

Two Choices

What would you do?….you make the choice. Don’t look
for a punch line, there isn’t one. Read it anyway. My
question is: Would you have made the same choice?

At a fundraising dinner for a school that serves children
with learning disabilities, the father of one of the
students delivered a speech that would never be forgotten by
all who attended. After extolling the school and
its dedicated staff, he offered a question:

‘When not interfered with by outside influences,
everything nature does, is done with perfection.

Yet my son, Shay, cannot learn things as other children do.
He cannot understand things as other children do.

Where is the natural order of things in my son?’

The audience was stilled by the query.

The father continued. ‘I believe that when a child
like Shay, who was mentally and physically disabled comes
into the world, an opportunity to realize true human nature
presents itself, and it comes in the way other people treat
that child.’

Then he told the following story:

Shay and I had walked past a park where some boys Shay
knew were playing baseball. Shay asked, ‘Do you think
they’ll let me play?’ I knew that most of the boys
would not want someone like Shay on their team, but as a
father I also understood that if my son were allowed to
play, it would give him a much-needed sense of belonging
and some confidence to be accepted by others in spite of his
handicaps.

I approached one of the boys on the field and asked (not
expecting much) if Shay could play. The boy looked around
for guidance and said, ‘We’re losing by six runs
and the game is in the eighth inning. I guess he can be on
our team and we’ll try to put him in to bat in the
ninth inning.’

Shay struggled over to the team’s bench and, with a
broad smile, put on a team shirt. I watched with a small
tear in my eye and warmth in my heart. The boys saw my joy
at my son being accepted.

In the bottom of the eighth inning, Shay’s team scored
a few runs but was still behind by three.

In the top of the ninth inning, Shay put on a glove and
played in the right field. Even though no hits came his way,
he was obviously ecstatic just to be in the game and on the
field, grinning from ear to ear as I waved to him from the
stands.

In the bottom of the ninth inning, Shay’s team scored
again.

Now, with two outs and the bases loaded, the potential
winning run was on base and Shay was scheduled to be next at
bat.

At this juncture, do they let Shay bat and give away their
chance to win the game?

Surprisingly, Shay was given the bat. Everyone knew that
a hit was all but impossible because Shay didn’t even
know how to hold the bat properly, much less connect with
the ball.

However, as Shay stepped up to the plate, the pitcher,
recognizing that the other team was putting winning aside
for this moment in Shay’s life, moved in a few steps
to lob the ball in softly so Shay could at least make
contact.

The first pitch came and Shay swung clumsily and missed.

The pitcher again took a few steps forward to toss the
ball softly towards Shay.
As the pitch came in, Shay swung at the ball and hit a slow
ground ball right back to the pitcher.

The game would now be over.

The pitcher picked up the soft grounder and could have
easily thrown the ball to the first baseman.

Shay would have been out and that would have been the end
of the game.

Instead, the pitcher threw the ball right over the first
baseman’s head, out of reach of all team mates.

Everyone from the stands and both teams started yelling,
‘Shay, run to first!

Run to first!’

Never in his life had Shay ever run that far, but he made
it to first base.

He scampered down the baseline, wide-eyed and startled.

Everyone yelled, ‘Run to second, run to second!’

Catc hing his breath, Shay awkwardly ran towards second,
gleaming and struggling to make it to the base.

B y the time Shay rounded towards second base, the right
fielder had the ball, the smallest guy on their team who
now had his first chance to be the hero for his team.

He could have thrown the ball to the second-baseman for the
tag, but he understood the pitcher’s intentions so he,
too, intentionally threw the ball high and far over the
third-baseman’s head.

Shay ran toward third base deliriously as the runners ahead
of him circled the bases toward home.

All were screaming, ‘Shay, Shay, Shay, all the Way
Shay’

Shay reached third base because the opposing shortstop
ran to help him by turning him in the direction of third
base, and shouted, ‘Run to third! Shay, run to third!’

As Shay rounded third, the boys from both teams, and the
spectators, were on their feet screaming, ‘Shay, run
home! Run home!’

Shay ran to home, stepped on the plate, and was cheered
as the hero who hit the grand slam and won the game for his
team.

‘That day’, said the father softly with tears now
rolling down his face, ‘the boys from both teams
helped bring a piece of true love and humanity into this
world.’

Shay didn’t make it to another summer. He died that
winter, having never forgotten being the hero and making me
so happy, and coming home and seeing his Mother tearfully
embrace her little hero of the day!

AND NOW A LITTLE FOOT NOTE TO THIS STORY:

We all send thousands of jokes through the e-mail without a
second thought, but when it comes to sending messages
about life choices, people hesitate.

The crude, vulgar, and often obscene pass freely through
cyberspace, but public discussion about decency is too often
suppressed in our schools and workplaces.

If you’re thinking about forwarding this message,
chances are that you’re probably sorting out the
people in your address book who aren’t the
‘appropriate’ ones to receive this type of message
Well, the person who sent you this believes that we all
can make a difference.

We all have thousands of opportunities every single day
to help realize the ‘natural order of things.’

So many seemingly trivial interactions between two people
present us with a choice:

Do we pass along a little s park of love and humanity or
do we pass up those opportunities and leave the world a
little bit colder in the process?

A wise man once said every society is judged by how it
treats it’s least fortunate amongst them.

You now have two choices:

1. Delete

2. Forward

May your day, be a Shay Day.

One thought on “A baseball story we all need to read, it will make you cry and smile

  1. Sometimes kids do get it right!!! We as adults should learn from them in this case. Very touching, and yes it does bring a tear to my eye!

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