When we were teenagers, Cade, Cory, and I shared one large bedroom that included the entire attic area of our house (except for a storage area that was later converted to a bathroom).
One day, we were upstairs in the bedroom. Cory was playing with a rubber baseball. We started tossing the ball back and forth. I was at the end of the room by Cory's bed. I squatted down into a catcher's stance and put up my hands. Then I told Cory to pitch one to me. He was at the other end of the room between Cade and my beds (about 20 feet away).
Cory got into a pitcher stance, checked signs, wound up, and pitched a fastball to me.
I had my hands in front of my face to catch the ball. However, I was not wearing a catcher's mitt. The ball hit right between my hands and smacked me directly in the middle of my face.
Here are a few things I learned from this experience...
- Cory could throw the ball pretty hard.
- The short distance between Cory and me when he threw the ball did not allow me much time to see and react to catching the ball.
- I probably should have used a mitt because the ball went right past my thumb and forefinger where the webbing of a catcher's mitt would have caught the ball.
- Getting smacked in the face with a rubber ball hurts.
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