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Message: [QUOTE="sun, post: 5027449, member: 11664"] It happened around 1970, my last year playing little league with the Dodgers. The coached asked me to play catcher because I was small & quick. The league was set up so that the team that won the 1st round would play the team that won the 2nd round for the league championship. The team was issued a new baseball bat that season, a beautiful 31" flame treated Louisville Slugger with dark brown lines in the grain & a molded textured plastic sleeve on the handle. I loved that bat because it felt just right in my hands. The 1st round the Dodgers finished 0-7, but we won the 2nd round with a record of 7-0 & had to play the Phillies in the championship game. The Phillies starting pitcher was a real flame thrower. You had to be on your toes to make contact with one of his pitches. But as a catcher, I saw so many pitches everyy game that it made me a really good hitter. All I know is that when I was at bat around the 3rd or 4th inning, I swung as hard as I could and the ball sailed high & deep over the center field fence for a home run. Up until then that game was a pitcher's duel with no score, & when the ball sailed the Dodgers fans erupted & I became the hero of the game. The home run was a blessed miracle, it would have never sailed that far if the pitch wasn't so fast, & because I swung so hard & hit the ball exactly on the sweet spot on the bat. After touching the plate, one of the coaches asked me, "How did you manage to do that?" And I told him I don't really know because I didn't feel a thing, no vibration in the bat or anything, the ball just hit the sweet spot & sailed. Every little leaguer dreams about hitting a home run over the fence. I didn't know it at the time but the only explanation is that God can make miracles happen. After that event most of my life has been rather anti-climatic because nothing could ever top being able to fulfill the dream of a young boy.....except for maybe other miracles. But boy, did I love that bat. It was the cat's meow! I can still envision that bat. The only thing that was missing was the thunderbolt! Smack! There goes the ball, sailing over the fence by the Grace of God! [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach