Jay Kersting's Blog

As many of you know, I am the father of two great boys.  Alex, 10, is a smart, funny, hard working young man that most adults find to be quite polite and friendly.  That is always a compliment.  Kathy has done a great job raising him.  I am not sure that I deserve the credit.  Ben, 8, is also smart and funny, but he is a completely different personality.  He has Aspergers Disorder, a form of autism, that gives him a quirkier personality.  He is charming, adults like him, he likes adults.  Other children don't always warm up to him.  He is different, but he doesn't seem to care.  He is so smart and determined, that he will be a success in whatever he sets his mind to. 

Now that you have the background, let me get to my story.  This is about Alex.

Alex started playing baseball last fall, before his 10th Birthday.  He, as you would expect, was not very good when he got started.  Who is?  Baseball is not a sport of true naturals in my opinion.  It is a very complex game.  In any case, he improved a bunch during his fall season and he loved the game.  This spring, he again played baseball. 

The spring season is a bit different.  They have a basic skills assessment followed by a coaches draft.  Again with his lack of experience, he did not get a lot of attention.  One thing that I taught Alex, and this is based upon my experience in sports, was to push himself as hard as he can and to have a positive attitude.  Those are traits that coaches love and that his teammates may catch on to.  (In my case, I tried that on a basketball team that did not win a game in the two years before i joined them.  We did not win ANY games during my two years with the team either.  But, my enthusiasm got me named team captain on four occasions.)

Alex went this year from being a below average player on a good team, to being an average player on a very good team.  He did not get a lot of playing time late in the season.  The coach told me that this would be the case during the tournament season, but I thought he did not get as much as he had earned.  Alex was never bothered by it.  He ran out to help warm up the outfielders between innings, he led cheers in the dugout.  I then figured that if Alex was OK with his role, then I should be too.  As it turned out, he ended up getting more playing time as the city tournament went on.

So Monday night, Alex's team was in the semi finals of the Knoxville City 10 and under Tournament.  They were also shorthanded.  Three players, who also did much of their pitching, were out.  They only had nine players as the game began.  The Cardinals, Alex's team, fell behind early.  A tenth player arrived after they had fallen down by four runs.  Alex was rotated in and out of the game at that point.  The Cardinals came back and won the game 14-6.  They had to play another game to win the Knoxville City Championship.

This game was against a hated rival. This may be a bit strong, but it seemed like Chiefs-Raiders, Tennessee-Alabama, USC-ucla, Celtics-Lakers, Army-Navy, you name the rivalry, this one ranks up there.  The team was the winner of their regular season league, the Rocky Hill Dodgers.  So, it was the battle of Rocky Hill.  The first game was a Cardinals win.  The second game went to the Dodgers.  The third game was in the Rocky Hill Invitational Tournament, where the Cardinals and Dodgers hosted three "travelling" teams, or as I like to call them, junior professional teams.  The Dodgers won that game in an absolute rout.  It was something like 16-1.  Alex did not get to play because they ran out of time before they thought about substituting him in to the game.  That game was only nine days earlier.

Alex started again, this time in Centerfield (he was in left in the first game). The Cardinals fell early, trailing 3 to 1.  Alex, in his first at bat, made it to first base by hitting in to a fielders choice that got their lead runner.  He stole second base.  (The runner at second went a pitch earlier, so it was not a double steal.)  The batter hit deep into the outfield, Alex hit third and headed for home.  I am not completely clear as to why, but he had to dive for the plate, either he missed the plate, or was trying to avoid the catcher who he thought, but really did not, had the ball.  In any case, he got back up with a pronounced limp.  He hobbled to the dugout, everyone is giving him high fives, his coaches are praising him.  Alex was in pain.  I did not know how much.  I talked to him through the dugout, then I ran to get him some ice for his knees.  Soon after I got him the ice, the half inning was over and his coach decided to substitute him out. 

The Dodgers scored more runs, so did the Cardinals, but the game was soon into the sixth inning.  Throughout this time, I was helping Alex work to make sure he knee was OK.  His coach had told him that he could not substitute him back in until the sixth.  So, here it was.  I asked him if he thought he could play.  He told his coach that he could.  So, for the top of the sixth inning, Alex was in right field.  Since he ran out there, I ran around the field to make sure he was OK.  He was.  The Cardinals dispatched the Dodgers pretty easily in the top of the sixth, but the still trailed 10 to 7. 

Well, the Cards chipped away at the lead.  It was tied at 10.  Alex was "in the hole" waiting to bat.  I told him, half jokingly, that I hope he didn't get to bat.  I told him that I hoped the game was over before that happened.  Well, the Dodgers hit Aaron Mullins, the Cards first baseman, in the helmet.  Now, the bases were loaded.  There were two outs.  And Alex came up to the plate.  Jacob Meyers is a small and very quick young man.  He was at third base.  I was nervous as I have ever been.  Kathy was as well.  Alex was cool.  He listened to his coach.  He stepped up to the plate.  A ground out put them into extra innings.....and they really had no pitching left.....a pop out, same thing.  Alex knew that he needed to help his team by getting one of three things.  First, he could draw a walk.  That is something he has done many times this season.  Second, he could do what the Kersting family has called the "Suarez" and get hit by a pitch.  (Alex Suarez holds the UT Vols career hit by pitch record.)  We used "Suarez" as a code word.  Early in the season, he was terrified of getting hit by a pitch.  Not any longer.  In fact, he took one for the team on the Friday night game.  The third option was to hope to draw a wild pitch or passed ball.  In youth baseball, you do this by crowding the plate and the catcher. 

This is what Alex did.  He stood dang near on top of the plate.  He stood in the back of the batters box.  And he drew the wild pitch.  He backed out of the box to get away from the play.  By an odd bounce of the ball, he ended up "gumming up" the works for the Dodgers.  Jacob easily made it home. CARDINALS WIN!!! 

Earlier in the night, I told Alex that this would be something he would remember for all of his life.  I told him that when I was his age, I lived in a town of 2000.  He is in a city of 200,000.  I never really won anything is what I told him.  I lied, but not intentionally.  I actually won the high jump in the summer track program when I was 11.  But, nothing like this. 

So, am I proud that his team won?  Sure.  But that is not the real reason why I call myself a proud father today.  Alex cheered his team on during both games.  He got hurt and pushed to get himself back in the game.  But, when it came time for him to come to the plate, with the game on the line.  Two outs, last inning, ties score, bases loaded.  He did not go for the glory of the big hit.  He took a pitch that let someone else get the attention.

In doing so, he put team above himself once again.  That is Alex.  Maybe I did teach him something worthwhile.  Maybe I have helped raise him right. 

I am proud of him.  I once heard that sports do not build character, but instead, sports reveal character.  I think a LOT was revealed about Alex last night.

I am proud of Ben as well.  I will tell you about him next.  His story is very different.  Because Alex and Ben are very different boys.  I would not have them any other way.