A pearl of wisdom

 The Little League World Series is happening in Williamsport, Pa., right now, yesterday the Atlanta Braves and Cleveland Guardians were there to sign autographs and interact with their surrogate younger selves prior to playing a game there this weekend. 

This is always one of my favorite parts of the LLWS, because the big leaguers get to reminisce like they're 70-year-olds instead of 20-or-30-somethings, and also because of the advice they pass on to the Little Leaguers. Mostly it's just mundane stuff like "have fun" and "try your hardest", but occasionally there's a gem that's truly inspired.

(And, no, not "Avoid the clap," which is what Tom Hanks' drunken manager Jimmy Dugan wrote on a kid's baseball in "A League Of Their Own.")

In this case it was Guardians' pitcher Foster Griffin who came up with the pearl of wisdom. When asked what advice he'd give the Little Leaguers, he replied "Don't dig holes in the outfield and have fun."

Don't dig holes in the outfield! Well, who among us can't relate to THAT?

I certainly can because I spent a lot of time in the outfield in my tragic youth baseball days. More accurately, I spent a lot of time in left field, where I was least likely to turn routine fly balls into triples. That's because most of the kids I played with were right-handed, and at that age none of them could pull the ball to save their lives.

So left field was where I went to contemplate life and look for four-leaf clovers. I suppose if I'd gotten bored enough, I might have dug a hole or two out there, but frankly it never occurred to me. This makes me wonder if Foster Griffin ever dug a hole or two in the outfield, because that piece of advice seemed oddly specific.

I also wish there'd been at least one wisenheimer Little Leaguer who would have replied to Griffin's advice thusly: "But if I can't dig holes in the outfield, how am I supposed to have FUN?"

Beauty.