When we were in our early 40's, my sister-in-law called and talked to our middle daughter about a new Co-Ed Slow Pitch Softball League that was being created in my hometown, about 40 miles from where we lived then. She proposed that we form a team made up only of family members.
Our daughter liked the idea so much that she pressured us to participate. I was still playing competitively at the time, so I was more than willing. My wife, however, had never played in an organized league in her life. But our daughter was very persistent. She was able to get her mom to agree by stressing the family time we would be able to enjoy in the hour trip to get to the game, and the hour getting home, not to mention the time with the extended family.
We decided on Bandits as our team name, bought sharp team shirts for all of us; we really had big plans for the season! Our youngest team member was 16 the oldest was 66!
The rules of the league were that the batting order had to alternate genders. And the infield had to have 2 females, the same for the outfield (there are 10 players on a slow pitch team). We were designated as visitors in our first game, meaning we batted first.
My wife was our first hitter. Our youngest daughter had a video camera rolling for this monumental moment in my wife's athletic career. She hit a ball to the third baseman. The girl fielded the ball cleanly, but her throw to first was too high and got over the head of the first baseman, all the way to the fence.
My wife stepped on first and turned to head to second. But she went down hard, cried out, and grabbed her right knee. By the time I got to her, she was crying. She had torn her anterior cruciate ligament!
It is all on video, you can come by and watch it if you like. It won't take long, only 45 seconds! That means that the surgery cost us over $200 per second of my wife's entire career! And that is not counting the entry fees we paid the league and the shirts we bought!
That is a true story. Can you top it?
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