Projo Offbeat Blog

The old baseball scout with the crooked hands of a catcher sat in a lawn chair on the edge of the park eyeing a prospect.

The scout watched the prospect run to his left and snatch the bouncing ball, then he smiled as the prospect sprinted 10 yards to his right, jumped and grabbed another ball out of the air.

"That boy can run," the old scout said, pausing to spit tobacco juice onto the grass between his feet.

"But can he hit?," asked a bystander.

"With speed like that, he don' have to hit much," the old scout said. "Jus' get his bat on
the ball, and he's down to first base before you can say Willie Mays. Then he can steal second, third and home."

"Doesn't look like he can throw," the bystander said.

"I don' care if he throws like Johnny Damon," the scout said. "He's so fast he can get the ball and run it to the base before most players get halfway down the line."

"I guess you'd know."

"That's right. I been watching ball at this park for years, long before they replaced the diamond with a doggie park, and this is the best prospect I've seen in days."

The old scout looked up in time to see his newest prospect drop the ball at his owner's feet, sit down and wag his tail. The prospect's long tongue was hanging over his teeth and out of the side of his mouth.

"This boy really has a passion for playing ball," the old scout said.

"Yeah, kids do, too."

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