Baseball is a game with a lot of what I call stop-n-go action. You can watch a game for a long time and nothing much seems to happen. But close your eyes or blink just at the wrong time and you can miss very exciting action!
There is nothing more exciting than a play at the plate. For non-baseball fans, this simply means a play at home plate when the catcher is trying to tag out a base runner. I suppose it doesn’t hurt that in our family our son, James, is a catcher. I know I’m just as proud as any other father, but James is a great catcher. He receives and blocks well, has a good arm to second base, is throwing out more and more base-stealers, and is not afraid to put his nose into the middle of a play at home plate with a sliding base runner crashing toward him.
Here is one photo I took of him last week. As you can see, the play is at the plate and he is attempting to tag the runner out. This is the action I mean when I say there is nothing more exciting in baseball than a play at the plate. Does this photograph exude action and excitement to you? Will the base runner be safe or will he be out? Will the tag be put on in time or with the player sliding into the plate avoid the tag? In the end, this play resulted in the umpire calling the runner out! James then tossed the ball to the pitcher’s mound and turned to go into his dugout to get ready to hit.
You gotta love the action at the plate! Don’t you think? (Click on the photo to see a larger sized image with more detail)
