A Phenom in the Driveway (One Sixty-Two: Day 99)

Writer’s note: One Sixty-Two is a season-long series of blog posts connecting baseball’s major-league players to life’s universal themes. Just as there are 162 games in a season, so there will be 162 posts in this series. Let’s play some ball.

Day Ninety-Nine: Ryan Braun, Milwaukee Brewers

I was walking the dog outside my parents’ house, but my gaze quickly strayed beyond the leash. I could not keep my eyes off the Wiffle Ball game going on across the street. Now for full disclosure, I must tell you that the pitcher in this game was wearing a bikini. But for the full story, you must know that this pitcher was tossing balls on a driveway to her son, a youngster no older than 8. And the most eye-catching piece of all was the frequency with which this boy was smacking his mom’s offerings into the street.

He held the plastic yellow bat in a perfect right-handed stance, then met each pitch with a smooth, level swing that allowed the laws of physics to ricochet the white ball past his mom’s outstretched arms. Over and over, he met the ball with that free and easy swing, connecting right in the middle of the bat’s barrel. The boy’s grandpa was manning centerfield in the street, as there was no way this batting practice could continue without some defensive help.

When you watch baseball phenoms appear on the major-league stage – men such as Ryan Braun of the Brewers, who has dominated the game from his very first week in Milwaukee three years ago – you wonder what they looked like playing ball as kids. Did their immense gifts reveal themselves when they were in diapers? Stride Rite shoes? Air Jordans? How long did it take to see the budding greatness?

I would imagine that the signs appear at different stages for different players, and I know for sure that these skills are nurtured in a variety of ways. But this morning, on a quiet street at the Jersey Shore, I may have glimpsed a gifted young ballplayer discovering his talents on a cement driveway. And my, did he make it look easy.