Peter's 1st Home Run — Michael Macedo

Jul 26

Jul 26 Peter's 1st Home Run

On July 14th, 2013, history was made on this field.

Peter, Adrian & I were here playing baseball that summer day. The sun was blaring & the Houston heat was in full effect. But, we didn't care.

I was on the mound pitching. Peter was up to bat. Normally, this match up has been pretty one-sided. I usually dominate Peter with my wide array of pitches.

This time was different, though.

During the at bat, Peter sat back & waited for his pitch. I thought I had Peter set up to blow a fastball by him. But, I was wrong. It was the exact pitch he wanted. He put the barrel of the bat on it & drove the ball to deep left field.

Adrian was playing defense in left field & raced back to the fence at full speed. He leaped an attempt to get the out but, the ball was just beyond his reach. It hit the top of the fence & bounced over.

Being the sore loser that I am, I immediately challenged the call of a home run. I argued that the ball hit below the yellow line & therefore the play should be ruled as a ground rule double.

Having almost caught the ball, Adrian had the best view of the play. He verified that it did actually hit the top of the fence & bounced over. The original ruling of the play was confirmed.

After almost 10 years of playing, Peter had officially hit is first home run.

I've kept the ball out of play ever since. Once we finished playing that day, I got Peter to sign the ball for me. After all, it was a historic event.

Roughly 3 years later...

I was going through things at my house when I found the ball. All of the memories from that day came flooding back.

It hit me right then that this ball shouldn't be with me. It belonged with Peter.

Javier was celebrating his birthday & house warming by having a party at this place a few days later. It was the perfect cover to use to surprise Peter with the ball.

I hit up Peter to make sure he was going to Javier's party. I pretended to be automated text messaging service during this whole conversation.

With Peter's attendance confirmed, I got a display case for the ball & created a plaque detailing it's story.

Then, I waited.

On April 30th, 2016, at Javier's birthday / house warming party, I returned the ball back to Peter. It was a prestigious ceremony that involved me handing over the ball & plaque wrapped in the fanciest bag I own, a Mi Tienda grocery bag.