Weekend at St. Mike's

CLANG! That is the sound of a Sean Pidgeon fastball sailing over the batter, catcher, and umpire’s head, colliding full throttle with the backstop fence. Well, the sound is not exactly like that, but “clang!” is the damn closest approximation our beautiful English language affords us in describing an event that must be seen to be appreciated.

CLANG had been in hibernation for over three years, since I formally retired from organized baseball following that final St. Michael’s versus Middlebury game my senior year of college in May 2003. This past weekend, though, the time came. It was time to break out the cleats, the flip-up sunglasses, my Wal-Mart imitation UnderArmour, and take to the ball field. For, Sunday September 17 marked the first annual alumni baseball game at St. Mike’s.

A game summary is not what I offer you, dear reader. One can find that in the New York Times, USA Today, or, if not there, in a random paragraph tucked into the corner of page 8 of the Burlington Free Press sports section, underneath the high school Cross Country results. What I give you is a few tidbits of observation.

(1) St. Mike’s decided to schedule Alumni Weekend and Family Weekend for the same weekend. I don’t know; maybe enrollment is too high, and the administration believes parents will pull their children out of school after watching the way we alumni behave, stumbling around Winooski and Burlington.

(2) There are a lot of very attractive young women on campus. Really, a lot. I couldn’t keep my eyes on the baseball field during the alumni game. Where did the college recruiters find them? And, where were all these pretty girls from 1999-2003, while I was a student? Apparently, admissions standards have been raised.

(3) I, Sean Pidgeon, the holder of one official at-bat as an NCAA Baseball Player (a ground out to 2nd; yes I remember), get sent up to the plate to hit. And, hit I do. A curveball hit me square on my leg, sending me into a number of hops on my jog down to first base. Rumor out there has it that my at-bat is circulating on video via the internet.

(4) With over 1,000 days rest, my arm was very fresh. The ball was popping out of my hand. Like always, I still had no idea where it was going to go each time I let it rip. I vary between blowing a fastball by a hitter and plunking a hitter in the back. My 2/3 of an inning on the mound went pretty well, I think. Two walks, a pop up, a grounder back to me, causing me to hesitate over whether to throw to third or first for a force out (I settled on third), and two or three pitches sailing to the backstop.

(5) It was great getting together with old friends this past weekend, having a few drinks and a few laughs. I need to do things like this more often.