I have always loved playing baseball and softball, both as a kid and an adult. One thing for sure, I have always been an outfielder. I tried playing infield, as I suppose all kids do at one time or another, but I never got along with ground balls. Since I'm fairly small I've always been pretty fast, which made it easy to cover lots of ground. I found myself in left field in most games I played, even the pick-up games I played as a kid. My first great catch came when I was eleven years old. We were playing at the field in front of Guardian Angels Church in Edison, near where I grew up. I remember that an older kid, Ralph, was up and he hit a long fly ball over my head. I immediately took off, losing site of the ball. Suddenly, as I looked up, I spotted the ball sailing away from me. I kept running, see Carl run, I raised my glove as the ball began to drop and BANG! It landed squarely in my mitt. I was so excited and when I turned I realize that the big kid who hit it was now running toward me. He was so mad that I made the catch he was going to extract his vengeance. But fortunately for me his older brother had been a witness to the hit and the catch and he was following close behind. The older brother tackled his sibling and proceeded to sit on him and calm him down and said to him "don't be mad at Carl, he just made one of the great catches of his life"—my first to be exact.
The second catch came a number of years later. I was playing for Peterson's Guides' coed softball team. I was around 28 years old. It was a play off game and it was hotly contested. We were behind at this particular point in the game and one of their best hitters was up with one out and a runner on second. Early in the count he hit a foul ball toward the left side that easily went 300 feet. Needless to say, it went well past me so his at bat continued. But now I was prepared. I moved back a good bit in preparation for his next attempt. Sure enough, he hit the next pitch, but to my surprise it was well over my head. Just as 17 years earlier, I took off. I kept running as fast as I could. Run Carl run. I was on a full sprint, I raised my head and glove and, fortunately for me, the ball was in my view heading right toward me. Without slowing, I extended my arm fully and BANG. I remember jumping in the air. It seemed like I went a mile up. I let out a yell and when I came down I had the sense to turn and throw the ball toward second. The runner who had been occupying the base had touched home and was heading toward the bench. He felt the ball would never be caught. Double play—number two was in the book.
Some years later, I was playing softball for another coed team, The cool thing about this catch was that it was witnessed by the center fielder from the Peterson's team. He was playing on another field for another team and was just a few feet from me. He got a chance to see two of my great catches. Basically, the catch resembled the other two. One thing that made it interesting was that the field, at Rider University, was cut out of very tall grasses in the back of the campus. The catch was made just before I reached the edge of the field so my momentum carried me into grasses over my head. When I emerged, I had the ball in my hand. I could still hear the BANG when it hit my glove—number three.
One thing I can safely say is I'm confident that number four is out there waiting for me.
