Blog Bat Around: My Once In A Lifetime

David over at Indians Baseball Cards And Random Wax has started a new Blog Bat Around topic.

This round is entitled, "My Once in Lifetime" and what I'd like to hear is your dream MLB appearance. Let's pretend that for one game, maybe even for one at-bat and one fielding turn, YOU got to be in the majors, the Big Show, the Bigs. What team's uniform would you like to wear? What number would you want? What position would you play? Who would you like to face (both at the plate and in the field against you)? What do you think would *really* happen during your one shot? What would you *like* to happen during your one shot?

OK, here goes something.
We've all dreamed of playing in the majors and either hitting the winning home run in the World Series or striking out the final batter to win the World Series. Some have lofty goals of breaking records and Hall of Fame enshrinement. Me? I just want to play.

I would want to play for the Chicago White Sox, although playing for any team would be a dream come true. At my present age of 34, my dream is over. No team wants a 34 year old rookie with no minor league experience. Not even the Washington Nationals. For the sake of argument, let's play along. These are dreams, you know.

I was a very good hitter as a kid. I literally had to teach myself how to foul a pitch back because my batting eye and swing didn't allow it and I wanted to do exactly what I saw every MLB player do, which included fouling pitches back. That small desire at emulating my baseball heroes cost me my swing and I never pursued any amateur avenues as a kid, which I now regret. While I did play in thousands of pickup games, I was never part of any organized league. No Little League. No school teams. Nada.

That's not to say that no one recognized the raw talent. I was stubborn and had a plethora of other interests. I will always consider that my biggest regret as a child. Now, we'll throw all of that out the window.

I'm not greedy. I would relish being a bench player. I would imagine a scenario where the White Sox were either ahead or behind by a great margin and I would pinch hit for one of the regulars, more than likely, a catcher or an outfielder, since those were the two positions I played the most.

I could picture being sent to the plate in a June game, at home, at night, probably in the eighth or ninth inning. I'm not sure what team I would have a preference facing, but I'll pick the Kansas City Royals, only because it seemed like I saw the Royals the most as a teenager, in the early days of Comiskey II. Plus, they are divisional rivals and it would be one of the most likely teams to face.

Since the score would be lopsided, I would probably be facing a mop up guy from the bullpen. In my dreams, I would probably smoke a ball down the line, possibly up the middle, past a diving infielder. In reality, I'd probably hit a high pop up to an infielder in my only at-bat.

If I were to stay in the game, and play the field, they would probably stick me in the outfield. In my dreams, I would make a nice diving catch. In reality, I would probably be hoping that the ball wouldn't come my way. This is only based on the fact that I haven't played much pickup games in the past few years, so I would be a bit rusty.

What would happen after that? I would get a pension for playing in a game, which would be a great prize. The real joy would be in seeing my name in the all-time roster of White Sox players. I would get a big kick out of someone actually wanting my autograph. I would have a great story to tell friends and family for the rest of my life. That would really be something.