I was sitting in the dugout before the start of a local high school tournament game Tuesday evening… just going over some assignment notes and collecting my thoughts before game time. I wasn’t really paying much attention to what was going on around me until I noticed this young man in the dugout with me. For some reason, he caught my attention. He was probably the son of a coach, or maybe a little brother of one of the team members. He was dressed out in his baseball uniform just like the rest of the team. I grabbed my camera and snapped this photo of him standing behind the dugout fence watching the team warm up on the field. Then I started thinking…

This kid is the reason professional baseball exists. He’s the fan. He’s gonna play little league baseball while he’s watching his favorite pros on TV. He’s also gonna buy replica jerseys with Pujols or Jeter written on the back one day… He doesn’t know what a salary cap is… or Rule 5… or Tommy John surgery… or about owners and middle management. What he does know is who autographed his baseball cards… who shook his hand…

Who knows…

It was just intriguing to watch him and then write my own story about what may be going through his mind…

Art of the Game, Sports