It was a Friday morning, although it was early, it wasn't too early, I could hear the sound of a new fresh morning, the birds chirping, people walking their dogs. I could see the fresh morning dew on the ground, and there was some sort of a relaxing breeze in summer morning air. My parents were stuffing our belongings in the new Hyundai Elantra preparing for our seven hour drive up to Cooperstown, New York. I was headed down to play in the Cooperstown Dreams park baseball tournament and I was ecstatic, I had gone the year before, but this time I was twelve! I was bigger, stronger, and this would be the last year I was able to compete and I wanted to make the best of it.

We got into the silver car and pulled out of our small, poorly paved drive way and we were off. It was a beautiful day, people were getting an early start, mowing their lawns, trimming their hedges. I had my window down so the smell of freshly cut grass filled my nostrils. The air conditioners were on high and the car cooled down quickly. Before long we were off of the streets and onto the turnpike. By that time I was less interested in the road and more focused on resting. I knew it was a long week ahead of me and I just wanted to get as much rest as I possibly could. From that point on, I don't really remember anything.

I awoke when we were already in Massachusetts. I awoke with an empty stomach and I needed something to eat or else I wouldn't have made it the remaining five hours we had to go. We pulled into a rather clean highway plaza in Lowell. We got out of the car and the temperature changed immediately. I almost considered getting right back into the cool car and forgetting about our lunch, but I persevered through the blistering heat and I'm glad I did. It wasn't very busy, yet it wasn't completely dead. I ordered a Philly cheese steak from D'angelos and went to go find a seat. It was a comfortable temperature inside the plaza, I could feel the tiny drops of sweat freeze in place from the fierce air from the ACs'.

We were there for about a half hour and the longer we stayed the busier it got. When we all finished our lunch, it was time for the dreaded journey back to the car through the heat. We made it safely back to the car, surprisingly, and again, we continued our travels on the road to Cooperstown.


I must have fell asleep again because the next thing I remember was passing a sign saying next exit, Albany. Excitement rushed through my body, all of a sudden everything got hot, I was bouncing up and down in my seat, sweating, I absolutely could not wait to get there. I couldn't believe we were finally in New York, we were getting so close I could already hear the batted ball thump across the ground, I could already feel the perfect pitch coming out of my hands, I couldn't wait. It was another solid half hour before we got off the highway, and another half hour before we finally arrived at the Clarion Hotel in Oneanta. Oneanta was where my parents were staying for the week. I helped my parents unload the vehicle and bring their baggage and suitcases up to their room.

The Clarion was a nice little Hotel in the middle of down town Oneanta. While we were checking in, the smell of chlorine wafted over towards me from the pool area. The smell was rather strong for a pool that size, but I didn't really think too much about it. After we checked in and unloaded my parents luggage, we carried onward towards Cooperstown. Our destination was only fifteen minutes away but it seemed like an hour, every second seemed like a minute, Cooperstown could not have come soon enough.

We drove over a hill, and on our way down, I could see it. In all of its beauty, twenty-one fields, fifty-two white rectangular barracks, and right in the middle of it all, a beautiful little pond with a fountain placed perfectly in the middle, and an excruciatingly long line of cars. Every inch of this place was beautiful, I didn't mind the long line of cars, I was just happy we were here.

It was about a ten minute wait before we got to the gates, we told the woman there we were with the Maine Black Flies and then proceeded to give them some kind of paper work they needed for me to play. She told us that my team was staying in the barrack number eight. Hearing this, I was overcome by joy, every second I was here, I got more and more excited. I was really looking forward to playing baseball, and I thought for sure I was going to hit a homerun.

I was the third one there, my other two teammates had already finished unpacking their sleeping bags and suitcases and they were sifting through their pins. Pins were a Cooperstown tradition, when the kids weren't playing baseball, they were trading pins. Each team had a pin which represented their own team. Our pin happened to be the one to get, they was something special about carrying something everyone wanted in your pocket, it makes you feel big, powerful.

The next five days went lightning quick. We played a total of nine games, six of them were pool games to see where we'd be seeded. With the 1-5 record we managed to place one hundred-second out of the one hundred four teams there. Our next three games were amazing. Out on the field I felt the hard work. Our next three games we played the fifty-second, twenty-seventh and fifteenth ranked teams, and against the odds we beat the first two teams, and just barley lost to the third. Despite losing, we were all very proud of ourselves that we made it to where we were.

The next day they continued the play offs and also had the championship game. We weren't in it, but part of all of us wanted to stay because if we hadn't, we would have felt we were missing something.

I was walking back to the barracks that night, A green American youth baseball hall of fame ring on one hand, and I realized, this was the last time I would walk back ever again. I took my time and thought to myself, I may not of hit a homerun, threw a no hitter, but I still had a great time. I made friends that I would have for life, memories that I would cherish forever. After thinking about all this I then said to myself.... Isn't that all that really matters in the end.