From the Sidelines
Sports reporter
When junior Clayton Garnica homered to right field in Friday's 9-2 victory against Hoisington, it reminded me of my first home run.
I was 14, playing summer ball, and it was a short fence.
It didn't matter to me. Once it cleared the wall I had achieved the ultimate baseball goal: hitting a home run.
My dad always said when you hit a home run look like you've done it before. In other words, get around the bases in a timely matter, and don't show up the pitcher by flexing your biceps as you jog around the bases.
Well, I hadn't done it before so I wasn't sure what to do.
Since I didn't have any biceps to flex anyway, that was out of the question. I was told I took about five minutes to get around the bases.
Funny thing is, when you hit a home run, circle the bases, wait for all your teammates to pound you on your helmet, and go to the dugout to sit down, you almost forget what just happened. You try to remember all the thoughts that just sped through your mind and what kind of pitch it was, but it's all just kind of jumbled together.
Hitting a home run is such a surreal feeling, it's hard to actually explain how you feel when you hit one.
Unless you're my friend Justin who hit about 50 home runs growing up and it really was just another day at the park.
Well, that first one, and the five that followed, were not just another day in the park for me. They were special occasions that I held on to by collecting each one and writing the date and how many runners were on base at the time.
Hopefully someone tracked down Clayton's home run ball and gave it to him.
He needs something to remind him of the feat, because he probably won't remember it.
