The Ball Game at Pamplin City
I was told a story of a great ball game that was never recorded, and the ball players were never put into Baseball's Hall of Fame. But I think it is a game worth mentioning.
Bill Terry was just a young lad in the early 1930s, when he and his friends of Pamplin City, Virginia decided to have a ball game. But there were some obstacles they had to overcome first. They had neither ball nor bat. But Bill Terry being an industrious lad came up with the remedy. He would make a ball and bat. They couldn't let a little lack stop the game!
For the ball Bill cut a knot out of a Dogwood tree trunk, rounded it off with his pocketknife, then found a board from the slab-pile for the bat. The game was now ready to begin! But Bill insisted that since he made the ball, and designed the slab bat that he should be allowed to be the pitcher. All agreed. The batter was up. Bill was winding the ball for the great pitch. First ball thrown was a direct hit, that is right smack in the middle of Bill's forehead. When the ball found its mark Bill was out like a light! When he finally came to, all his fellow teammates was standing over their great inventor/pitcher. Without any words he jumped up to his feet, ran all the way home to his Mama.
Bill said that all his teammates had to sum the ball game up that day in Pamplin City as: one hit, one out, one run. The ball was hit. Bill was out. His run was to home. And the game was over! We all can learn a great lesson from that ball game in Pamplin City. Learn to overcome obstacles, work together as a team, but remember the game may be over for today, but tomorrow is a whole new ball-game. Don't count yourself out just because of one direct hit!