It was Jack's ninth birthday and he was in charge of the festivies after our tour of Yankee Stadium. Jack wanted to play a pick-up game of baseball with his friends. Along with the adults in attendance, I think we had about 16 to 18 players at any given time during the game. Not bad!

Then, after eating dinner and birthday cake and watching Jack open his birthday presents, we played whiffle ball. Ah yes, I played so much whiffle ball as a kid and teenager, that I probably could have turned pro if there was ever a whiffle ball league!

Our field was made entirely of concrete next to the side of a Catholic church and school building. As surely as anyone knows who plays these games in the city, one "makes do" with what one has.

Below are my pictures from the two events. I think we all had a memorable day!

All the best,
-Steve

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Twitter: @SteveGarufi

Right Photo: Jack leans and gazes at his chocolate birthday cake with squiggly candles.

	Baseball Game I played a lot in the outfield and started in left field for the first inning. (left photo) I also captured the view from third base. (bottom photo)
	I stood behind the batter's cage and photographed the kid on the left fouling of a pitch. I do not remember if the right batter made contact with that pitch. ;)
	Brian slowly approaches third base as a base runner.
	Another photo behind the cage.
	The one and only Jack wearing all of his catching gear in the left photo. He wore a Jorge Posada Yankees jersey too! I also captured a shot of him swinging through on this pitch.
	Starting here, the next six photos were taken by my younger brother Mark. As you can see, he is a premier photographer and puts me to shame! :p)
	Swinging through.
	Looks like he has good form!
	Oh dear, talk about bad form! Notice how I was on my tippy toes after my follow through in the right photo. Not good! I do want to get on the record that I had a couple of really impressive line drive smashes into left field. They were impressive line drives ... It reminded me of Dave Winfield when he would smash the ball for an extra base hit! :)
	Final Score: Jack's Team 13, The Other Team 12 Uncle Jimmy was named the MVP of the game. His hustle, clutch hitting and base running were very admirable. We played six full innings and in the bottom of the sixth, Jack's team trailed 12-9. (I was on the opposing team.) Jack's team began to rally with a few hits and it was 12-11 with two outs and runners on first and second base. I was in left field but snuck in toward the edge of the infield between the shortstop and second base. My intuiton to lean in was correct because the batter hit a swift ground ball past the shortstop and close to second base. I ran as hard as I could toward it and got my glove on the speeding, bouncing ball ... but I couldn't catch it cleanly. I bobbled it for what seemed like an eternity before it fell to the ground. If I caught that ball cleanly, I would have easily reached second base for a force out to end the game. Instead, one runner had scored to tie the game. On the next play, the batter singled to right field and Uncle Jimmy slid head first into home plate to score the winning run. Oh I was so happy for Jack's team ... after all, it was Jack's birthday! The bottom photo is what Uncle Jimmy looked like after the game. This man sacrificed his navy blue shirt and jeans for his team. Way to go!

Whiffle Ball Game I think whiffle ball is one of my all-time favorite backyard games. I snapped these five photos in succession of him hitting the ball and running to first base. (First base was a crack in the sidewalk. Second base was the second tree. Third base was the post for a stairbase. And home was the gray sidewalk.) If you slowly scroll down and stare at the right photos, it will kind of look like Mark is in action as he hit and ran. :) Since I have a lot of space here, below are my other pages with my brother Mark: Wine Glass Music South Korea China Thailand Snakehead Mahjong
Three photos of me hitting.
I stood behind Jack, the pitcher, to capture this shot.
Caroline shows off her New York Yankee pride. Thank heavens there are no Mets or Boston Cry Sox fans in my immediate family! :p)