It All Started with Baseball

Chapter 3: Meeting the Boys

Scotty and I stood in our front yard talking to each other when Benny walked up to us.

"Hey," Benny said. "I'm gonna play some ball. We need some extra guys. You guys wanna go?"

"No," Scotty replied before I could. "Thanks."

"Why not? Don't you like baseball?" Benny asked.

"Yeah," I said, turning to look at my little brother. "Why not?"

"Oh, yeah, but-," Scotty started, getting lost in thought.

"But what?" Benny asked.

"But my glove-it's busted," Scotty said, showing Benny his busted up glove. "Uh, see? Now I can't go. Thanks, though."

"It's okay," Benny smiled. "I got an extra one."

I smiled.

Benny was so sweet.

"Come on," Benny gestured his arm for us to follow him. "Let's go."

"One second," I said as Scotty and I ran up to our front door.

We opened the screen door and yelled inside.

"Mom, we're gonna go play some ball!" We yelled in unison.

"We'll be back in a little while," I added before we shut the screen door.

"Come on," Benny called as we ran over to him. "Let's go."

We followed Benny to their baseball field where a couple of the boys were talking.

"And I'm Babe Ruth."

"Listen. Ready?" A boy with glasses said. "Check this out."

He pushes his face up with his hand and then continues talking.

"I'm the Great Bambino," The boy said, muffled.

"What?" The boys asked, confused.

"I'm the Great Bambino," The boy with glasses repeated, his face still scrunched up.

"What?" The boys asked again, still confused.

The boy with glasses stopped scrunching his face.

"I'm the Great Bambino."

"Oh!"

"Who's that?"

I turned to my brother to see him looking at the boys confused.

How did my brother not know who the Great Bambino was? The Babe Ruth? His name was literally on my favorite cap that I wore all the time.

I turned to see all the boys staring at my brother with shocked looks. They were just about as shocked as I was.

"What did he say?"

"What, were you born in a barn, man?"

"Yeah, what planet are you from?"

"You never heard of the Sultan of Swat?"

"The Titan of Terror?"

"The Colossus of Clout?"

"The Colossus of Clout!" One of the boys repeated.

"The King of Crash, man," Benny joined in, looking at Scotty.

"Oh, yeah, the Great Bambino," Scotty nodded. "Of course. I thought you said, 'the Great Bambi.' That wimpy deer? Yeah. I guess. Sorry."

The way Scotty said that he knew who the Great Bambino was made me feel sure that he didn't know who Babe Ruth really was and was pretending that he did because he wanted to fit in. I decided to let it go and not question him about it.