Remote Control Pitching Machine
I love baseball.
I don’t know why, exactly, except I always found the game fun. I love baseball so much that while I was quite a shy child, I was on a little league team called ‘The Reds’ as a little kid (6-8-ish or 9?). It was the best! I got to play left field and because our village was so small, the teams were made up of kids from other villages in the county, co-ed and a mixture of different elementary ages. It was awesome for me!
See, in our little village in Ohio each rival little league team was a different color. It was a BIG deal what ‘color’ team you were ‘drafted’ although they did give a special exception to siblings (which is how my brother and I ended up on the same team.) Ohio also happens to have a professional baseball team called the Cincinnati Reds, so you would have thought it would have been ‘cool’ to be on The Reds local team.
Nope. We were the WORST LITTLE LEAGUE team and everyone knew it. No one wanted to be on the Reds, but my brother had been on the team (who was actually a good player) and I was drafted with him. It was sponsored by the local beer carry-out. Yup, our shirts were the color red with a drive thru beer sponsor on the back. Classy.
But, guess what, that was ok! My crush ended up on the same team. Yes, even little kids have secret little crushes. He was older, he was the best hitter and he also was my friend. So – it was ALL GOOD! I seriously could have cared less about playing the game after seeing him on the team. Le sigh! I even tried to find our old team picture, which I just clearly was laughing with him at some silly little joke we had going on as the photographer tried to capture a real group picture…….oh, Momma’s Bacon *shaking my head*…..
But, even though I could play decent baseball, I was quite preoccupied with this boy and let my silliness take over but I did play a good game when I could *ahem* pay attention! He was quite beautiful. So, I just sucked out in left field and watched and sighed as my boy crush stepped up to the plate or caught a pop fly. It didn’t matter if I played well, I just liked showing up and gawking.
My mom did manage to find this picture and that is me waving at the camera during one of our village’s festivals. Yup, that is THE main street in the village. As you can see, I was the left fielder and actually could hustle when needed. Ha! You can’t see my ‘crush’ in this picture, though. Sorry! But, look at that lovely 80s mustache a la my cool coach!
Now it wasn’t all just me crushing on a boy the whole time, I learned SO MUCH (*side wink*) in the dugout; The Diarrhea Cha Cha Cha song, learning the best way to bust a Gatorade bottle (no, I will NOT share on here, so don’t get any ideas, kids!) and learning how to fake ‘chew’ bubble gum (ok, and candy cigarettes, too – hey, it wasn’t that big o’ deal back then to give your kids ‘fake’ cigarettes….). I probably would have kept playing except we moved to a new city where girls and little league didn’t mix as well with the boys as The Reds.
I still love the game of baseball and forgot how much I loved to play until we got this machine. I mean, it’s cool for our whole family.
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention. My husband is also bat-nuts crazy about baseball, especially the Cleveland Indians. Crazy enough to actually BUY a paver stone brick in the memorial section of Jacob’s-oops, I mean Progessive- Field years ago when we had the chance. We didn’t have the money to do it, really….but our love of HISTORY and BASEBALL coming together in a stadium and baseball team we loved – well, enough said. Some things are more important than money.
Like this:
WOW! Here’s our brick! Go check it out next time you are in Cleveland, Ohio! My parents went to Progressive Field to find our brick which we have never even seen in person yet (we were living in Texas when it was installed)! It’s located in Heritage Park, which is out in Center field by the Jim Hegan and Steve O’Neill monuments on Level 2. Check it out.
So, we love this Lazer Pitch Baseball machine as a family gift. Brooke is already starting to learn to swing and (sometimes…) hit a ball on the ‘beginnger’ soft ball lobs. Yeah, that rules. It sure beats the old tee ball and stick we had back in the day. And, it’s cool enough that even Bob and I can get those faster balls to try out our stuff!
More Info on the Lazer Pitch Baseball:
- Lazer Pitch Baseball includes pitching machine, 26 inch remote control bat and 5 balls; Unique RC bat lets you control the timing of each pitch
- The red light tells you when the pitch is coming. Pitches up to 25 feet
- Adjustable pitching angle includes a 90 degree pop-up angle perfect for beginners
- Auto mode shoots pitches every eight seconds for use with any bat
- Unit requires 4 “D” and 1″9V” batteries, not included; Designed for children 5+
Tip! This didn’t work out so well in our tiny backyard rental, but worked perfectly in one of Austin’s big parks! So fun! Someday I hope to have a big backyard to use this all the time, but it is actually both very mobile (if you have at least a mid-size vehicle) which was a pleasant surprise for us, so renters check it out, too.
List Price: $ 54.99
Momma's Bacon 