Playing The Hot Corner

Never Gonna Come Back Down – BT/M. Doughty

I stood in front of my locker at the Metrodome, already wrapped and dressed up in everything but my jersey, jumping up and down in an effort to calm myself.

“Easy, Jess,” Joe chuckled.

“You’re telling me this on my first opening day ever and you expect me to listen to you?” I took my jersey off of the hanger and ran my fingers along the edges of the lettering and numbers on the back: Parker, 19.

“I know, I know. I was nervous as hell, too, babe.”

“Babe?” Kevin Slowey said as he passed, almost testing the nickname. “I like that. Whaddya say that’s her new nickname?” he asked Carlos.

“Already done. Jesse, you better answer when we call you Babe, okay?” Carlos called over to me.

“Now look what you did,” I groaned to Joe. He shrugged.

“I actually like it. It works because you always swing for the fences like Babe Ruth did.”

“You’re comparing me to him? Come on, I’m not that good. No way.” I slid the jersey on and started buttoning it up and tucking it in. “But I’m not going to be able to stop you anyway, am I?”

“Of course not. They’re why I’m stuck with being called Cuddy,” Michael Cuddyer said from across the room.

I laughed and turned back to my locker. I looked at my phone to find two texts from Kaitlyn and Courtney, both reading the same thing.

WE LOVE YOU AND MISS YOU! ROCK THEIR NAVY BLUE SOCKS OFF.

I sent back a message saying thanks and that we wore navy blue socks too.

“All right, guys. Ready?” Justin said to the whole clubhouse. “Let’s go, guys and Babe.”

“Not you too!” I cried as we started jogging out to the field.

“Just like you were stuck with rookie, you’re stuck with Babe.”

I sighed. “Babe it is.”

~

The adrenaline was almost too much. My first game in two months shy of a year, back with Joe and a ton of awesome new teammates, breaking the rules of the MLB on Opening day. Kevin was pitching to Joe, Justin was on first, and I was at third. The Seattle Mariners were our opponents on Opening day, and by the eighth inning, we were down by two. Carlos Silva was pitching for them, and I felt I was getting a pretty good handle on his pitches. I’d gotten a single earlier in the game, and figured I could do a little more with my third up-to-bat and start putting my RBI numbers up. Jason Kubel and Carlos Gomez were on second and third, and it was a perfect opportunity.

The fourth pitch he threw to me was maybe the best pitch I’d ever seen. I swung as hard as I possibly could and it felt like nothing when I heard the thwock of the bat on the ball. It immediately soared out of the infield and rose even further; I started trotting down the first base line, knowing that it was either going to be caught or it would be my first ever Major League home run.

It ended up being the second.

I stood in shock at first base, staring at the upper deck where the ball had landed.

“Hey, Jesse,” Jerry White, the first base coach, said, laughing as he did. “You can round the bases now.”

I woke up from my trance and started back around the bases. I could only imagine what Bert was saying up in the box – he and Dick Bremer, the Twins announcers since I had started watching games when I was little, were probably laughing at me standing there, stunned at my first homer.

I rounded third and saw most of the guys off of the bench and at home to greet me. I landed with both feet on the plate and was immediately the recipient of a ton of congratulations. In the heat of the moment, I had forgotten that my three-run homer had put us ahead on the scoreboard.

Joe wrapped me in a hug while the guys were crowded around us and whispered in my ear, “Welcome to the Twins, babe.” We started heading back to the dugout and Joe and I did our traditional handshake for the first time in a long time, just like we always had: hand smack, glove smack, and a jumping shoulder bump.

“How come we don’t have a handshake?” Justin asked as I chugged half of a Gatorade.

“Let’s make one.” I stood back up and faced Justin. “Okay…how about this. Fist bump, then follow through and come back for an elbow bump, and a fist pump.”

“With a knee up.”

“Perfect! Try it.” We aced it, Michael laughing at our ridiculousness.

I ended up getting the final out, snagging a line drive that would have gone right in between Brendan Harris and me if I had let it past.

“Mr. Parker?” a cameraman called, coming up to me. “Do you mind having a few words with Qwest Twins Live before you head back into the clubhouse?”

“For sure.”

The interviewer came over and in a second, cued the cameraman in.

“How does it feel to have your first opening day game over with?”

“You know, it’s good that all the nerves are done with and stuff, but it was such an awesome experience. If I could, I would do it again anytime.”

“So you’re the youngest starter on the team this year. How does that affect you?”

I laughed a little. “Yeah, youngest by one day. Um, I don’t think it affects me that much. I mean, these guys have a ton more games under their belt and everything, but being the youngest doesn’t change anything except being a little nervous, so it really doesn’t affect me.”

“By one day?”

“I’m younger than Joe Mauer by just one day.”

“And you’re starting for the Minnesota Twins at 18. How’s that working out?”

I shook my head, still amazed whenever anyone said that. “It’s totally sublime. I couldn’t ask for anything more. Playing the best game in the world with these awesome guys at my side…It’s unbelieveable.”

“So do you think you can make it as the new hometown hero?”

“No way,” I scoffed. “I couldn’t -”

I was interrupted by the shouts of my teammates behind me. I couldn’t turn around in time to see what they were doing, but I figured it out once the icy cold Gatorade hit my shoulders and neck.

“Ack!” I cried, my voice cracking. “Excuse me.”

The interviewer laughed. “Go for it.”

“I’m gonna get you!” I shouted, running after the fleeing Joe, Justin, and Michael.

~

A few minutes later, I headed to the clubhouse to get my soaking wet uniform off. I was already unbuttoning my jersey when I heard Joe’s voice behind me.

“Hey, Jess!”

I shouted again and whipped around with enough force to throw myself off balance and I fell to the ground, landing square on my butt.

“So you’re still as clumsy as ever, huh?”

“Kaitlyn?” I yelled in surprise.

“What about me?” Courtney squealed.

“OH MY GOD YOU GUYS!” I ran for them and took each of them in an arm, hugging them tight.

“By the way, Jess,” Kaitlyn said. “You have the nicest guy for a best friend in the world. I thought I’d let you know that.”

“Who, him?” I asked, gesturing to Joe. “Yeah, I know. He’s always like that.”

“He contacted us and got us awesome seats on the third base line and everything. Biggest sweetie ever.”

Joe glanced at Courtney, going a little red. He was never great with compliments, usually just shaking them off and moving on.

“So how’d you like the game?”

“It was awesome, miss Home Run Hitter!”