Errors will always happen in baseball, it can’t be played without them. If you have ever played the game you will know what I’m talking about. When you make an error it feels like the whole team is mad at you and is talking bad about you under their breath. Errors are like mistakes in other sports called turnovers. They also usually decide games as well; they are kind of a momentum boaster for the other team. At the end of the game you feel bad about errors while the other team likes them and takes advantage of them by trying and scoring runs. I committed the worst error ever three years ago during a freshman baseball game. It wasn’t a game deciding error either, it was way worst.

A ball wasn’t hit to the outfield all day. Every inning I would run out there just to stand for three outs then run right back in. That repeated every inning, getting an at bat ever once in a while too. It got so boring that I was actually talking to Kyle in the outfield during innings and, we talked about everything except baseball. “This is boring” Kyle said. I agreed with him “Yea we haven’t had a ball hit to us all day.” One inning we actually played catch with two balls while Jon warmed up since we were so bored to death. Doing this during the game help us from being bored but kept taking us farther and farther away from the game. It was getting so bad that I wasn’t even looking at every pitch in fact, even if the ball was hit I would know where it was hit to. What I didn’t know was that a ball would be hit to me and it would be one of the most important catches I would ever try and make. Jon got through the inning again without a hit or walk. That was the 4th inning of being perfect. Only two more innings and Jon would have a perfect game. We came in and batted, we scored a lot of runs that game they were not that good.

Finally we went back out for the 5th inning but, who knew that that would be the inning where the perfect game would be broken up. Pop! Jon was still pitching with a lot of velocity and hitting all his targets. He didn’t even come close to walking someone, let alone throw 3 balls to the batter. Up came the first batter of the inning, he was pretty short and scrawny. Judging by his size the outfield moved in. Jon winded up and pitched a strike. The batter swung at the next pitch late, and there he was already down 2-0 to Jon. He wound up and pitched a fastball, strike three! The next batter was there leadoff hitting. We knew that he could hit the ball pretty well therefore, we backed up a little.  He indeed could hit because the very next pitch Jon threw he hit very high and far. Good thing it was foul immediately, this caught my attention so I’d be ready if it was hit to me. Jon pitched two straight balls and the count was 1-2. The next pitch was a fast ball, the kid smacked it hard on the ground and, it looked like a sure single but Kobe caught it on a hop at 3rd base and made a good throw to get the second out. Four more outs and Jon would have his first ever perfect game. The next batter was a bigger guy and he had grounded out the time before so he was actually seeing Jon’s pitches pretty well. During his at bat I don’t remember to much I was talking to Kyle in the outfield and wasn’t really paying to close of attention, since we were talking about everything but the game and all I remember is a loud crack!

Crack! The ball was hit right to me in the air. I stopped talking to Kyle and looked for the ball. I ran forward a little and stretched my glove out, reaching for the ball. It was going to be close. The ball hit my glove then fell. It slowly hit the ground. My heart dropped. I had dropped the ball. I hurried up and found the ball on the ground and threw it back in. I remember thinking that everyone was staring at me and mumbling something under their breath. The crowd even seemed like they were disappointed. I now wanted the game to be over as fast as ever so I could go home and do something else to get my mind off of the error. Jon struck the next guy out on three pitches. Running back into the dugout I kind of felt scared of what Jon and the coaches would say about my error. They were pretty upset at me too. Jon acted like it wasn’t a big deal but I could tell it mattered to him. It made me feel like a real jerk. I went back out for the 6th and final inning feeling pretty sad I knew that the game was ruined. John got the final three guys out with ease and was still pretty pumped. He had thrown his first ever no-hitter and he didn’t look too disappointed about losing the perfect game. After the game I remember going straight home and feeling so bad knowing that it was all my fault. I hope that that feeling never comes to me again. I felt sick to my stomach the whole rest of the day.

In the end it was a good learning experience and ever since then I have learned to pay attention more during the game. Maybe if I did then I would have caught the ball. I am still called “drop ball” by my friends because of the incident. The error shaped me a lot since it was the worst error eve, and has made me a better baseball player.