By Greg McCorkle

The Red Star Pizza company was likely a happy and jubilant place on Saturday.

Two of the Pony League teams they sponsor won their respective league titles Saturday afternoon at Riverview Park in West Seattle. In the Mustang League the Red Star Pizza team beat the team from Alki Lumber 6-5 and over on the adjacent field the Red Star Pizza Pinto League team defeated the team from Tom’s Automotive 10-2. The kids couldn’t wait for the awards ceremony to end so they could reward themselves with pizza and sodas provided by their sponsor.

When I was ten playing baseball was everything. Putting that uniform on was a transformative moment for me. I became Mickey Mantle, my boyhood hero. Striding out onto the field I felt ten feet tall, the master of my world. And that world was a simple place. No school, no parental rules, just the game. And in the game everything is possible. Dreams can be fulfilled in the ballpark like no other place for a young person.

The crack of the bat contacting the ball sets in motion a dreamy scenario. Feet making contact with the bag as the turn is made toward the next base. The defense, reacting to the play, races to the correct position to cut off the runner, cleats churning up the grass releasing that unmistakable smell that says summer. Rounding third base focusing on that point on the diamond where destiny happens. The shouts of “Slide! Slide!” from the coaches’ prompts the normally unnatural act of diving head first onto a hard surface. But that doesn’t matter because all you see is home plate and destiny. That’s the place that creates legends in a young person’s reality. As I watched both games I saw in every players eyes the reality of that better place where the moment is prefect and all dreams are possible.

Congratulations to the teams from Red Star Pizza and all of the young players that aspire to Americas past time.

Stay forever young and keep the dream alive.