Let Leon be the Lesson

We were all afraid of Leon. He just seemed bigger, stronger and faster than all of us. I think his dad owned a grocery store and Leon was eating up the profits. I also think he was a year older than we were, but nobody actually had the courage to check his identification. (the fact that he drove to Little League was a clue) Heck, the kid was shaving already (it seemed) and our voices hadn't even changed yet. Perhaps that's what made him such a dominant pitcher in Little League: no fancy stuff, just heat. We would swing weakly three times and sit down, breathing a sigh of relief. Word was that he'd seriously maimed some kid who wanted to "take one for the team" on an inside fastball.
Thus it is that I usderstand the New Haven, Connecticut, parents who don't want their children facing Jericho Scott in Little League. Getting hit by a baseball really, really hurts, and it could scar a kid literally and figuratively for life. OK, I get that part...it's the rest I don't get, and Leon will help explain why I don't get it.
In case you missed it, Jericho's Little League team was doing very well against the competition because he is a very good pitcher: nothing fancy, just heat. And that, according to parents, is why their children should not have to face him: he's just too good! So good, in fact, that he had NEVER hit a batter all year. This 9-yr. old in a 8-9-10 yr. old league was blowing everyone away...mind you, it was the parents who were upset. League president and ownmer/manager (I suspect) of Carlito's Barber Shop team insisted that Jericho could play only if he did not pitch. For one game, all was well, but it didn't seem fair to Jericho's coach, so two games later, Jericho was back on the bump...at which time the other team left the field and went home (presumably without the post-game ice cream). Within a week, Jericho's entire team was banned from further league play, and the only game they could get was against their parents.
Shame on you, New Haven helicopter parents. Let Leon prove how wrong you are.
We faced Leon throughout Little League and into Pony League (the stop before American Legion). WE didn't whine...our parents didn't protest. They said things like, "You'll get him next time," and "Maybe he'll be on vacation when you guys play again." But we continued to whiff away...until I figured it out. As a baseball-crazed kid, I watched big leaguers give tips, read insatiably about the game and came to understand something very important: Leon really didn't throw that hard. He had a menacing look and a very demonstrative windup, but if I watched the ball all the way from his hand like the major-leaguers said, he was actually VERY hittable. So much so that I got three extra base hits off his pitching in one game...this infuriated him so much that he actually threw his glove on the ground and made faces at me. I merely smiled. I knew that he would never, could never dominate me again, and it was a highlight of my baseball career. Those kids in New Haven will never get to have the satisfaction of overcoming their parents' fears. Every Leon (think global economy!) they ever face will dominate them, and they will never understand why. There are no more Leons in my life, and I have the real Leon to thank.