First Click of the Trip

My son played college baseball at York University in Nebraska. At the time, I had become used to driving to his games to shoot doubleheaders on weekends, wherever his team played. It was the impetus for what would become my College Sports Photography business. During the regular season, I had a schedule and could plan my trips to different cities, but after the season ended, the NCAA's selection committee picked the schools that would compete in the postseason for the National Championship. It was a very exciting time for the nation's elite teams.

He calls me up the following Tuesday and says, "Dad, we just got selected to play in the regionals in Lubbock, Texas, on Thursday." So I said, "Great. This is terrific." So I start making plans and pack up all my gear to get ready for the road trip. My ritual was always the same. I drive alone. I don’t like people coming with me to games who might risk me missing anything and mess with my shooting experience. But on this trip, I got a call from a crazy baseball friend, someone who invested lots of support for my son over the years, someone who begged me to come along. “No problem, Tony. I’ll be ready at 5 am. Needless to say, something came up, and he couldn’t leave till 4 pm. What was a once well-planned, rest-included road trip turned into driving 22 consecutive hours from L A to Lubbock.

We made it to Lubbock, but I had forgotten to take the time change into consideration. So while I thought I was going to have two hours to watch my son hit in batting practice and take pictures of him and all of his buddies in the dugout and all that, well, I'm getting there, and they're playing the national anthem. Frantically, I grab my camera, I jump out of my car, buy my ticket, and they stamp my hand. The whole time I'm setting the settings on my camera, not knowing if they're the right settings. I have a ballpark (haha) idea. I hustle down the tunnel just in time to hear the stadium announcer blurt out, “ Batting fifth, the catcher, Matthew Berru.” There were two on and two out, he's coming to the plate, and I'm just getting out of the tunnel. The pitcher waits as Matt straightens out his batting gloves and finally gets into the batter’s box. I whip my camera up and do my best to focus on him. There's no time. This is happening. First pitch, BOOM! Yes, that's him hitting a three-run home run in the first inning.

Meanwhile, my friend has finally managed to buy his ticket and is coming out of the tunnel into the stadium. “What did I miss?” I just smiled at him and said, “It’s okay, George….We can go home now. I got what I wanted."

The first click of my trip was the best shot of the trip.