My Funny Audioplay About Kids’ Baseball
by Garret Mathew
You enjoy little kids’ baseball. Maybe a child or a grandchild plays. Maybe you were a pee-wee second basemen back in the day, and you savor the memories. Maybe you have no personal connection, and just like to sit on the end of the bleachers and take in a game.
But you’re bummed out. In most places, the pandemic put an end to the 2020 season.
You enjoy attending live theater, but you’re bummed out. Across the country, the pandemic effectively shuttered playhouses. It could be well into next year before many venues open their doors.
Maybe I can help fill this void, at least a little.
I have written a 32-minute audio play – “Swing, Batta†— about a bunch of little kids playing baseball for the Belcher Tire Emporium Cubs. You can’t go to the theater right now, but you can access https://youtu.be/t5G8BtLPqSo or search Swing Batta by Garret Mathews. For more background, access the Facebook page at @SwingBattaPlay.
I’m retired from writing the metro column for the Evansville, Ind., Courier & Press. In a 39-year career that started in West Virginia, I penned more than 6,500 features and columns on every subject from murderers and moonshiners to the members of a snake-handling church. I’ve had one-act plays in the IndyFringe Festival every year since 2015. My legacy website can be accessed at www.pluggerpublishing.com. It has links to my favorite columns as well as my writing on Appalachia and the civil rights movement.
My 12 books include “Swing, Batta†about coaching 9-year-old baseball players that was published by the Michigan State University Press and received a nice review in The New York Times.
The audio play is based on the book. Much of what happens in the G-rated project took place during the several years I coached at this level when our boys were younger. The players are quite real. No angels in this outfield. One boy has cystic fibrosis. Another is a budding scientist who asks if he can dissect a baseball. The fun-loving coach encourages the boys to come up with their own team names for practice games (Snottybutts versus Navel Lints), and asks unsuspecting players to search the equipment bag for a three-two pitch.
I’m making no effort to monetize “Swing, Batta.†I’m 71 years old and, frankly, this is just something I wanted to do. If you think I’m onto something, please consider spreading the word.
Thank you.
Garret Mathew
mailto:garretmath@gmail.com
