Got the start in RF as a young guy on a 14-15 year old all star team, and missed not one, but two fly balls in the top of the first. It was my first time playing outfield, and also my first time wearing contact lenses during a game, and it was at night. I knew during warmups I was in way over my head, because I couldn't get a bead on any fly balls until they were halfway to me. I was praying nobody would hit it my way....so of course as luck would have it two of the first three hitters hit it to me. I told my coach to pull me after that inning because I knew I wasn't going to be able to track any fly balls all night long. Talk about embarrassing.

To top it all off, the very next all star season on the same field, I came in as a pinch hitter late in a game after having pitched the game before, and was playing out of position again at second base. Our team was winning with two outs in the top of the final inning, with a man on first. The batter hit a ground ball to me, and just as the ball arrived, the runner on first crossed in front of me, and I thought for sure I was going to miss the ball. I managed to catch it, but was so thrown off by the runner that I double-clutched the throw, bouncing it to first base. The first baseman missed it, the ball went all the way to the fence along the first base side, and the runner on first wound up at third, I believe. The next hitter doubled or tripled as I recall, and we ended up losing in walk-off fashion later that half-inning. Talk about wanting to crawl into a hole. I'm feeling depressed just reminiscing about it.

That was definitely the low point of my athletic career.