being julio heyward
(part four)


for one day, at least, the fairy tale is still very much intact.

"AND THIS STADIUM IS UPSIDE DOWN!!!"

that was one of the many calls of jason heyward's first major-league at bat after he had stroked the home run that may end up defining the dawn of the new era.

over 53 thousand fans were in attendance at turner field yesterday and the reports read that the vast majority of them were chanting heyward's name as he walked into the batters box for his first at-bat.

think about that for a second. you are twenty years old. you are a top-level professional in the same organization that harvested one of the top two african-american baseball players ever. you take the ceremonial first pitch from that guy, hammerin' hank aaron. the moment drips with symbolism. the proverbial torch is already passed. and you haven't even played in your first real game yet!!! 53 thousand fans are in the stands on a perfect april afternoon. many of those thousands are only in the park because they've heard the buzz surrounding you. remember when i talked about transcendence a couple weeks ago? well, thousands of people taking off of work or school and paying money to come and watch you play baseball merely because they heard you might be the second coming of somebody their fathers used to pay to see play counts as "exhibit A".

you hear your name being chanted by 50 thousand fans but you are able to not listen to them. you are able to focus. you take a couple pitches to gauge velocity and get your timing. and with your first freaking swing, you make yourself the story of opening day.

your team wins. you knocked in four runs. you got the post-game interview. the shaving cream in the locker room. truckloads of news fans. you may have just awakened half a city's worth of fairweather braves followers. with one swing of a baseball bat.

for one day, the fairy tale is still very much intact.

i'll say.