When Jason’s dad taught him how to hit,
the boy insisted on reversing his batting grip,
top hand where the bottom should be.
The boy complained that the other way,
the right way, as his dad angrily repeated,
wasn’t comfortable, and constantly missed
the ball when not batting cross-handed,
often on purpose, his dad thought.
"You’ll break your wrist swinging that way,"
his dad would shout, shaking his head.
In Jason’s third little league game, he hit
a screaming liner to the left field corner,
but broke his wrist in the process.
"Always listen to your dad," his father,
a lifetime .200 hitter, said at the hospital.
It was a painful, career ending injury.
But Jason really got into swimming
at the rehab and eventually got
a scholarship to UCLA.