I saw this picture today while I was supposed to be working. While it may seem like a wonderful representation of the beauty and simplicity of youth sports in America (which it obviously is), it is also a picture of one of the best pitchers of our generation. This is Tim Lincecum of the World Champion Giants somewhere between the ages of 1 and 15, so if you thought it looked familiar, it's probably because nothing has changed in the last ten years or so for this guy.
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One of my favorite things about sports is that it's something that people do from the beginning of their lives without many changes taking place. Accountants don't become accountants at age three, but kids do start playing ball around that time. In this regard, athletes are artists. They don't need someone to pay them in order for them to do something. Love comes first. Money comes second. That's why I was so excited to see this picture. This is akin to seeing Rembrandt with an 8 pack of Crayolas, of Beethoven playing a piano like Schroeder plays in Peanuts, of Charles Dickens writing a letter to Santa (or of Barack Obama stealing candy from the kids who had trick-or-treated for hours on Halloween and giving it to the kids who didn't want to go out in the first place). I'm sure that none of those three decided at the age of 22 that they were going to paint or compose or write. The art had been inside of them the whole time, just like pitching had been inside Young Timmy.
P.S. If anybody has any pictures of Michael Jordan dunking on a little tykes hoop, Tiger Woods playing mini golf, or Michael Vick wrestling with his dog, let me know.
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