Baseball and Bad Guys

Bubba recently turned 3 and has been a bit more interested in "playing". He now regularly asks me, "Dada, you want to play with me?" My answer to this question is always "Yes", but as I work from home I often have to tell him we'll play after nap or a little later. This afternoon I asked him if he wanted to play catch in the front yard. I think 3 is a pretty good age to learn to catch a baseball (I think that's probably when my dad started with me). Here was our conversation.

Me: Bubba you want to play catch?
Bubba: Sure! (I love when he answers this way)
Me: Okay, you go get your glove and I'll go get mine.
Bubba: No dada, you come get mine with me.
Me: Okay.

We go to his room to get his glove and start walking down the stairs.

Bubba: Dada, you be the bad guy?
Me: Be the what?
Bubba: You be the bad guy?
Me: Bubba, there are no bad guys in baseball.
Bubba: Dada, you be the bad guy and I'll be the little guy.
Me: Okay?

We go outside to play catch. To my surprise and delight Bubba put his glove on the right hand (which is his right hand) and then proceeds to throw me the ball. He looks right at me with his "serious face" and says, "Dada, I'm the bad guy." He takes an over exaggerated wind up with a high pitcher's leg kick and throws (at 3 and approximately 3 feet this is always fun to watch). However, the ball nor his hand ever leaves the glove. His glove and throw hand stays with his follow-threw and he sort of just plops his glove and ball on the ground. Then with a sort of slow motion 360 twist around he pretends to fall down from dizziness and lays down on the sidewalk. He then looks up at me with a dirt smudge now on his cheek from the ground and says, "I was the bad guy."

And then it hit me. It was his over exaggerated throw that gave him away...

He was mimicking Lefty, the less than honest pitcher for the Chicago Cub's that steals Darlin, Babe Ruth's bat in order to win the World Series in the must see animated movie "Everyone's Hero". Lefty is the "bad guy" and Yankee Irving, the young hero that takes on a quest to steal Darlin back is the "little guy". Seriously this kid amazes me. He sucks up information and remembers things that just blow my mind.

Apparently there are bad guys in baseball...who knew?

Lefty (aka Bad Guy)

Yankee (aka "Little Guy")