What would my 11year old self say?

Tim Teufel made my weekend!

My favorite player when I was a child was Wally Backman, second baseman for the New York Mets. He platooned with Tim Teufel. So when Teufel played, Backman did not. Translation – I did not like Tim Teufel.
Why did I love Wally Backman so much? Because he played hard, got dirty, and was shorter than the other players. Maybe I felt a kinship.

On Sunday, I participated in the inaugural Mets Women’s Baseball Clinic at Citi Field. There were five stations participants went to – Pitching (led by Ricky Bones), Outfield (led by Tom Goodwin – more on him tomorrow:), hitting (led by Bob Geren), Running (led by a lovely man who did a wonderful job running the entire event- unfortunately, he didn’t wear a jersey with his name on the back:) and Infield (led by Tim Teufel).

All the coaches were great. But Tim Teufel was extraordinary!  He observed me fielding and said “not bad”, then instructed me how to improve. The next time he watched me, he said “That deserves a fist bump!” He was genuinely pleased with my effort.  I was thrilled!

After the session, he was kind enough to take a picture with me.

My younger self wouldn’t be happy but I had a great weekend because of Tim Teufel.

Thank you Tim Teufel!  And Happy Birthday!

(P.S. – One of the main characters, Lily, in my mystery series, is a big Mets fan and key scenes occur at Citi Field.  Learn more at amazon.com/author/arkennedy.)