By Part 3 of the Dugout throwback trilogy, the ghosts are getting impatient. Shoeless Joe and the rest of the Black Sox are perfectly content to exist in their eternal cornfield, playing clean baseball at last, free from gamblers, guilt, and headlines. Ray, however, cannot let it go. While everyone else just wants to hit, field, and exist in peace, he keeps circling back to feelings, turning a simple afterlife pickup game into an endless therapy session. What follows is a clash between baseball’s purest spirits and one man’s inability to stop monologuing about dad stuff when there is clearly a game to be played.
*** Now chatting in #FieldOfWhy ***
ShoelessButOnline: hello again
we are once more attempting to play baseball
please refrain from emotional breakthroughs until after batting practice
EightMenOutOfPocket: agreed
we just finished raking the infield
it is very hard to rake corn
*** TimeTravelFarmer34 has entered the chat ***
TimeTravelFarmer34: i just want to say
being here with you all
it’s really healing something inside me
ShoelessButOnline: sir we are stretching
TimeTravelFarmer34: joe
when you look at me
do you see… a son?
ShoelessButOnline: i see a man standing in left field crying into a glove
EightMenOutOfPocket: that’s been happening a lot lately
TimeTravelFarmer34: because my father and i never played catch
and now i’m here
watching you play
and i just feel like…
maybe YOU are my father?
ShoelessButOnline: i am thirty-three years old and died in 1951
TimeTravelFarmer34: okay but emotionally
*** FixyMcGhee has entered the chat ***
FixyMcGhee: ray
buddy
your dad was a catcher
joe played the outfield
TimeTravelFarmer34: but fatherhood isn’t about position
it’s about presence
ShoelessButOnline: i literally did not know you existed until yesterday
TimeTravelFarmer34: that’s exactly what makes it hurt so much
*** ChickStirFry has entered the chat ***
ChickStirFry: i swear if this turns into another father-son monologue i’m going back to purgatory
TimeTravelFarmer34: chick
were YOU my father?
ChickStirFry: absolutely not
ShoelessButOnline: ray
your father’s name was john
he played minor league ball
he had glasses
this has been explained
TimeTravelFarmer34: yes but baseball is metaphor
and metaphor is truth
and truth is corn
EightMenOutOfPocket: why is it always corn
*** AlsoNotYourFather has entered the chat ***
AlsoNotYourFather: ray
sometimes a game is just a game
and sometimes it’s a chance to heal
but mostly it’s nine innings
TimeTravelFarmer34: terrence
if i hit a grounder to short
is that me forgiving my father?
ShoelessButOnline: no
that’s an out
*** silence ***
TimeTravelFarmer34: what if
when joe swings
he’s swinging for all of us
including my dad
ShoelessButOnline: i am swinging because the pitcher threw the ball
EightMenOutOfPocket: can we PLEASE just play baseball
*** WORDUPTHOME has entered the chat ***
WORDUPTHOME: HEY GUYS THIS IS JI
JIM THOME
I DON’T KNOW WHAT’S GOING ON
BUT SOMETIMES YOU JUST GOTTA HAVE A CATCH
EVEN IF YOU DON’T KNOW WHO YOUR DAD IS
OLD JIMBO SAYS THROW THE BALL AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS
TimeTravelFarmer34: jim
would you be my father?
WORDUPTHOME: NO BUT I’LL HIT YOU A HOMER AND WE’LL TALK AFTER
*** TimeTravelFarmer34 has left to journal in the corn ***
*** ShoelessButOnline has left to actually play baseball ***
*** EightMenOutOfPocket has left to lock the therapy room ***
*** WORDUPTHOME has left to play catch with literally anyone ***