Lying Strikes Out: Baseball with an Attitude, #2

By Paul Venosdel

Casey (KC) Howards, an All American kid from Idaho, loves playing baseball. He constantly daydreams about playing in the Big Leagues. However, KC struggles with telling the truth and his lying leads to BIG problems with his friends. His lying and love of baseball crash together during the baseball season. KC learns a valuable lesson about telling the truth no matter how much it hurts.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Paul Venosdel
• Release date: Nov 26, 2018
• ISBN: 9781986007825

Paul Venosdel

Paul Venosdel's love for baseball began when he played as a young boy. He has managed over 475 games in ten years, winning more than 65%, including 14 Championships in Travel Ball, League, and Tournament competitions as of the writing of this book. His innovative and inspiring style of coaching is based on his belief that what matters most is instilling truth, confidence, and character in the lives of children. He writes with humor and insights that authentically portray baseball life as seen through the eyes and hearts of young players. Anger Throws a Curveball has a Lexile Reading Score of 960L.

Book preview

LYING STRIKES OUT

Baseball with an Attitude

Book Two

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Paul Venosdel

LYING STRIKES OUT

Baseball with an Attitude – Book Two

Copyright © 2018 Paul Venosdel

Cover design by petercover. Swinging Batter image © Paul Venosdel.

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law. No portion of this book may be copied or reprinted for commercial gain or profit. No part of this book may be copied or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any informational storage and retrieval system without the written permission from the publisher except for the following:

Permission is granted for short excerpts to be used in reviews, catalog descriptions, articles and by educational or literary organizations.

ISBN-13: 978-1986007825

ISBN-10: 1986007820

2018 First Edition

Published by Venoz, Inc., Eagle, Idaho

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Printed in the United States of America

CHAPTER 1

PLAYING CATCH

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"Five, four, three, two, one, wait for it...wait for it...and here it comes, just like the Old Faithful geyser going off at Yellowstone National Park  – BURRRING, BURRRING, BURRING—the sweet music of the last bell of the school day is my favorite sound on planet Earth. Finally, time to go play some ball. He Gone!" yells Casey to the Kansas City Royals baseball bat bag that he uses as his school backpack. He slings the blue and white bag over his right shoulder and races toward bus 505 waiting in the school parking lot to take him home.

Casey (KC) Howards, twelve-year old average student from Oildale, Idaho and future Major League Baseball superstar, arrives home with one thing on his mind – playing baseball. He knows however, that before he can play baseball he’s got to get past a huge roadblock. His mom will throw the dreaded ‘H’ word at him like an Aroldis Chapman 105 mile per hour fastball as soon as he steps off the bus. Homework. Without a doubt, the single worst word ever created in the entire history of mankind. Homework. KC isn’t happy about having do homework right after he’s spent seven hours at school.

Mom, really, I have to do homework right after school? Give me a break.  I’ve been at this all day! Can’t I go outside and play baseball?  Studying spelling words is so stupid.  That’s what spell check is for on the computer! yells KC to his mom Anna.

Study those spelling words honey; you have a test on Friday. I’m going to quiz you after you get out of the shower tonight. Now stop stalling and get that homework done before your dad gets home from work, replies his mom.

Like a giant wave swallowing up a surfer on Hawaii’s Banzai Pipeline, KC gets wiped out by his mom in the homework battle.

Laughing out loud to himself KC begins studying his spelling words.

Come on man, this is crazy. When am I ever going to need to know how to spell dandelion? You don’t spell the silly weed, you pick it! ponders KC to himself.

KC has the best intentions to honor his mother’s request of studying his spelling words but his mind is on baseball.  KC is a good kid and tries to please everyone. He wants to do the right thing but has difficulty telling the truth. He even tries to get along with the kids on the playground that have nicknamed him COWARDS.

The sixth grade simpletons have combined his first and last name, Casey and Howards, to produce the concoction COWARDS. The nickname is way off base as KC is not afraid of anything. Well maybe he is afraid of the dark. KC sleeps with his Kansas City Royals nightlight turned on just to see the glow of the Royals World Series trophy. That is what he tells his little brother anyway.

KC is a tough kid with a high threshold for pain. He’s fallen out of tree houses, crashed his bike going over homemade jumps in the driveway, fallen out of the back of his dad’s slow moving Ford F-150 pickup truck at the baseball field parking lot (giving himself a concussion), and he didn’t even cry when he broke his arm skateboarding.

KC is up to any challenge if it makes the other person happy or if they question his ability to get it done. He will put his body in danger to win any competition. He once fell off the monkey bars on the playground after accepting a dare to complete a triple reverse flip. The epic failure resulted in breaking the same arm he did skateboarding the prior summer.

KC begrudgingly attempts to tackle his homework after school each day but not without a fight. Before each homework battle, he must have three Oreo cookies dipped in ice-cold milk. As predictable as the sun coming up in the morning, Oreo cookies and ice-cold milk are a perfect snack after school. Curiously, KC’s bulldog Mojo is always at his feet after school during snack time.

Mojo, I gave you an Oreo cookie one time and you didn’t stop farting for a week! laughs KC.

The two most prized positions in KC’s world are his Rawlings baseball glove and the brand new major league replica baseball he bought at the sporting goods store.

KC spent last spring and fall working to get enough money to purchase his 11½-inch Pro Mesh black Rawlings baseball glove. He earned $400 and spent every dime on his pride and joy. KC mowed lawns around the neighborhood, setup lemonade stands on the busiest streets in town, sold used golf balls he fetched out of the water hazard at the public golf course around the corner from his house, and filled in for his friend delivering newspapers at five o’clock in the morning while he was on vacation.

KC and determination go hand in glove. There’s not a kid in Idaho that can out work KC when he puts his mind to it, especially on the baseball field.

In the classroom, KC doesn’t have the same drive.  KC is a B minus student with a couple of C’s sprinkled in for good measure. He doesn’t like reading or science but is mildly interested in math and engineering. His favorite subject is P.E. along with lunch and recess. School doesn’t come easy for KC and he would rather be outside than stuck in a classroom.

Squealing brake sound waves hit the neighbor-hood like a group of teenage girls screaming at a Justin Bieber concert. 

He’s home! yells KC.

Uninterested in the next series of events Mojo gives out one loud bark, primarily because the screeching brakes hurt his ears for the ten thousandth time. Mojo is an overweight brown and white bulldog with uncontrollable drooling and irritable bowel syndrome. Once Mojo’s slobber and gas hit a target the victim is in immediately need of a life vest and gas mask.

KC’s dad arrives home from work in predictable fashion five days a week. His dad drives a Ford F-150 pickup truck that is in desperate need of new front brakes. The truck also needs a new paint job, the right side automatic window button is stuck in the up position, the inside dome light is burned out, and new tires are definitely in the future repair bill budget.

With all its faults, KC’s dad pulling into the driveway in the family truck sets off a chain reaction of events like a steel ball being dropped onto a mousetrap game.

KC leaps up from his chair scattering his homework papers across the desk as he lunges for his brand new baseball. Baseball glove already on his left hand, he flips the ball with his right hand around his back high in the air toward his pillow on the bed. A drop step and cross over pivot move from the chair lead to a diving catch onto his Royals bedspread.

KC Howards makes an unbelievable catch in straight-away center field. Howards climbs the center field wall in front of the waterfall to rob the game winning hit away from the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series.  The 37,903 adoring fans at Kaufmann Stadium in Kansas City chant KC, KC, KC in perfect unison, yells KC to himself as he bounces off his bed toward his clothes dresser.

KC puts on his white baseball pants, royal blue belt, Kansas City Royals World Champs T-Shirt and Royals baseball cap faster than Clark Kent changing into Superman. KC smears on eye black to finish off the baseball preparations and bolts downstairs to greet his dad in the driveway.

Was that ruckus your brother? KC’s mom asks her youngest son as they prepare dinner in the kitchen.

Two shrugged shoulders from KC’s younger sibling greet his mom’s question.

Casey Ronald Howards are you done with your homework? yells his mom.

In a muffled voice that trails off into the distance behind the closing of the front door, Uh, yeah, I did all of it. It was easy so it’s all done, he replies.

It’s a bold lie from KC that has been told often when it comes to homework verse playing catch with his dad.

KC’s little brother Darrell shakes his head back and forth knowing that the homework is not done. 

No way did he finish his homework Mom. He was playing imaginary baseball in his room. He’s not telling you the truth, tattles Darrell.

KC’s dad, Bobby Boomer Howards pulls into the driveway from work every day at 5:50pm. Boomer works for the United States Department of Agriculture.  Everyone calls his work the USDA. He arrives at work at 9:00am, takes a half an hour for lunch, and leaves the office at 5:30pm. Boomer moves the same pieces of paper from one side of his desk to the other side five days a week for fifty weeks throughout the year. His office at the USDA service center is a ten-foot-by-ten-foot cubicle with no door and no privacy. Office gossip swirls around him like a tornado on the Midwestern plains. Boomer doesn’t work with farmers at the Department of Agriculture, he works with sheets and sheets of paper. Lots of paper.  An entire forest has been cut down to supply the lumber needed to make the paper necessary for KC’s dad do his job. Even though he doesn’t see or communicate with farmers at work, he still wears his Roper Cowboy boots every day. Boomer never dreamed that he would grow up to work for the federal government of the United States of America. He had dreams of playing Major League Baseball.

Hi Dad! Want to play catch? says an eager son to his dad fresh home from the workday.

How was school today, bud? his dad replies with head down walking toward the front door of the house.

Good. Do you want to play catch in the backyard? repeats KC as he throws the ball into his glove while walking directly behind his dad.

Sure pal. Let me say hi to your mom and find out what’s for dinner. Go ahead and get my baseball glove out of the garage and I’ll meet you in the backyard, replies his dad.

With the same speed as a bullet leaving the barrel of a gun, KC is off to the garage to fetch his dad’s glove.

Hey honey, how was your day? Boomer says to KC’s mom as he enters the little yellow house.

Just fine, she replies.

Like an airplane on automatic pilot, the husband and wife have the same conversation they always have after Boomer gets home from work.

When and what’s for dinner? says KC’s father.

Casserole, replies Anna. You’ve got time to go play catch with KC in the backyard. He’s been staring out of his window like Paul Revere waiting to spot the British soldiers coming during the American Revolution.

KC’s dad doesn’t dare go change from his work clothes into more comfortable attire to throw the baseball with his son. If he attempts to walk anywhere but directly toward the back door that leads to the small half-grass and half-red clay dirt area to play catch, a hissy-fit the size of a Category 5 hurricane will form.

KC loves throwing the baseball. He’ll throw the ball to anyone or anything. He will even throw the ball to Mojo, who is the worst catcher on the planet. A desert turtle hidden in his shell has a better chance of catching a ball than Mojo.

KC will throw a baseball to anyone.  He even plays catch with himself in his room. He lays flat on his back on the bed and throws the ball straight up into the air, trying to come as close as possible to hitting the ceiling without touching it. With his bare hands, he then tries to catch the baseball one-handed.

However, nothing on earth beats throwing the ball with his dad. He daydreams about the chance to play catch with his dad from the time he gets on the school bus in the morning until he’s sentenced to his room to do homework in the evening. The lack of focus on his schoolwork is a direct result of playing catch winning over his school studies.

I’ve got your glove, dad, it’s right here! Here you go, yells KC before his dad can make it into the backyard.

Thanks bud, replies his dad.

Okay, PLEASE throw me a pop fly! pleads KC.

In his best Kansas City Royals baseball radio announcer voice KC bellows, "Now playing center field for the Kansas City Royals, from Oildale High School, home of