Mosquitoes Acquire Fire Rookie Pitcher

The rise of sports in our house this past year has been astonishing. Prior to last fall, neither Jack nor Elliot had any interest in sports. Then, we signed them up for Fall soccer. From there we went to Winter hockey. With that came an interest in, and later an obsession with the Bruins and the NHL. This Spring the boys tried baseball, and we now have two avid Red Sox (and Phillies) fans. Jack, ever the lover of independent and imaginary play, created his own fantasy team last winter: the Minnehaha Mosquitoes. The team was born during the height of hockey season, so began life as an NHL team. The players were friends and teammates of his. He filled pounds of paper with rosters, positions, statistics, game scoreboards, and more. He even designed a team logo. His team played imaginary games daily with other teams in its division. Some of the games took place entirely in Jack's head; other games were played out (with indoor hockey equipment) on our family room floor between Jack and Elliot. In those cases, Jack played for all the Mosquitoes, and Elliot played for his entire team, the Bruins. With the switch to baseball in the Spring, the Mosquitoes transitioned to Jack's fantasy baseball team. He again recruited his players from the ranks of his friends and acquaintances. This morning, we went to Barnes and Noble. Jack found an official baseball score book. I showed him how to keep score in the book, and he immediately set to work recording his first official 9 inning Mosquito game.

Until today, I would have said that I still knew more about baseball than Jack did. But, now that I've taught him how to officially keep score, it's no longer true. As I tucked him into bed a few nights ago, he mentioned that that day had been a big one for Minnehaha. The Mosquitoes had acquired a rookie pitcher from the San Jose Fire. He told me that the pitcher had not been doing well for the Fire, but had been pitching great ever since he joined the Mosquitoes. He also mentioned that ten days had passed, and the Mosquiotes did not have to give anyone back to the Fire. I kissed him good night, and congratulated him on the acquisition. But, I have no idea what he meant.