Happiness is rounding third

"Happiness is rounding third" series, New Jersey, August 2006

The mascot race at a minor-league baseball game can be hit or miss. Sometimes you get the kid who develops a sudden onset of stage fright as soon as he or she is put at first base with 5,000 people watching and a big blue furball standing there. In those cases, one of the team employees usually leads the child around the bases by the hand or, in at least one instance I can recall, picks the child up and carries her around the bases.

But some kids are truly happy to score from first with Boomer -- in this case -- or some other mascot giving him a head start or scripting a diversion that allows the young sprinter to run away with the race. On this day, the boy outran Boomer's scooter; in a race earlier in the week, Boomer carried a bouquet of flowers and stopped to flirt with the third-base umpire ... who tossed the flowers aside and clocked Boomer with an inflatable boxing glove. With this kid so thoroughly enjoying himself, I couldn't bring myself to choose just one photo. Hence, a series. So what if it's the easy way out.