so the coach says

So, the baseball manager walked out to the mound and said to the rookie pitcher, "Son, I think you've had enough."

"But I struck this guy out the last time he came up," the pitcher protested.

"I know, but we're still in the same inning."

This old joke was in one of my recent magazines. I had left the page open to it so I would remember to copy it and send it to my youngest brother in north Georgia.
Last Sunday, the peace Guy came to visit and see "Sweeney Todd" with me. He had arrived very early in the morning.
About seven hours later, we're dining on scrambled eggs and kale and conversation. I saw him glancing at the page opened to the jokes and told him I was sending the baseball joke to my little brother. He takes a moment to read the joke, but then tells me he doesn't get it.
Sports Guy he is not.
So I explained that in baseball there are nine batters in rotation. So, if it was still the same inning and the pitcher was about to pitch to the same man for the second time, then the pitcher had not yet gotten three men out. If you're a pitcher, that means you're not good. The goal is to get three outs with the first three men at bat, not to allow them to get on base and make runs.
Poor li'l' pitcher didn't get that!

I hadn't realized at the time, but that joke was destined to get around. Last Sunday, one of my old baseball-watching buddies, Arthur, was at the afternoon game with me, as was his granddaughter. I told him I'd had to teach the peace Guy about baseball and then told Arthur the joke and he laughed! His granddaughter didn't quite get it, so I explained about batting order to her. She thought the joke was funny, then.
Meanwhile, the peace Guy had gone to his Quaker meeting. Afterward, the group is socializing and the topic of baseball comes up. So, he regales them with the joke! Cool, n'est-ce pas?
I sure thought so, when he shared the tale with me later.
And I was glad I'd had that page open.
You never know when something you regard as a little thing is going to hold meaning for someone else.
If I had to guess, I'd say he'll keep that joke in mind for future outings.

Yesterday, I finally wrote to my brother and sent the joke wending its way northward. I also told the joke to my middle brother, who had come by for an unexpected visit. Then, on the cancer ward at the hospital, I told the joke to my stepbrother, longtime lover of humor and sports, and his French wife. He got a chortle out of the joke; she laughed to keep him company. Then, when I remarked that I'd had to explain it to my housemate, she confessed that she had laughed solely because we had, so she knew it had to be funny.
So I explained batting order to her, too.
Again, my guess is that baseball joke is going to have legs, so to speak. And my guess is that those who are new to the understanding of baseball will tell it as much as those who have been sports fans for a long time.

Maybe a little friendly explanation about matters one assumes everyone knows would go a long way to making life on this blue-green world a little nicer for all of us.