week 6: quick turn
010810 - A league game. This was the first game since the nysambia exhibition on the 19th so it had been a while with the holiday break. Kyambogo showed the rust and lost both of their games for the first time since I’ve come here. The fighters looked very sharp on the field. Paul played his best all around game I’ve seen. He started for the fighters and threw 5 strong innings with Benard coming in and closing out the win.
Paul also had some really good at bats. He shows nice patience for a player with such a big swing which is nice to see. He seems to be getting more serious with training leading up to the Envoy program and it’s showing. The final score was something like 17 - 5. The fighters won their next game against lugazi 11-2 with Benard pitching very well. I taught him a basic circle changeup that he is learning very quickly. This was the first game that he unleashed it and it was a very effective tool for him. We’ll see how it plays during the Envoy Program.
The most interesting things unfolded on the sidelines though. George, Bouncer (the coach and older leader of Lugazi), got into a bit of an argument with a younger gentlemen from Kyambogo who was demanding some equipment and almost accusing George and Bouncer and the early pioneers of the game of not doing enough for the cause etc… It led to a lot of history that I didn’t know.
George had some photos with him that he showed and I learned about an unfortunate incident in 2004. A team had been formed in Kampala that was playing in whatever baseball tournaments they could find and/or afford to get to. This was the same team I’ve mentioned before that Eric played on against the International School team at heritage. One of the players was sick, coughing up blood, skin peeling off, etc… The doctors didn’t know what it was. Sounds like maybe t.b.? He passed away in December of 2004.
The players were set to go to the funeral on December 15th. All of them were planning on taking taxis or different shared vehicles to the grave on the other side of town. Many of them loaded into a particular van that never made it to the funeral. It was involved in a bad accident in town and overturned. 6 players died.
This event made tremendous emotional ripples of course and also nearly derailed the growing baseball. The surviving players, which were about 5 including George, Bouncer, Eric (the youngest), and a few others dedicated themselves to pushing baseball in someways to honor the hopes and dreams of their fallen teammates.
Four of the players pictured here lost their lives in that accident including Eric’s brother (far bottom right), Max. I make plans to visit his grave with Eric later in the week. It’s definitely something that Eric was uneasy about, but also thought it would be okay to go and tell me more about it.
This accident may or may not find its way into the story, it probably will, and I don’t think I’ll be exaggerating it’s impact or importance, especially in a culture that honors the elders and ancestors as much as Africa does.
011010 - I stay in Kyambogo to spend a day with Watero. He is the super talented 16 year old outfielder I’ve mentioned. I follow him back to his house in the somewhat well off suburb of Kyambogo. I learn that he grew up in the ghetto in nysambia and considers himself a ghetto boy. He is good friends with Eric, George, and a bunch of the other Nysambia crew.
He is more soft spoken and polite than I was anticipating. He also has very good english and seems well educated. I quickly learn that education is something highly valued in his family.
His brother, Daniel, comes into our shot wearing a medal around his neck. He isn’t embarrassed at all to tell me it is a medal for his performance in the All African Games for his outstanding Chess play. I can tell right away he has a lot to say and well thought out opinions on most matters, he injects himself in half of my interview with Watero and usually adds a good angle.
I also learn about a fire that destroyed their home several years ago, they are still just rebuilding. Watero lost a lot of baseball stuff and photographs in the fire. But the family saved books. They explain how their family has always been a sporting family and a family that values education. Wateros desk shows that nicely. 
No one was hurt in the fire, no one was home. It started when someone left a candle for chasing insects away near some cooking oil.
Watero also shows me a great little chicken coop he just started with the help and support of his Japanese coach. There must be 50 chicks in there being warmed by 2 100 watt light bulbs. The family has a small shop attached to their home that helps give Watero some money for travel to baseball tournaments and the like. They’ll sell the chickens there during Easter. His brother gives the exact profit breakdown for just about everything in the store. He is organized, structured, disciplined, and intelligent, as is Watero.
Watero’s interview goes really well. He gives me the good standard answers about wanting to play in the Major Leagues. He wants to play for the Chicago Cubs for some reason. I told him how cold it gets in Chicago and now he isn’t sure. The best stuff is showing me how he sleeps next to his glove and bat and if he wakes up and they aren’t exactly where they should be he gets crazy.
Watero and his Brother also started a small support foundation for kids from their home village which is up north near Lira. They sponsor 10 kids with money from the shop to go to school. The Japanese coach is helping them devise a plan, but Daniel is definitely spearheading it. I’m planning to go see it in action with them in February.
011110 - travel day back to kabalagala
011210 - This is an emotional day. I go with Eric to visit Max’s grave. This is some of the stuff I learn about Max. He was very popular, a singer/DJ/musician who was also a great athlete who loved baseball. His popularity in the ghetto brought a lot of kids to the game early on… including his younger brother Eric. He looked up to his brother in just about every way. I also learn that they looked nearly identical, although separated by 8 years.
Max also had a wife who passed away when Eric was young from an illness. They shared 1 son who Max took care of.
In many ways Max was more like Eric’s father than his actual father.
When he died it affected Eric in a pretty devastating way. He stopped playing baseball because it reminded him of Max too much. People would see Eric on the street and start to cry because he looked so much like Max. Some people starting calling him Max. Eric basically went into hiding for a while to try to deal with it.
While we were filming a dog came by and waited near Eric. A few boys on the side starting calling “Max”. Eric didn’t know if the dog was named max or they were calling him max. It was just one of those moments.
Eric eventually came back to baseball and sometimes still struggles with it. He feels like he has to pick up where Max left off. He also is the most loving uncle possible.
On the walk home he starts to smile more at memories of Max, in particular, memories of his songs. I ask him to sing a few and he does complete with dancing. The best one was a song that eric says he thinks was about his late wife the words were about how “he’d be with her one day again soon.” I suppose he is now.
So that’s it for the week. I’m back at the complex now trying to rush and play catchup on the footage before the Envoy kicks into gear on Saturday. The rest of the month will be spent here with the coaches from around East Africa and the Ugandan players training and playing every day. It may get repetitive at times but it could also provide some of the most pivotal moments for our story, in particular the LLWS storyline and/or the “phenom” storyline with Benard/Watero/Paul.
Oh another really exciting step that unfortunately wasn’t very filmic because it was mostly reached through emails is that Major League Baseball will soon be on public widely available television in Uganda. If everything is in place it will begin on Feb 6th and will be aired on delay on Saturday and Sunday Morning for 2 and 1 hours respectively. Not enough time for a complete game, but plenty of time for 5 or 6 good innings. I really think it will be an enormous step to spreading and advancing the game. Congrats to all who helped make it possible (Clive Russell in MLB International, Richard Stanley, Pamela Ameway at NTV, and the rest of the crew) kudos to all of you big time.
