There are moments in childhood that replay for decades, sharp and unforgettable. For many young athletes, a first real tryout becomes one of those memories. For Peter Scariano, the spring of 1957 was exactly that: a day filled with hope, cold March winds, and the kind of nerves only a ten-year-old understands.
In the Clear Ridge Baseball League, tryouts were not casual weekend events. They were serious, competitive, and crowded. With only eight teams and most roster spots already held by returning players, only a limited number of openings remained each year. To a kid, those few spots felt like the golden tickets to belonging.
Boys packed the field that morning, blowing into numb fingers, tightening laces, and gripping their gloves as if the leather itself held their future. For Peter and his identical twin brother, Tony, baseball was more than a hobby. It was identity. They had spent hours preparing, rehearsing grounders, swings, and plays the way only baseball-loving kids can.
The cold made the baseballs feel like stones. The swings stung. The coaches watched everything: footwork, courage, instincts. And through the exhaustion and determination, Peter noticed a confidence in himself and his brother that made the day feel promising.
When the tryout ended, the boys were told they would learn the results later. Coaches would privately draft players, then visit the lucky kids at home with the news. To a child, this was not just an announcement. It was the stuff of legend.
A few days later, a coach finally appeared at the Scariano home. It was the moment every kid dreamed of. But what happened next is a story best experienced the way Peter himself tells it in his book. A mix-up occurred. A misunderstanding no one expected. And in that confusion, one twin was selected while the other was left on the outside looking in.
For a boy who lived and breathed baseball, it was heartbreaking. The kind of disappointment that lingers.
But that is not where the story ends.
Even as baseball briefly lost its shine, an unexpected opportunity soon opened for Peter. A chance that would shape not only his season but his entire relationship with the game. It was not the path he imagined, yet it became one of the defining moments of his early baseball life.
And through it all, one dream stayed constant: the dream of someday owning the Wilson A2000. To kids of that era, it was more than a glove. It was possibility, ambition, and a symbol of everything the sport meant to them.
The rest of that journey, the heartbreak, the hope, and the surprising turn that followed, is a story meant to be discovered in the pages of the book itself.