High school pitcher Landon Wilson's goal was obvious, even to the ER doctors who told him they were amputating his arm.
"Just leave enough of it (my arm) to hold my glove," Wilson said.
This proclamation would begin Wilson's ascent back to the pitcher's mound before his senior season slipped away. A week after his eighteenth birthday, Wilson knew the opportunity to play college baseball was becoming a reality. Added conditioning could mean better opportunities. However, he was struck by a vehicle on an October jog, and his world was turned upside down.
With the loss of an arm, nearly a leg, eight surgeries, and more than a month in the hospital, the question became not where he was going to pitch, but if he was going to pitch.
Wilson knew the answer. He also knew, though there's no time clock in baseball, he was on one. His recovery time was limited to months, not to mention learning how to pitch with one arm and one healthy leg to stand on.
"Some aim to climb Mt. Everest, others aim for the height of a pitcher's mound," said Landon's dad, Taylor Wilson.
In Glove Letters: A Father Recalls His Son's Greatest Game, Taylor tells Landon's story via notes and life lessons. Though the letters are from father to son, all readers can learn from them, whether sports fans or students of life.
Glove Letters is a wonderful story of perseverance, courage, faith, hope, love, and the amazing power of prayer.
