As he walked toward the edge of the woods, he tripped
over a tractor tire embedded in the dirt. He looked down
and saw a baseball half covered by the tire. He wiggled
it out of the dirt. The ball was old and worn with its
seams torn, but Billy felt a strange attraction to it, like it
had a personality. Like it had a story to it. He couldn't
explain the feeling, but he decided this old ball was going
home with him. He looked at it.
"I'm going to call you 'Buddy,'" he declared.
--from The Magic Ball