Little League Stories - Vol 1

During an early season practice, I had broken my 12-boy team up into groups. The coaches and I had set up little stations to rotate the kids through. I had the ground ball station. So I took 4 kids, sent 3 of them out a ways, and kept my man Timmy with me to be my catcher.

Timmy was my man. He was 12 that year, so he was big time now. The 'veteran' of the squad - He was our first baseman and he could pitch. He was a lefty, had a good glove, made contact at the plate with some power now and then. But he was stocky kid, and he couldn't run a lick. He was the worst at the running drills we ended each practice with. But he tried like hell...

Anyway, As I was hitting soft grounders to the other 3, I told Timmy...

"listen, my man, you're a leader now. I don't want to see anything get by you here. You're too good for that. You're our first baseman, and even if the throw is in the dirt, it can't get by ya... got it"

"Yeah coach, I got it"

"In fact, everytime that ball gets by you, you owe me a lap"

"Awe man"

"Hey, keep the ball in front of ya, and you won't have to run one"

"OK, coach"

It wasn't too long after that he missed an incoming throw and thud, right off his cheek... instant tears (there's no cryin' in baseball!). It was definitely a stinger though, and I was able to talk him down, asked him where it hurt and made sure he wasn't in any pain. Indeed he was OK, just shaken up a bit...

He took a minute, then got himself back up. He was still crying a little, but he was a tough kid, and didn't want to take a break. I was proud of him. It was refreshing. I mean, it's Little League, not all of the kids have that toughness. So I let him know....

"Hey Timmy, I know that stung a little bit, but ya know what.... the ball didn't get by ya, it's right there in front of ya. You still did your job on defense. I'm proud of ya... I mean, think about Tim - what sucks more - taking a ball to the face or running a lap?"

He took a sniffle, picked up the ball, handed it to me and said....

"Running a lap..."