baseball

The Little League World Series final is today 8/29 with Japan vs Hawaii. Whenever I see the game each year it reminds me of the movie “The Bad News Bears” and my own experience in Little League back when I was 11 to 13 years old.

I played for the GM Red Sox and our coach when I was 12 was Robert Nichols who would later be my Phys Ed teacher in Junior High and even later became a Findlay City Councilman – which I notice he is serving again as a councilman from the 5th Ward.

I played outfield and batted 9th because I was such a great player… NO… I stunk as a hitter. During my “career” I had 2 hits. Just 2 over three years.

Coach Nichols tried to help me be a better hitter. One day during practice he came up to me at home plate and held a ball in his hand.

“I want you to hit this ball out of my hand,” He said.

“What?” I said.

“Take your bat and hit this ball out of my hand.”

“Okay.”

I took my stance and he held the ball on the palm of his hand.

You know where this is going, right?

I took a full power swing at the ball and the bat crashed into Coach Nichols hand completely missing the ball. He immediately started screaming words that I wouldn’t really learn until I got to Junior High. He held his hand and was in intense pain.

“Why did you do that for?” he screamed at me.

“You told me to!” I yelled back.

I so wanted to go home at that point. I figured that was it – kicked out of Little League. I slunk back to the dugout while all the other guys on the team laughed at me.

Coach Nichols paced around for a while shaking out his hand occasionally glaring at me. Then when he calmed down he came to the dug out.

“You’re right I did tell you to hit the ball out of my hand. I should have been more specific about not taking a full swing.” He said and smiled slightly

“I’m sorry…” I said.

“It doesn’t seem broken so I’ll be okay. Get out in the field for some pop fly practice.”

At the next game I hit a walk off grand slam to win the league championship all thanks to Coach Nichols… Sorry I made that last part up. Never happened. I still stunk, played outfield, and batted 9th.

What did happen was I found out I needed glasses.

Little League 1981
Me on the GM Red Sox in 1981, year after events in this story. I still stunk.

A friend of mine posted a note on his blog about the upcoming youth baseball season in Findlay. It gave me a chuckle. Like the youth soccer program, the baseball program was something we did when I was a kid. All my friends were in it so I did it too. It was also a good low cost way to have fun in the poor economic times my family lived in.

I played in the junior league for my first time out at organized baseball. I had a new mitt not even broken in when I went to the try outs. Being a youth league the try out was a mere formality as if you showed any skill they put you on a team.

When I was 13 I moved up to the Major Youth League. I was drafted into the GM Red Sox. Many on the team were classmates and friends I had known since elementary school. Our coach was the Phys Ed teacher at Glenwood Jr. High – Mr. Nichols. I played outfield and batted 9th and even then I stunk. My fielding was good. I could throw the ball to the infield but I couldn’t hit for crap. During my two seasons I had two base hits. Now why wasn’t I on the All-Star team at the end of the season…..

The funniest bit happened the year i found out I needed glasses.

Mr. Nichols was trying to help me in my batting. During practice he called me over and held a ball in his hand.

“Hit this out of my hand,” he said.

“What?”

“Hit the ball out of my hand.”

So I took my stance and swung away, smashing the bat into his hand. I heard some curse words I never heard before. What he forgot to tell me was not to take a full power swing but to go slow and so he could see my swing. Instead I nearly broke his hand and I wanted to fall over dead right there.

Ahhh, memories.

As Mark says in his blog post:

I would hope that you will encourage your kids, grand kids, nieces & nephews to join in the fun that is Findlay Youth Baseball. And, it isn’t just for kids. Adults can volunteer to help out as well. Umpiring, coaching or keeping a score book for the team of your little ball player are ways you can positively impact the life of a youngster. I promise you that it is very rewarding.
FYB: a new season

Yes, indeed.

Tag: baseball

My Little League Experience

Findlay Youth Baseball always a fun time