Awesome story, D. Gotta admit I got a little choked up reading that...until the ending.
I've got one somewhat similar.
Near the end of my senior year, my dad, who was on some baseball committee, asked me if I'd be interested in coaching a PeeWee team made up of kids who didn't make the draft. I said, Sure. First practice was eye opening. There were privileged, poor, and in between. The uniforms were old (I'd worn one of them 10 years before) and the letters with the sponsor's business name (Greene's Studio)were either faded or missing and were distributed based on size. Some of the kids wore belts that were too long while others were OK or wore none at all. The parents were wonderful and supportive and the disparities had zero impact.
Practices went pretty well and it wasn't long before I decided on the lineup. My infield was pretty tight defensively and batting practice proved encouraging. I'd pitch just to make sure the kids didn't develop a fear of getting hit and the one's who showed real promise would get some extra heat. Overall, I liked what I saw, loved my kids...we were ready.
I don't remember much of any particular game except for one.
We were home team so we took the field first. My pitcher was well overweight, fat, to be blunt, and had eyes that went in different directions, his mom and dad were old (may have been grand parents) and poor, and the kids on the other team laughed at him...until he threw his first warm-up pitch. It had heat and pop, and thus ended the laughing. We played a good game defensively. I think it was the third inning when my pitcher was due up with runners on 1st & 2nd. I could tell he was nervous so before he went to the box I went to have a word with him and told him he had a big gap down the left field line and to try to hit the ball there..just to get him thinking positive.
Well, he did just that...big time. Not over the fence, but a decent runner might have made it all the way around. He ran slow but made it around 2nd and threatened to go to 3rd with a daring glare and the shaking of his chubby little hands. The parents went wild, heck, we all did. We ended up winning that game and went 6-3 for the season IIRC. It was a time I'm proud of and enjoyed immensely.
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