He was a good man ... and still is. I don't know if he's coaching Little League anymore, but he still was at 70. Getting enough kids to play ball is always a problem when they get older. Too many other things to do: TV, girls, video games... smoking funny cigarettes. Some kids drop out because the competition gets tough and the field gets bigger. Some can't throw the ball all the way across the big field to first base. Fewer can throw it 60 feet for a strike. The ones that can throw strikes throw hard and that intimidates some of the kids... who drop out.
The local league called my son hoping he'd fill out he roster. He was a year too old for the Juniors team, but they said he could play as long as he didn't pitch. He was fine with that. The Juniors played during the week and his more competitive club team played on the weekends.
Coach Ron, the old timer, was happy to have him. Show them the how game's played, Jimmy. There were all shapes, colors and sizes on the team. Didn't matter to Ron. They were all just kids to him.
Ron pretty much said whatever came into his mind. His team's black parents always sat far down the third baseline by themselves. One day Ron decided to chat, walks out of the coach's box and over to where the black parents are sitting. He points at the white parent sitting in the stands near home plate and tells the black parents: "Hey, you know you people can sit with us now." The black parents smiled politely. Then grandma, who was as old as Ron, cracked up and couldn't stop laughing for quite some time.
