little league
when i was a kid every parent wanted to get their kid on the phillies. the coach was great. he'd been a little league coach forever. he had a ball field on his property. i got on his team by dumb luck. and he made me a better ball player. i don't think i was ever what you'd call a good ball player. as i got older he started coaching older kids. he was pretty much the only baseball coach i ever had. it was almost as if he wanted to see one of my teammates play in the majors. heh. it sure wasn't me. one year i came home from college and asked about him. he had passed away. heart attack. i wonder if he followed us our entire lives because he knew we'd be the last group of kids he'd ever coach.