As told to Little League International
The Start of Our Little League® Journey
Our family journey with Little League® started in Arizona with Cactus/Horizon Little League in Scottsdale when I was working for the Arizona Diamondbacks. My daughter, Emily, played tee ball for one year, and my son, Braden, played at several levels. When we moved to Cooperstown, New York — which, despite its reputation in baseball, is a very small town — the Little League program had a very close-knit community and was incredibly well run. Everybody respected what Little League is as a brand and what it teaches the kids on and off the field.
When we got into town and signed Braden up, I knew I wanted to see what I could do to help his team. There is no doubt that serving as a coach of kids on a Little League team is one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done. I absolutely loved not just being around my son, but all the other kids, too, helping them discover their love for the game and an understanding of why it matters.
Clearly, we live in a town where baseball is ever-present, and you can’t get away from it. But these aren’t Hall of Famers. They are little kids who love playing, or in some cases, might have been there because a parent told them they had to do it. As a coach, you recognize that some of the kids are not looking to play in high school or dreaming of being a big leaguer, but that being out on the diamond is just what they are doing that day, and I just wanted them to try to get as much out of it as possible. You’re going to get kids of all different talent levels, interest levels, and passion levels, and as the coach, you try to help them leave every practice or game with something valuable.
The Beauty of Little League
Baseball is the ultimate sport of failure. We all know that you’re going to fail far more often in this game than you succeed. Once I left the field, took my coach’s cap off, and got into the car for the drive home, I would try to not to make the entire trip about what happened in the game, but of course, it would come up. My son would mention something about the game, and I often felt there was an underlying lesson I could bring to the conversation that had nothing to do with how well he played.
That’s the beauty of Little League – teaching kids that it is about way more than just winning. My colleague at the Hall of Fame, Jason Schiellack, is the League President for Cooperstown Youth Baseball and has managed multiple baseball and softball teams. He always tells the kids that the two things that they can control are attitude and effort, and whatever else happens, happens. I’ve always loved that he focuses on that with the kids because the reality is that you often don’t have a say in what happens once the ball gets put in play. But if you are playing hard and you’re a good teammate, then you are succeeding at the most important part of youth baseball.
One summer, my son’s team was playing in an important local tournament, and game after game, they lost to teams from bigger cities. My son loves to be on the field and always wants to play, but every kid was feeling down, including him. It was the final day of the tournament, and he just did not want to go. He said, “I’m tired. I’m over it. We played eight games, we keep getting our butts kicked, and I just don’t want to play.” I just responded with, “You have to go. You agreed to do this, and you have to be a good teammate.”
It was a very early morning, and he was totally bitter. Then, he got up to the plate for his first at-bat, and he hit his first legitimate home run, over the fence. He was so happy, and so were his teammates, who all ran on the field and congratulated him. Seeing the joy not just in him, but all his teammates, despite the week they had served as the ultimate reminder that by just showing up and following through on your commitment, sometimes great things happen. That will probably forever be my favorite youth baseball memory with him, and it served as a great life lesson for him – you can’t quit once you start something; you have to finish it.
A Trip to Remember
I grew up in Northridge, California, which is mostly known to the world as the place where there was a big earthquake in 1994. But for a lot of people in Williamsport, it is known for the “Earthquake Kids,” the team that ended up winning the Little League Baseball® World Series (LLBWS) United States title that same year. It was a really inspirational story. I was a freshman in college at the time, and ever since watching those games on TV, I was so intrigued by the idea of traveling to Williamsport to see these kids play and witness the joy they were experiencing in person.
When we moved to New York in 2021, I remember asking my son if he would ever want to go to the LLBWS, and he was immediately on board. A year later, we made the trip, and the whole tournament was just so well done and so professionally executed. Everything feels genuine, and you see the love of the game from these kids who all traveled across the country or across the globe to be there. I remember sitting in the stands, looking around and seeing the sections of parents, and just imagining what they must have been feeling. As a parent, you couldn’t want anything more than to see your kid doing what they love, especially on the biggest stage in youth sports.
While in town, we also made the trip up the hill to the World of Little League® Museum. As someone who oversees a museum about baseball, I can’t emphasize enough what a great way it is to learn and explore the history of baseball. If you’re a parent taking your kid to Williamsport, I highly recommend walking through the museum exhibits to learn the history of Little League and the game we all love so much.
Dear Little League Parents
If I had to give any advice, it would simply be to make sure the experience is about the child, not about the parent or the coach. It is really about the joy of sport for the kids. There is no doubt that today, our society loses track of that far too often; but I think if you’re always making it about the kids having fun, enjoying what they are doing, and loving the game, who knows where it could ultimately take them. It could lead to them playing at a higher level, it could lead to them working in sports behind the scenes, or just becoming a passionate fan for the rest of their lives.
This game is special. People remember moments from their Little League days when they’re 80 years old. People remember visiting the National Baseball Hall of Fame for the rest of their lives. People remember visiting Williamsport for the rest of their lives. There are not a lot of things in the world that you can say just stick with you, as baseball does.
In my position at the Hall of Fame, I get the honor of seeing legends who have reached the pinnacle of their career. When they’re standing on that stage, almost all of them talk about their parents driving them to and from Little League games, washing their uniforms, and doing the things that made playing the game at that level fun.
It really is not about winning or losing; it is about the experience of being on the field, being a good teammate, and learning the game itself. If we all took that to heart before signing our kids up, baseball truly has the chance to change our kids’ lives.
The story above is shared as part of Little League’s #LLProudParent content series, sharing first-person reflections on their experiences with their child in the Little League program. Have a story you’d like to share? Feel free to share it, along with any photos that help tell the story, to [email protected].