An epic weeper about the coaching legacy of John Altobelli that speaks to the incredible kind of way a good coach can shape lives on and off the baseball field.

Remembering John Altobelli, a 'collector of lost baseball souls' by Jeff Passan

LUCAS PARKER WAS born blind in his right eye, and among his pediatrician's suggestions was that he play sports. Maybe, the doctor said, it would help regenerate some of his lost vision or at least help with his depth perception. Any sport, he said, would work -- except baseball. Parker taking a ball to his good eye was too risky. The thing is, baseball was the only sport he wanted to play, and in 1992, when Parker was 7, he brought home a shoddily designed flyer that said the new coach at Orange Coast College would be running a summer camp for children trying to learn the game.

"Mom," Parker said, "please."

Liz Parker was wary. She called the number on the flyer and asked to talk with John Altobelli. He was 29 years old, fresh off losing his job at UC Irvine, which had shuttered its baseball program. She explained her concerns about her son getting hurt. Altobelli said that wouldn't happen. His players were the coaches. They would teach him the right way.

"We'll protect his eye," Altobelli said.

Lucas kept playing anyway and spent two more summers at Altobelli's camp. He improved. Some of his vision returned. The tricks Altobelli's players taught him -- how to properly anticipate and make up for the lack of depth perception -- allowed him to play catcher in high school and wide receiver on the football team. Missing out on environmental-nature camp didn't hinder him much either. Lucas Parker is an experimental physicist who works in Los Alamos doing research on the cosmic background radiation released by the Big Bang.

Solid and thoughtful guidance about how to think about a kid who MIGHT want to quit baseball:

Should these parents let their son quit baseball?

Our younger son got super frustrated and angry a few times last season and said he wanted to quit. We listened to him but let him know he at least needed to honor the commitment through the season and then he could make his own decision about it at the end of the season. It passed way before the end -- I think part of it was he just wanted to express his anger in a way that would have some true weight to it.

A story about a man who founded and coached in a Little League Chapter in San Diego for 60 years!

More Than 60 Years in the Little Leagues

I love coaching right now, but not sure I'd want to stay after my kids leave. I think people would be a little weirded out by a coach of my generation or younger who did -- it just doesn't happen that way anymore. Although one of the coaches of the Hawaii team that won a few years ago, the coach had no kids of his own and had been coaching 20+ years or so.

Wild long form essay about the whistle-blower who called out the winners of the 2014 Little League World Series.

Little League, Big Trouble

Complicated story well told.

An interesting essay about a near perfect Little League game that doesn't end up happening because of the modern era's rules about pitch count. The essay ultimately ends on the right note which is the kid pitcher's verdict.

Let Them Play by Sean Gregory

I can't even imagine coming close to this scenario because in the Fall my pitchers would only pitch 1 inning max. (We usually only get 4 innings in the Fall and I had at least 8 or 9 pitchers that I wanted to rotate every other game.) Even in the Spring the most my players would go is 2 innings before fizzling out or hitting their pitch count. Which does somewhat speak to the rarity of what happened to this kid pitcher who was obviously pitching well with good defense behind him to get to 5 innings with only 75 pitches. Still I fall on the side of the Little League officials, the sports physiologist, and again the kid pitcher -- there has to be a limit and you have to be consistent about that. Even in my generation of youth baseball (late 80's) -- I knew of a kid who was considered a golden arm and his coaches had blown out his arm carrying games I believe even before he got to high school. That's absurd!   

My boss last spring was always generous about allowing me to get out early or come in early so I could coach my team's weekday practices or games. She followed the whole arc of the Never Say Die Dodgers (From 8 game losing streak to League Champions!) with great interest. Near the end of the season, she did me another great favor by mentioning this great Little League coaching story she found in of all places: the Southwest Airlines Magazine.

Highly recommend it:

A Comeback to Remember by Flinder Boyd

But despite the ideal weather, coach Curtis Breitweiser felt nervous—“half scared to death”—as he waited for the South Ogden A’s to arrive for their first practice. He hadn’t coached in more than a decade, and with no direct connection to any of the 9- and 10-year-old players, he wondered whether they would like him or respond to his teaching.
Around town, the former insurance salesman, then 57, was known for his endearing smile and ever-ready nuggets of advice, but the past year had been the hardest of his life. In April 2017, his only son, J.D., took his own life at the age of 23. 

Rebecca Hart and Megan Hart will appear on-stage together for the first time EVER, in a reading of Deron's play Kate and Anne Marie on July 16, 2013 7pm as part of the Women Center Stage Festival at the Culture Project. Here's a video interview with the sisters Hart.