Henderson: What Mango Little League taught me about baseball

By JOE HENDERSON | The Tampa Tribune
Published: February 15, 2013 Updated: February 15, 2013 - 7:00 AM

I used to think I knew something about baseball. I played the game for many years as a younger lad, and then covered the big-leaguers here for this great metropolitan newspaper.

I have sat and absorbed knowledge from the likes of Lou Piniella, Sparky Anderson, Jim Leyland and Joe Maddon. I have covered the World Series 20 times. I vote for the baseball Hall of Fame selections. That ought to count for something.

But many years ago at East Point Little League in beautiful downtown Mango, I found all that knowledge didn't amount to squat when I agreed to lead the Minor B Indians. They were a group of 7- and 8-year-old boys and one girl.

As my oldest son, Ben, likes to remind me often, that spring under my, cough, leadership shattered his dreams of being a baseball player (although I think it likely that his inherited genes had more to do with that).

Long story short (and man, was my team short): 0 wins, 19 losses.

Two of the games were close.

Funny thing, when I answered the phone on that fateful Sunday afternoon the possibilities seemed endless. Some guy from East Point was calling to tell me the draft was the next night.

"What draft?" I asked him.

"You know, for the Indians. You're coaching the Indians."

Until that moment, I wasn't aware of that.

Here were the ground rules, he told me. I could "reserve" no more than three players ? my son, an assistant coach's son, and a team mom's son. The draft would consist of a blind draw out of a hat. Well, I had no assistant and my ever-patient wife was going to be team mom.

So, I show up at the draft with one player, only to find the other five teams had no fewer than four players reserved. One of them, as I recall, had seven.

You will find this an incredible coincidence, but it seemed every 8-year-old in greater Mango standing at least 6-feet tall lived near the other coaches and needed rides to practice and games. Crazy, right?

Well, I started pulling names out of the hat and I noticed some of the other coaches kind of giggling ? except for the time I pulled out one kid's name only to hear another coach go, "Oh, I have to take him. He needs rides."

That kid was big enough to drive himself, I remember. I think he was shaving. But pretty soon I had my team and, excited as could be, I gathered them for our first practice. As they approached, I remember thinking, "I didn't know there was a tee-ball team practicing here too."

There wasn't. These were the Indians. The brave little Indians (emphasis on little). In fact, we became known around East Point as "the little team."

They were great kids. We had as much fun as an 0-19 team possibly could. As long as the snacks were there, we were fine.

I retired from baseball coaching after that season and I don't think anyone minded. I learned a couple of big lessons, though.

First, it's all about the kids; if they're OK, I'm OK.

And second, it's location, location, location. To win a lot of games, just live close to all those kids who need rides. Especially the 8-year-olds who shave.

Source: http://www2.tbo.com/news/opinion/2013/feb/15/henderson-what-mango-little-league-taught-me-about-ar-633680/

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