Meet Coach Mike

Hi, I’m Coach Mike and I’ll be the manager of your team this year.  I played a lot of baseball when I was a boy. When I was your age video games hadn’t been invented yet.  My friends would come over and we would go outside and play catch.  Sometimes one of us would hit pop-ups while the others would try to catch them.

I played on a baseball team a lot like yours.  Mr. Sanders was my coach and we had lots of fun.  At first I played pitcher, but I wasn’t very good at it.  As the season went on I played more and more in the outfield. I was a good outfielder. I also became a very good hitter.  I could hit the ball further than most of the other kids on my team.  One time I almost hit a home run, but I got tagged out sliding into home plate.  Another 6 inches and I would have made it.  After the game I rode home with Mr. Hermatz who was our third base coach.  He told me that I started running slower and slower as I went around each base.  By the time I rounded third and headed for home I wasn’t moving all that fast.  The other team’s catcher had just enough time to catch the throw coming in from the outfield and tag me out.  Coach Sanders was sad that I didn’t get a home run, but he was really happy with the way I slid into home plate. 

In those days the baseball season started in the summer right after school was out. We played in June and July. After that we had only one more month before school started in the fall.  I learned many things about baseball and about life when I played on the team that summer. Mr. Sanders and his family moved away after that. I haven’t seen him in over 35 years. I still think about him and the team now and then.  Sometimes I wish I had a time machine so that I could go back and play just one more game.

I hope you will have fun this season just like I did. I also hope you will learn many things about baseball and about life. All you need to do to be a good ball player is to listen to your coaches and always do your best.