One year our league affiliated with the national Babe Ruth Baseball organization.  This was for 13-, 14-, and 15-year-olds.  But our league in Athens was just for 13- and 14-year-olds.  This really didn’t make a difference—until we played in the state Babe Ruth tournament.  As it turned out, our team won our league and went to the state tourney in Springfield.  It was there we found out how the “big boys” play baseball.  We had the dubious honor of playing our first game against a team from Cincinnati.  The first thing I noticed was how big the kids were.  My size!  Second, was that they had a bullpen!  They actually had players down in the bullpen.  My pitchers were also my best players.  They weren’t in the bullpen.  They were playing another position when not pitching.  I remember the Cincy team had a big left-handed batter.  His first time up, he didn’t move his bat off his shoulder as he took two pitches—both strikes right down the middle.  On the third pitch, he jacked a ball that sailed well beyond the right field fence. It might still be going.

Well, we got clobbered.  I talked to my pitcher and he said, “Coach, this is the best I’ve pitched all year–and they’re killing me.”  We got clobbered in the next game, as well.  Also, a team from Cincinnati.  Turns out that the first team that beat us was the national runner-up in Babe Ruth.

What I’m most proud of is that my team didn’t hang their heads.  Several said, “Now we know what we need to do to come back and win next year.”