Memories. Friendships. A strong sense of purpose. Happiness. Precious time on the baseball field with my sons and their teammates. Car rides and conversations with my sons. An arena in which to compete. A chance to make a difference in so many boys' lives. Games on beautiful, old baseball fields all over middle Tennessee. Laughter. Tears. A sense of pride. An opportunity to teach and instruct. All of those things and so much more.
Every time I think I've gotten everything I possibly can out of coaching baseball, I'm proven wrong. Every single time.
Saturday afternoon, in the sweltering mid-August Nashville heat on field 5 at Warner Park, I felt like I was starring in my own version of Field of Dreams.
As Joe's WNSL Dodgers - the Junior Dodgers no longer - warmed up to play their first ever game on a regulation baseball filed (60'6" from the pitching rubber to home plate and 90' in between bases), up walked Chris Taylor, Randy Kleinstick, and Will Wright. My assistant coaches and, more importantly, my friends from so many years together coaching the Dodgers. And with them were my new assistant coaches for the fall season, Wes Taylor, Benton Wright, and Jonathan Kleinstick (JK), who quickly joined JP on the field to help get Joe and his teammates ready to play the Moonshots.
It was an emotional moment for me, to be sure. JK, JP, Benton, and Wes. The core four. The first four batters in the Dodgers' lineup for so many baseball games. A thousand baseball memories flashed through my mind in the blink of an eye. Enough to fill a book, for sure. I couldn't shake the image of Benton as a 5 year old on shaded field 5 at Harpeth Hills - probably the last time he had short blond hair - carefully and quietly putting his gear away in the dugout in between innings, already very serious about baseball.
Now, of course, Benton is three or four inches taller than me and outweighs me by 10 or 15 pounds. It's the same with Wes, too. JK and JP are stronger and faster than me. And there they were, all of four of my Dodgers, on the field, warming up . . . my Dodgers for their first game on the big field. Honestly, it was surreal and a bit hard for me to process in real time. Two worlds coming together on one baseball field held together by a love of baseball. It was powerful.
I don't like to think of it in terms of "original" Dodgers and "new" Dodgers. Rather, they're my Dodgers.
All of them. Every boy who ever put on a Dodgers' hat and jersey and stepped on a baseball filed to play for Chris, Randy, Will, and me is a Dodger and always will be. That's the way I feel about it.
JP coached third base and Benton coached first base. Wes warmed up the pitcher between innings. He and JK also got the next pitcher ready to throw in between innings. And the four of them hung out together, like the old days, talking and laughing. All four of them at different high schools but all four of them together on the baseball field again. It felt right.
When I met with the Moonshots' coach, Dom, at home plate before the game to exchange lineup cards, it was apparent that he thought his team was going to boat race my Dodgers. And why not, given that my guys were all 12 years olds and he had a eighth and eighth graders on his team. Well, guess what? That's not the way it turned out.
Harper and Lucas pitched well, throwing hard and with control for the most part. Daniel and Joe struggled a bit with their control but did fine for their first time throwing from 60'6" in a game. The Dodgers jumped on them early and led 3-0 before losing, in the end, 6-4. The point, of course, is that the boys completed and proved they're ready for the big field and that they belong on the big field.
It was an afternoon I'll remember for the rest of my life. A full circle moment for the Dodgers. Being on the field, again, with Chris, Randy, and Will was special. And watching our sons - JP, Wes, JK, and Benton coach Joe and his teammates - well, that was a life changing moment for me. Hopefully for them, too.
Dodgers forever.
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