During the many years I coached Little League baseball, I dealt with a wide variety of players, aged seven to twelve. I understood that part of being a coach is also being a role model. I had more than a few moments when I wanted to yell, particularly at umpires who made bad calls, but I always held my tongue and never lost my temper with a parent, a player or an umpire.

In turn, most of my players were polite, enthusiastic about baseball, and respectful of me and my time as a volunteer coach. Larry was one my favorite players. He was a hard worker and a dedicated student of baseball history. He loved to try to stump me and would pepper me with difficult trivia questions. Who is the only pitcher to have compiled 3,000 strikeouts in fewer than 3,000 innings? (Pedro Martinez). Which San Francisco Giants ballplayer appeared in twenty consecutive All-Star games? (Willie Mays). Who had the most at-bats as a New York Yankee? (Mickey Mantle, 8,102 at bats over 18 seasons).

Our league had a rule that every player had to play in the infield for two innings every game. The night before a game I compiled a spreadsheet with rotating field assignments, making sure every play spent two innings in the infield. If a player showed up for a game when he’d told me he’d be absent, I had to improvise. In one game, my improvising didn’t work so well and Larry played only one inning in the infield. I didn’t know of my mistake until after the game when Larry’s father cornered me. He was irate that his son had been missed an infield inning. “How dare you shortchange my son!” he screamed at me.

I listened to the man rant for a few minutes. I apologized for my error and said I’d try to do a better job next time. This seemed to calm him. He grabbed Larry’s hand and pulled him toward the parking lot. Larry, embarrassed by his father’s outlandish behavior, looked over his shoulder at me, held my gaze and mouthed, “I’m sorry.”

When Larry showed up at practice the next day, he pulled me aside and again apologized. Larry wasn’t our team’s best player but he sure was our best role model.