I had an interesting Memorial Day weekend and watched a lot of Little League baseball. My grandson, Brendan, and his Ridgewood Rebels were playing in the Bergen County Charity Classic. Several teams from Bergen County play an elimination tournament and unfortunately Brendan's team did not advance to the playoff round but it gave me a chance to see him and his teammates play 3 games.

There were a lot of things that impressed me about being around the Little Leaguers and some things that caused me to reflect on my youth baseball days growing up in Zeeland, Michigan before organized little league was born. I think Joey Jay, who went on to be a successful pitcher for the Milwaukee Braves and Cincinnati Reds in the 50's and early 60's, was the first Little Leaguer to become a big leaguer. Not 100% sure but I do recall he got some publicity for that.
 
One thing that impressed me in a positive way was the interest the kids had in the current major leaguers. So much has been written and spoken about kids in our country not being interested in baseball. Recently, the Yankees staged another of their last inning comeback wins and the Red Sox lost in the last inning to the Mets. The buzz around the dugout went like this, "Did the Yankees win or lose?....They won, Melky got a walk off single! And the Red Sox lost, we're tied with them now!"  It was reassuring to know that kids today still live, eat and breathe baseball.

As they took infield and outfield practice before the game, they were diligent about hitting the cutoff man and throwing to the right base as the coach hollered out the instructions, "Cut 3, Cut 2, Cut home". I was struck by how good their form was in making the throws and catches and whipping the ball around the diamond. I don't recall being able to do that as well when I was their age. Of course, we had no games on TV where we could see our favorite players perform and emulate them. We just did what seemed natural. When they came to bat a lot of them looked like little Derek Jeters, extending their right arm toward the home plate umpire to ask him to wait until they were ready to hit. Yes, we do mimic our heroes. When I was Brendan's age I mimicked Bobby Shantz, a little lefty pitcher in the 50's by listening to radio announcers describe his motion. That was the only formal training I had as a kid!

The quality of Little League play was very good but the kids were at the mercy of the condition of the field. Because of the dryness it was hard and they had to deal with a lot of irregular hops and, as a result, there were a lot of errors. This solidified my thinking about the important things that determine which team wins or loses. If you never made an error, hit every cutoff man, always threw to the proper base, never issued a walk unintentionally, and always drove the runner in from 3rd base with less than 2 outs, your team would win most of the games. Contrary to what baseball players think is important, winning is not about who has the highest batting average, hits the most homeruns , or a pitcher that strikes out the most batters. It's the simple fundamentals about not making mistakes and doing the ordinary things in an extraordinary way.
 
I believe the one thing that caused me to realize how fortunate I was during my youth was the solitude in which I was able to play and make mistakes.  Even though my form was not as good as the current youth, I wasn't as big or strong as some of the other kids, and didn't have an equipment bag with all the latest gear and a metal bat; I still managed to excel in baseball.  No coaches hollering or calling me aside to remind me of things to do that I probably wasn't capable of doing anyway, no parents yelling, "Oh Jimmy, why did you swing at that pitch?"  We just got 6 or 8 kids and played for hours. We didn't keep batting averages, no scoreboards or organized games and no uniforms-- just good fun with our playmates.  And you know what?? I think we turned out okay. I believe kids from my era were more mature, grounded, and self taught. We didn't have to look for a coach or parent to tell us what to do, because right or wrong, we figured it out ourselves. Maybe kids today need to spend a little more time on their own figuring out the game, their swing and the simple fundamentals. I don't know which way is best, there is good and not as good in each era. But, one thing is for sure, I'm glad I was a kid in the 40's and 50's.