Relationships: Friendship, Baseball, and True Success

Eleven year old Chick Moorman loved baseball. I mean he LOVED baseball. He slept, ate, drank, dreamed, played, etc...baseball. The 1956 Little League season was about to begin. The smell of the game was everywhere. The aroma of the leather gloves, the dirt of the infield under your feet, the feel of the cool grass in the outfield. Chick could hardly wait to begin. This was going to be a great season. He just knew it.

The teams were selected. Chick went to his team while Gordon went to his. Gordon wasn't a baseball junkie like Chick. In fact, he wasn't good at all. Gordon just wanted to belong to something. Quietly, Chick was glad Gordon wasn't on his team. You see, every player had to play at least half of every game. With Gordon on the other team, Chick thought it gave his team that much better of a chance.

The season had just been two weeks long of practice when Gordon quit. The truth is Gordon was bullied into leaving the team. Gordon's coach had two of his better players take Gordon into the woods to talk with him. They basically told Gordon to get out of here and not come back. Gordon was crushed.

When Chick heard the news, he got mad. Chick went to his father who also happened to be his coach. Chick told him the whole story. Chick figured his dad would go to the officials and have Gordon reinstated to his team. But his dad did something totally unexpected. He made Gordon a member of his team. That is not what Chick wanted at all. He wanted Gordon in the league but not on his team. Their chances of winning just went down a notch.

When it came to baseball skills, Gordon didn't have a good season. But when it came to life, joy, and fun; Gordon, Chick, and the team had a great season. Chick said he learned a lot of baseball from his coach that year but the most important thing he learned was from his dad who taught him how to live with a kind heart. I am committing myself to living the same way. Won’t you join me today?