…one trophy, one team

In early 1967 Dick Schapp, a sportswriter, contacted Jerry Kramer and asked him to chronicle his day-to-day life as an offensive lineman playing for Vince Lombardi’s Green Bay Packers. Instant Replay was published in ’68 and is regarded as one of the greatest sports books of all time. Schaap’s writing is superb, Kramer’s insider’s vantage point is remarkable but what makes the book so utterly compelling is the timing. In their wildest dreams, neither man could have imagined Kramer’s ’67 season would offer up The Ice Bowl.

Now, 55 years later, I feel like I am the modern-day Dick Schaap… ok, maybe my situation is a little smaller scale, but this is my story so, Dick Schaap I am.

This year I had the unique pleasure of getting an insider’s account of the Everett baseball team’s State Championship season. Kramer used a pay phone to call in his daily notes, my information came across the dinner table. Another glaring difference is that I didn’t offer to pay my source because, to be honest, I feel like me hauling him around in my uterus for 9 months seems like payment enough.

If you would’ve told me 18 years ago that my son would be on the first State Champion baseball team in county history I probably would’ve smiled and said, “We can only hope.” If you would’ve told me the same thing 10 years ago, I would’ve smiled and said, “You’re damn right he will be.” I remember watching most of these boys as teammates on little league all-star teams back in the day and daring to let myself dream of big games… and big wins.

They were all just so talented. And they were all the same age. And we knew, if they stuck with it, they’d be a “dream team” by their junior and senior years. As often happens though, a few boys broke off to pursue other interests; fortunately, the area was ripe with talented players who were only a year or two younger. Those 7 ‘originals’ along with their younger cohorts, kept after it right up until June 16, 2022, when they brought home the PIAA 2A State Championship trophy.

If you didn’t get the chance to watch these boys play… you missed out! Our guys lost only 2 games all season (both were winnable) so you know they had talent. But it wasn’t just one kid with talent, or even 4 kids… A person would be hard pressed to pick an MVP on that team.

Who would it be? The efficient right-handed pitcher with the ridiculously low ERA and high batting average? The strong lefty who never lost a game and put up some numbers at the plate? The young catcher who calls every pitch and had nary a passed ball in the playoffs? The second baseman who made diving stops and seemed to be on base every time he needed to be? The shortstop who never had an error and could hit the ball a country mile? The third baseman who has to be considered the best 3rd baseman in the state? The left fielder who made a perfect throw to save a game then had the lone RBI in the Championship game? The centerfielder who is by far the best middle outfielder I’ve ever seen play the game and carried the best batting average? The right fielder who put the ball in play under intense circumstances to start us on our championship run? The designated hitter who seemed to find the gaps every time he stepped up to the plate? Or the pinch runner whose base path savvy led to him scoring the winning run in the semi-final and in the championship game?

Ya see what I mean? This was an entire team of MVP candidates. They each had a job to do and to a man, they did it with excellence. So, yes… they were a group of talented fellas, but their stats tell only part of the story.

I remember my son coming home from one of the first practices of the season, he was chuckling as he walked in the door, I smiled and asked what he was laughing about. “Just stuff that happened at practice. I think we’re gonna have a lotta fun this season.” And that was the tone for the entire season.

Fun.

“I can’t explain it mom, we’re just a bunch of guys having fun. Even the guys who don’t play… they aren’t mad about it; they’re just having fun.”

And so were we parents. The fun vibe was contagious. Of course, the boys were winning so ‘fun’ was easy, but it was more than that… it was an overwhelming, all-encompassing, feeling of positivity. In my many years of many sports I’ve never been part of a sports environment that was as positive in nature as this baseball team environment. And it started in the dugout.

The coaches somehow found that ever elusive balance between expecting perfection and accepting that these boys were, in fact, boys. They knew when to teach and they knew when to laugh – they trusted their athletes. And because of that, the players trusted each other.

There were errors, there were untimely strikeouts, there were missed opportunities… but there was never blame. If a kid made a mistake the team rallied behind him. They didn’t hang their heads, they didn’t quit – they worked collectively to overcome the mistake because it wasn’t the individual player’s problem to fix – it was the TEAM’S problem. And like the air of fun – the air of positivity crept into the bleachers.

Listen, this group of boys has been playing together a long time, we’re like every other small-town, we all felt like we had 9 of our own kids on the field. But never before have I felt the sense of unity that I felt this year. We felt each player’s disappointment after a mistake, and we felt that parental pride no matter which kid was making headlines. We were a family and as we fed off the team vibe, I believe the team fed off the fan vibe. This was a TEAM and we were all in it together…

The talent of this group can’t be denied but the driving force behind these champions was team chemistry. They were able to play loose because they knew they had unconditional support. There was not a single ego to be found amongst this group. They trusted each other, they counted on each other, and they wanted to win for each other. There was most certainly no ‘I’ in this team.

To the parents of young athletes, I say this: paying for lessons and travel teams might make your kid better but teaching him or her how to be a teammate – will make your kid a champion!

I’ve spent a lot of time this season thinking back over my son’s baseball years, and I can’t help but feel blessed to have spent this decade-long journey with such an incredibly talented and wonderfully fun group of young men and their families. Timing, is indeed, everything.