[Vision2020] "A Tale of Two Little Leaguers" (Rick Reilly)

[Tom Hansen]

"A tale of two Little Leaguers"
By Rick Reilly

One lawsuit and one scorekeeper showcase two sides of youth baseball

If you're looking for a way to kill Little League, you should call a woman
named Jean Gonzalez of Staten Island, N.Y. I think she's found it.

A little more than five years ago her 12-year-old son, Martin, got a hit
and the first-base coach waved him on to second. The problem was, Martin
did not generally get many doubles. In fact, he'd never slid in a game
before. So when he got to second, he slid clumsily, wrenching his knee,
ripping his ACL and tearing his meniscus.

So what did his mom do?

She sued.

She sued the manager. She sued the first-base coach. She sued the local
Little League. She sued Little League Baseball, Incorporated. She sued
everybody but the kid who cuts the outfield.

She said the manager -- Leigh Bernstein -- hadn't taught Martin the proper
way to slide. (The coach said he had.) She said the local Little League
had the wrong kind of bases -- Soft Touch detachable bases. (But the bases
were on Little League's approved list of bases. They detach when you hit
them with too much force.) She said it was everybody's fault but Martin's.

And just over two weeks ago, she settled for $125,000.

If you're looking for a way to feel good in this whacked world, you should
call the Millers of Fullerton, Calif. I think they've found it.

Pamela Miller and her husband, Rolf, are the parents of Dieter, 12. This
year, Dieter, a catcher, played in the first scrimmage of the season.
While trying to tag a runner at home, he broke his arm. He was out of
action for all but the end of the season.

And what did his parents do?

This is just an opinion, but I think it would be wonderful if people like
Jean Gonzalez and her attorney were tied to the next shuttle and fired
into space.

Here's a coach who is volunteering his time to teach kids the dying game
of baseball and what does he get for his trouble? A lawsuit hanging over
his head for five years.

Here's the local Little League -- New Springville -- trying to do
something fun for the kids, at zero profit and thousands of migraines, and
what does it get for its efforts? A lawyer of its own and a tugboat of
paperwork.

What if little Martin had been beaned? Would his mom have sued the kid who
pitched it? The stitcher of the ball? Abner Doubleday?

I called Ms. Gonzalez but she never called back. I called her attorney,
Alan Glassman, of Brooklyn. He had to put me on hold a lot. "Parents keep
calling wanting me to represent their kid," he said.

Imagine that.

So what did the Millers do when Dieter was hurt? They spoke with his
coach, Tony Mannara, and asked "Is there anything Dieter can do to stay
close with the team?"

Mannara thought about it and answered, "Well, he could keep score."

So Dieter went to scorekeeper's school and learned how. He showed up an
hour early for every game this year -- in uniform -- and kept score, kept
the pitch count and cheered his cast off. Heck, he even came to practices.

"I'd like to have my own Little League team someday," he says.

As of press time, his parents had no plans to sue.

What is Little League supposed to do? It's already eliminated the on-deck
circle for safety reasons. Maybe it should just eliminate the bases
altogether? Hey, that was a pretty good hit. Ghost runner on second.

Coach Bernstein played Martin that day because Martin went out for the
team. So what's the coach supposed to do, keep the kid on the bench all
year? Ms. Gonzalez probably would've sued for that, too. Emotional
cruelty, perhaps.

Anyway, it's finally over. Martin is 17 now and in high school. If you're
his principal you better have F. Lee Bailey on retainer.

And what did the Miller family get for being cool? What did Dieter get for
not sulking, quitting, or detaching like a pop-up base?

He won The Little League Good Sport Award.

He and his family will soon take an all-expenses-paid trip to
Williamsport, Pa. for next week's Little League World Series, where he'll
be honored as the kid who found a way to keep helping the team even though
he couldn't step on the field.

"Big D is a stand-up young man," Coach Mannara says. "He's a fan favorite,
a kid you'd never hear a bad word about. He embodies the true spirit of
Little League."

No, it's not $125,000.

It's better.

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Dieter Miller, 12, broke his arm in Little League this year but kept score
for his team just to be involved.

http://a.espncdn.com/i/mag/blog/0819Dieter1.jpg

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Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"The Pessimist complains about the wind, the Optimist expects it to change
and the Realist adjusts his sails."

- Unknown