Baseball Leadership

At  a  fundraising dinner for a school that serves children with learning
disabilities, the father of one of the students  delivered a speech that  would
never be forgotten by all who  attended. After extolling the school and its
dedicated  staff, he offered a question:

‘When not interfered  with  by outside influences, everything nature does,
is done with  perfection.
Yet my son, Shay, cannot learn things as other  children do.  He cannot understand things as other children  do.
Where is the natural order of things in my  son?’
The audience was stilled by the query.
The father continued. ‘I believe that when a child like Shay, who was
mentally and physically disabled comes into the world, an opportunity
to realize true human nature presents itself, and it  comes in the way other
people treat that child.’
Then he told the following story:
Shay and I had walked past a park  where some boys Shay knew were
playing baseball. Shay asked, ‘Do you think they’ll let me play?’ I knew that
most of the boys would not want someone like Shay on their team, but as a
father, I also understood that if my son were allowed to play, it would  give
him a much-needed sense of belonging and some confidence to  be accepted by
others in spite of his handicaps.
I approached one of the boys on the field and asked (not  expecting much)
if Shay could play. The boy looked around for guidance and said, ‘We’re losing by six runs and the game is in the eighth inning.  I  guess he can be on our team and we’ll try to put him in to bat in the ninth inning.’
Shay struggled over to the team’s bench and, with a broad smile, put on a
team shirt. I watched with a small tear in my eye and warmth in my heart .
The boys saw my joy at my son being accepted.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, Shay’s team scored a few runs but was
still behind by three.
In the top of the ninth inning,  Shay put on a glove and played in the
right field. Even though no hits came his way, he was obviously ecstatic
just to be in the game and on the  field, grinning from ear to ear as I waved
to him from the stands.
In the bottom of the ninth inning, Shay’s team scored again.
Now, with two outs and the bases loaded, the potential winning run was on
base and Shay was scheduled to be next at bat.
At this juncture, do they let Shay bat and give away their chance to win the game?
Surprisingly, Shay was given the bat. Everyone knew that a hit was all but impossible because Shay didn’t even know how to hold the bat properly, much less connect with  the ball.
However, as Shay stepped up to the plate, the pitcher,  recognizing that the other team was putting winning aside for this moment  in  Shay’s life, moved in a few steps to lob the ball in softly so Shay could at least make contact.
The first pitch came and Shay swung clumsily and missed.
The pitcher again took a few steps forward to toss the ball softly towards Shay.
As the pitch came in, Shay swung at the ball and hit a slow ground ball right back to the pitcher.
The game would now be over.
The pitcher picked up the soft  grounder and could have easily thrown the ball to the first baseman.  Shay would have been out and that would have been the end of the
game.
Instead, the pitcher threw the ball right over the first baseman’s head, out of reach  of all  team mates.
Everyone from the stands and both teams started  yelling, ‘Shay, run to first!  Run to  first!’

Never in his life had Shay ever run that far, but he  made it to first base.  He scampered down the baseline, wide-eyed and startled.

Everyone yelled, ‘Run to second, run to second!’
Catching his breath, Shay awkwardly ran towards second, gleaming and struggling to make it to the base.
By the time Shay rounded towards second base, the right fielder had the
ball.  The smallest guy on their team who now had his first chance to
be the hero for his team.
He could have thrown the ball to the second-baseman for the tag, but he
understood the pitcher’s intentions so he, too, intentionally threw the ball
high and far over the third-baseman’s head.
Shay ran toward third base deliriously as the runners ahead of him
circled the bases toward home.
All were screaming, ‘Shay, Shay, Shay, all the Way  Shay’
Shay reached third base because the opposing  shortstop  ran to help
him by turning him in the direction of  third base, and  shouted, ‘Run to
third!  Shay, run to  third!’
As Shay rounded  third, the boys from both teams,  and the spectators,
were on their feet  screaming, ‘Shay, run  home! Run home!’
Shay ran to home, stepped on the plate, and was cheered as the hero
who hit the grand slam and won the game  for his team.
‘That day’, said the father softly with tears now  rolling down his
face, ‘the boys from both teams helped bring a piece of  true love and
humanity into this world’.
Shay didn’t make it to another summer. He died  that winter, having
never forgotten being the hero and making me so happy, and coming home and
seeing his Mother tearfully embrace her little hero of the day!
(In honor of Philadelphia winning the World Series!)