Glenn Lucke, Coach Decker and the Game Ball

It was the last game of the season on a beautiful late May evening in Charlotte. Coach Decker (my brother-in-law), who managed the t-ball team of five- and six-year-olds, told the crew that it was the championship. And so it was for them in a league where score isn’t kept. Coach Decker gathered them before the game and asked them about the two goals he had drilled into them all season. They yelled back, “Try Your Hardest!” and “Be Encouraging!” Perfect pitch goals for these uniformed youngsters still developing muscle memory for the various baseball skills.

Outs are rare among the five-and six-year olds playing tee-ball, and I didn’t witness a single strikeout, even when batters whiffed four and five times at the stationary ball on the tee. Coach Decker’s team indeed played their hardest and they continued to yell encouragement to one another, but some played more skillfully than others. Sorting and hierarchies, even in this kindest of sports leagues, already occurs, and that’s life.

After the game Coach Decker packed up his car with the equipment. He spied a ball and put it with him in the front seat of the car as he backed out of his parking space. As he navigated the parking lot, he saw one of his players, Ian, with his dad. Coach Decker stopped the car, got out and said, said “Ian, great hustle today. You played your hardest. You were very encouraging. Here is the game ball.” And then he left. 

The next day Coach Decker received an email from Ian’s dad. It read: 

“I want to make sure I also tell you that Ian had a terrible game last night and was very disappointed with how it ended. 

His body language and attitude were at a season low. 

That was until you gave him the game ball.  He immediately puffed up his chest and was reinvigorated about the game. 

He said on the way home that the game ball was actually a trophy for winning the championship.  So he actually earned two trophies this year. 

He slept with the ball at his side last night.” 

What happened? A coach, who happens to know Jesus and understands the gospel, was looking outward for an opportunity to bless another person.  It took but a couple of minutes of time to pluck up a little guy down on himself. 

The story isn’t over.

The next day Coach Decker received another email, this time from Ian’s maternal grandfather, John. 

John wrote: 

As you know, Ian’s mother is Heather, my daughter, and Heather has a brother, Johnny, who was killed in an accident when he was 16. He was an incredible person and athlete.

When Ian was born, I was broke. I had lost everything when a factory opened
in China and cut my prices by more than half. The only thing I owned of value was one of Johnny’s “game balls.” I gave it to Ian.

Until that last game of the season, the ball had merely been one of Johnny’s baseballs in Ian’s eyes. This makes sense.

On the way home Tuesday, Ian told Heather he was going to put it beside “Johnny’s GAME BALL.” That old ball of Johnny’s went from a baseball to a GAME BALL!

Heather called to ask what game Johnny’s ball represented. I told her to take her pick-- when Johnny had pitched a no-hitter in Babe Ruth league, or later when struck out 19 in a game.  No will ever know, but it was important to Johnny because it was the only one he kept out on his dresser.

Ian probably will not remember his game in years to come but he will know he was given the game ball.

Thank you so much for showing Ian the difference in a baseball and a GAME BALL!! 

And who was little Ian’s deceased Uncle Johnny? They still give an award in the local Little League in his honor: 

The Johnny Nivens Award is given in the honored memory of the late Johnny Nivens, a former talented and popular member of the Trinity Presbyterian Church team who died years ago in an automobile accident. It is awarded to one member of each team who possesses the qualities of unselfish team play and sportsmanship, which govern the principles of Little League Baseball. The recipient is determined by the coaches of each individual team.

 Do you see what I see? A simple decision by a coach who believes and lives the gospel to bless a young boy rippled onward to others. A dad saw his disappointed son reinvigorated. A mom saw her son connect to her brother lost long ago. And a grandfather saw the memories of his son rekindled in the joy of his grandson and his game ball.

Is there someone you could give a game ball to today?

Comments

[Buford1975]

Great story, Glenn. It takes so little sometimes to make a huge impact. Not everything we do to share the gospel has to be grandiose.

[Kelly Monroe Kullberg]

Glenn,
Thanks a lot for giving me a meltdown in the middle of an otherwise productive day :) That's a beautiful story. I'll pass it on to others who already come to mind.
kelly

[Jake Rothman]

Thanks for that story, Glenn. Often encouraging others doesn't take a lot of time or complicated schemes. It's just a well timed comment by someone looking for the opportunity to encourage someone else. Your story was an encouragement to me.

[Heidi Metcalf]

oh, lump in my throat. Thanks for the reminder to have eyes that see.

[Reggie Kidd]

Mere baseballs becoming game balls is not at all unlike the way ordinary water and ordinary bread and wine become kisses from another world. Thanks, Glenn.