I previously stated that Mike's first year of Minors Baseball wasn't supposed to be a championship year. However, Mike had two great coaches who molded this group of novices into a pretty good team. They were so good that they managed to get to the semi-finals of the playoffs and had previously dispatched the team expected to win the whole thing. Now River Forest in those days gave you a 2nd shot if you lost early in the playoffs. You went into the loser's bracket. It was this same team that Mike and the gang had to play again to go to the championship game.
Mike's team jumped to an early lead and held it into the final inning. Here's the picture. Two outs with the other team down by a run. Tying run is at third. Pitcher throws the ball, opposing coach sends the runner on third towards home. Catcher sees the kid coming and loses focus on the ball which goes to the backstop. Problem: This is a no steal league. Problem: Coach sends kid anyway. Problem: All parents and the kids on the bench see coach tell kid to go. Problem: Umpire didn't see it. So the run is allowed to stand. Mike's team loses in extra innings.
This marks three developments in Mike's young life. 1.} He learns that some people will cheat to get ahead. 2} He learns that some people are A**holes. 3.} It will mark the beginning of Mike's being close to the "Big One" without being able to grab the brass ring.
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