I'm covering a little league coach, who has been voluntary giving his time to five, six, and seven year olds. Jimmy Marron of Oak Park has coached Tee-ball, Mustang, Jr. Bronco and Bronco for the past 20 years.
I plan to go out and sit-in on one of his practices. Not only to write a better paper, but i'm also interested in seeing how these kids react to him as a coach. I wan't to know what drives this coach to work for free.
Besides interviewing this coach, i've already talked to a parent who had his son coached by Marron for two-years.
It was a very interesting interview. His wife screened me over the phone and i eventually was able to get to him. The first thing he asked me was about baseball. It was a question dealing with the Yankees. My first thought was this guy is serious about this sport.
After a few statements about the Yankees giving up 22 runs in their loss to Cleveland on saturday. The interview quickly got on its way. It lasted maybe for about 30 minutes with small breaks in between discussing the Major Leagues.
I was also looking at interviewing an umpire, who knows Marron, but I was unable to get a hold of him. As a repoter I will not stop there, until I eventually get a hold of him or another reliable source. Because in my world, I need them more than they need me.
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Good start on this, Johnny. One thing to ask him moving forward: Who are some of the best players he has coached over the years? Anyone now playing high school ball? Any names we might recognize? What does it mean to him to work with players in such critical years ... about teaching the game?
ReplyDeleteAlso: What issues does he deal with off the field? If you've read Dan Coyle's book: "Hardball: A Season in the Projects" you'll see that dealing with a player's issues off the field is more important than what happens on it.