Moving out of Little League

Aspiring American children’s author Tony Evangelista writes about how frustrations over coaching his son Joey at baseball led him to write a book exploring issues of play and relationships

On 10 March, 1997 I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS). It just happened to be my wife’s 37th birthday.

About a week later I received a phone call from Little League, because I had applied to coach my sons (see photo). I was overjoyed yet cautious. It was what I wanted, but I wasn’t sure if I could physically handle it. At the time, I was walking with an unbalanced and awkward gait. I wanted to keep my MS diagnosis private, but then again, I didn’t want people to think I was a drunk either, since I walked like one.

So I fessed up and told the guy about my diagnosis. He was taken aback by it, but still accepted me. This gave me a wonderful opportunity, something I had time to do because I owned my own business and had enough flexibility to put time and energy into coaching.

Coaching Little League is the most rewarding and worthwhile experience by far of all the things I’ve done in my life! I found it very gratifying to show kids the basics and mechanics of baseball and the funda­mentals of team play. It was tiring and challenging, without a doubt, but well worth the effort. I wouldn’t have traded it for anything.

A few times one of the eight-year-olds said to me, “Why do you walk funny?” Instead of taking the opportunity to explain, I got riled up and ignored him, leaving it to his father  to take him aside and talk to him. That wasn’t so good. Another time I was at first base when one kid was so happy to have won that he hugged my legs. I lost my balance and he ended up falling on top of me. It was a little embarrassing but we got up laughing.

The following year I didn’t coach. I started walking with a cane and had to get a nine-to-five job, which unfortunately brought my Little League coaching days to an end.

Subsequently, I found it more difficult just to go see the kids pitch on Saturdays. I was now confined to a wheelchair, and between the transport­ation and the physical struggle, it was too much for me.

It was disheartening not to see the boys’ competitive talents develop. Then one of them, Joey, developed problems with his ankles, and with that his baseball future came to an end.

Fortunately my kids survived but as we all grew up, our formerly tight relationship suffered some alienation and distance.

That experience inspired me to create an illustrated children’s book looking at the joys and frustrations of play from both sides of the disabled parent/child relationship.

• Tony Evangelista is hoping to find a publisher for his book Cartoon Boy