The Gift of a Coach: A Novel of Baseball and Friendship

Chapter Nine: More Than This

Nick's face pondered what Jake had just spilled to him and then smiled. "Yeah. Jake, that's such a great idea. I think it'll work"

"Good," Jake sighed. "You think the team will like it?"

"I don't know. You want to talk to them about it?"

"For sure," Jake said as he smiled and made his way into the dugout and down the stairs.

"Alright! Hey! What's going on here? Let's sit down. I got something to talk to you guys about"

The kids continued throwing the ball around the dugout until Jake whistled. "Sorry," he apologized to Nick who winced next to him.

"No need to. It's one of your many talents," Nick replied, sarcastically. Jake laughed, giving Nick another apologetic look. That whistle got him in trouble sometimes but now, it came in handy.

"Alright. Listen up. Sit down," Jake said, catching a ball from Parker in his hand as he walked up and down in front of the team. "I don't know if you are all aware, but baseball at Brennan, specifically this team, has been in jeopardy"

Jake got some shocked looks and he knew he had their total undivided attention now.

"I'm sure you are all familiar with Brennan's policy for each club or team to raise $1,000 by the end of a school year. Well, this year for baseball, we needed to do it by a specific date"

"And what date is that, Coach Jake?" Collin Juk asked.

Jake looked at Nick and took a deep breath, tossing the ball back and forth between his hands.

"This Sunday"

The dugout was in total silence as some kids yelled out.

"Hey!" Jake held up his hands. "I know, I know. I should have told you, but I didn't know either. Coach Nick actually called me a few nights ago and told me. So I'm out of the loop as much as you have been"

"What's the plan, Jake?" Nick asked arms crossed, standing behind him. Jake knew Nick was just humoring him; trying to get the team to bandwagon his idea.

"The plan... Is a charity game. At Grace Park," Jake said, dragging a bucket over to sit on. "We charge $5 for admission and it's open to everyone. Think of it, who isn't at Grace Park on a Saturday?"

The team nodded and smiled as they considered the plan.

"And, by inviting everyone from Brennan and outsiders, we should have $500 to equal our final total of $1,000 by the next day, Sunday. So, what does everyone think?"

There was a moment of silence before the team clapped.

"We love it, Coach Jake," Parker said, speaking on behalf of his teammates who yelled out their agreement.

"Good. Alright! Settle down because we're gonna go over the details," Jake said, calming down the team again.

He could tell they were getting more comfortable with him and Jake, but with that came raising voices and Jake's ear-piercing whistle. Jake wouldn't trade it for anything though; he was so thankful they were starting to trust him.

"I still have to talk to Principal Adair about getting this approved. I am pretty sure he will say yes but in the meantime, if he says no, we need to come up with a new idea. So, for the next few days, just keep that idea in the back of your mind for me, alright? I want to have the game at 2 so be there at 12:45. And I only say that instead of 1 because I want us to walk the field together, okay? 'Cause, we got a few new things we need to go over. As of now, that's all I got. So, go warm up and grab your gloves. I'm gonna take pitchers and Jake and Josh to catch, Coach Nick will take batters then we'll field at the end. Because we didn't get to finish talking about double plays"