Little League, Big Lesson

As summer tournament baseball comes to an end, here's a story about sportsmanship. Danny Flaherty, a player on the 10-year old tournament team, and his small act of kindness, struck a chord with league officials and brought home an important message about the game.

From District 10 Official, Jeff Georgiana:

'As our District 10 Tournament is coming to a close, I would like to let everyone know of one of the best shows of sportsmanship that I've seen in years...

During the Old Bridge / Metuchen 9/10 year old crossover game at Old Bridge, the game was a close one that could have gone either way. The score was tied at 5 apiece when a batter from Old Bridge hit a two-run home run to put them up 7-5. The ball was thrown back into play by Metuchen as the batter was rounding the bases. When he crossed home plate, the player from Metuchen (Danny Flaherty) walked-in and handed the runner the ball. I almost could not believe what I saw. Old Bridge went on to win by that home run, 7-5.

Yes, Old Bridge won the game but, if you ask me, the winners were the players from Metuchen , especially the one who handed-off the home run ball. That one small act of sportsmanship puts everything into perspective for all of us. Sure we all like to win and no one enjoys losing but, in the end, it's just a game.

Hats-off to the 9/10 year old Metuchen all-star team, you are all winners in my book. I'm sure the entire league is proud of those players for teaching all of us a lesson.'

And from Metuchen Little League president, George Harry "Sportsmanship is a key value of our program and acts like this reinforce it. We are very proud of Dan and of our entire program, as we believe we can be competitive and exhibit sportsmanship concurrently."