Little League baseball players.
Within 10 minutes of the end of the Little League Baseball Southwest Regional Final on August 9, 500,000 people logged on to watch a 12-second clip of a baseball game in which a 12-year-old Tulsa National batter named Isaiah Jarvis was hit by a curveball that didn’t curve, thrown by Kaiden Shelton, the opposing pitcher from Pearland, in East Texas.
The viewers weren’t logging in to watch Isaiah get beaned or witness a bench-clearing brawl among angry coaches and parents. No, they were logging in to see what happened after Isaiah was cleared by medical staff and hobbled over to first base, looking over at Kaiden who could not stop crying on the mound, such was his anguish at having hurt Isaiah. That’s when Isaiah did the unexpected: he walked over to the mound and administered a hug and some comforting words to his opponent.
“Hey, you’re doing great,” said the kid who just got beaned.
No script. No encouragement from the coaches or parents. Just a good soul at work on a hot afternoon in Waco, Texas. That’s why, before the day was through, a couple million more people checked out a Little League game, and why some 25 million have watched the video since then. They are acknowledging that at this moment in time, we need more of these kinds of clips to pop up in our feeds in place of the endless fear and loathing to which we are sadly growing accustomed.
Yes, you can bet your popcorn, peanuts and Crackerjacks that those millions of eyeballs didn’t all come from a red state or blue state or, for that matter, a green state or purple one. They came from anywhere where people have grown weary of the deranged cancel culture that has come to dominate our national discourse on both ends of the political spectrum in social and mainstream media.
The lesson was not lost on Sean Kouplen, the head coach of Isaiah’s team. When Coach Kouplen is not managing Little Leaguers, he serves as chairman and CEO of Regent Bank in Tulsa and holds many local and statewide leadership positions. A person of deep faith, Kouplen believes the incident offered lessons for sport and business, alike.
“I think the game showed you can battle on the field but also be brave people who are not afraid to be friends with the opponent you are trying to beat,” offered Kouplen, whose son Finley is a pitcher and infielder on the team. “There was a basic message of caring not just for yourself but also for others. And a message of respect.”
The coach admits his team’s culture of caring is a bit unusual, but he hopes other teams and society in general will take a lesson in overcoming the “divisiveness” that has beset so much of our current mindset. In this regard, Isaiah shouldn’t be viewed as some sort of martyr who took one for humanity to show us how to forgive. Tulsa’s players wanted to win the game just as badly as Pearland’s did.
“I’ve been asked about my coaching style,” Kouplen said. “I tell bad dad jokes just like everyone else, but we aren’t big on yelling at kids. And I believe courage and honesty are important in baseball and life. Don’t forget, we beat a lot of other teams to get to the Regional Final.” But the team culture and Isaiah’s moral compass kept the competitive spirit in its proper focus. “When Isaiah saw Kaiden hurting, he wanted to help him,” Kouplen pointed out.
And lest we forget Kaiden’s heartwarming role in all this, remember that the youngster with the powerful pitching arm admitted he was having “trouble breathing” on the mound after hitting Isaiah. Kaiden never fully regained his pitching composure afterward and had to leave the game, although he returned to play in the infield.
Pearland ultimately prevailed and earned the opportunity to compete at the Little League Baseball World Series in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania. If Kaiden takes the mound for his team, he’ll have one very enthusiastic fan named Isaiah cheering him on from the stands, as Isaiah was invited by the Pearland team to attend the event as their guest.
One of the great things about this time of year, when there’s a hole in the “big-time” sports calendar, is that if offers the possibility that something timeless and awesome can happen. No, not unlimited championship corn hole. The prospect of one of our nation’s possible futures peeking out at us from inside a Little League game, showing us how to behave in the true spirit of competition and love. Showing us what real grace under pressure looks like.
So go ahead and watch it again. Share it at the office. Bookmark it and return to it whenever you need tangible evidence that we’re still growing good ones here in America.
