Tampa Bay Bats baseball coach Bill Clinton is about showing his team that helping others in need is always the right thing to do.
During the GSA Spring Break Classic, he and the Bats made one young boy as happy as he’s ever been.
The tournament, which was held March 21 and 22, happened to coincide with World Down Syndrome Day — a day that player Jordan Chandler and his family were celebrating anyway, in honor of his younger brother, Easton.
The Bats decided to come together and make Easton a part of the team. They went all-out in the process.
“It is great to see a young team like this pull together to help spread awareness through our community for different causes, and they do it without hesitation,” Jen Chandler, the boys’ mother, says. “It isn’t because Coach Bill tells them they have to. It’s because they truly want to.”
CAPTAIN EASTON
It started with an email, sent to Clinton and the coaches by the Chandlers, about World Down Syndrome Day. The Bats knew that this was something they could really get behind, so the team decided to make the most of it for the Plant City-based GSA tournament.
The team ordered blue and yellow socks to wear over the weekend, as those are the official colors of Down Syndrome awareness. Clinton also spoke with the other teams before tournament play began, telling them of the team’s plans to honor Easton over the weekend and asking for their support.
“All of the teams were very gracious about everything I asked of them,” Clinton says.
The plan was to make Easton an honorary team captain for the weekend, meaning that the boy would get to participate in just about every aspect of the team’s activities. And he did. He was on hand for the first coin toss Saturday, March 21. He had a meet and greet with the other team’s coaches and players. And he helped lead the pre-game chant from the middle of the huddle. In fact, the Bats wouldn’t have done the huddle chant over the weekend if Easton wasn’t around.
On Sunday, Clinton was able to get Easton out on the diamond to throw the first pitch of the day. After Jordan caught the ball, Easton got to keep it. Both teams circled around the boy and gave him high fives.
Perhaps all of the good vibes that were going around that day did something for the Bats, because they were able to do even more after a hot streak.
GETTING RESULTS
Saturday’s seeding games went poorly for the Bats, who lost both outings. Clinton chalks it up to rust but, no matter what, the team knew it had to get something going to win the tournament.
Especially since the coach had even more in mind for Easton.
“In my head I planned that, if we had gotten to championship game, our trophy was going to Easton,” Clinton says. “I didn’t let anybody know until the end of the game, except for my wife.”
The Bats switched things up Sunday by rotating the pitching staff more than they had Saturday, getting all 13 players on the roster in on the action. The approach worked, as they were able to sweep the first two games and make the championship against a team that had already beaten them: the Clermont Coyotes.
Clermont had beaten Tampa Bay, 11-5, the day before, and the Coyotes weren’t backing down Sunday. But the Bats found their rhythm at the plate, as well as on the mound, and the defense held on in the final inning to preserve a 9-8 win — and the championship.
Easton got that trophy as soon as it was presented to the Bats, but there weren’t enough medals for both he and the team to have, at first. Fortunately, a GSA official found an extra and gave it to him.
“He was over the moon,” Clinton says. “He had a big ol’ smile on his face.”
The Chandler family was grateful for the team’s gestures over the weekend and were especially thrilled when Clinton surprised Easton with the trophy.
“They brought awareness for World Down Syndrome Day, in honor of Easton, so that others can also enjoy and understand that people with special needs are no different,” Jen Chandler says. “These boys are truly a team and, in my eyes, heroes for not only the game they play in baseball, but also the game of life.”
Clinton and the Bats are now planning a fundraiser for Down Syndrome awareness and research, with help from the Chandlers, but the coach says that those plans aren’t yet final. No matter what they do, the Bats have two goals for their off-the-field activities: to help others in need, and to help the boys grow as young men.
“It shows the boys that there’s more than just baseball,” Clinton says.
Contact Justin Kline at jkline@plantcityobserver.com.
GIVING BACK
The Tampa Bay Bats 11U travel team, coached by Bill Clinton, is big on giving back to the community.
This group of coaches and players from the Plant City, Valrico and other surrounding areas makes it a point to organize fundraisers when certain things come to attention. They’ve raised money for a military family going through hard times, presenting a check on the field before a Tampa Yankees game. And the second Bats team also raised money to help a player’s mother who was battling brain cancer.
Though Clinton mostly helps families in need, he’s not opposed to supporting causes such as Down Syndrome awareness and research. And almost as much as it is about helping others, it’s about showing the young boys that good things happen when people take action.
“I want them to see the big picture,” he says.