2010 Spring Training

Hackley Review 2010 -- The Hackley Alumni Office frequently invites alumni to serve as mentors for current students, a great opportunity for alums from every walk of life to pass along their hands on knowledge to subsequent generations. Tim MacDonald ’58 heard the call. He emailed the Alumni Office last Fall to see if hitting instruction fell within the guidelines of Hackley’s mentoring initiative, and this led to conversations with Director of Alumni & Development John Gannon that in turn led to an invitation from the Hackley Baseball Team to join them for spring training in March. This is Tim’s account of his role in the week’s activities.

Great hitting starts with the line drive. Ultimately, it ends with the line drive as well. In between, we do a lot of work on line drives in the batting cage.

Most ballplayers find the concept easy to understand.

At Spring Training, our ballclub jumped all over the part about the line drives. Chris C. ’13 roped fifty one in a row during his initial session, a new first time record anywhere I’ve been, and Alex P. ’13 reached twenty-four in an epic battle between the two that ended with the whole team watching.

Shane W. ’12 went on a tear in pre-season games, turning in a week-long streak of consistently precise contact, a dazzling way to start off his nascent season. To end our final practice in Florida, Assistant J V Coach Dale Mueller ran a line drive derby that convinced everyone the squad had made great strides at the plate during its week-long stay in the Fort Pierce/ Port St. Lucie area.

Dale, four year starting center fielder with the Butler Bulldogs and a three year all-star named most valuable player in the conference his Senior year, had played in the minor leagues through AA ball for a few seasons following graduation. After pitching for C.W. Post, JV coach Tom Gonzalez spent thirteen summers on one of those traveling semi pro clubs that have been capturing the imaginations of diehard baseball fans, including this one, since before my grandfather played the game back in the late 1800’s.

To me, this was baseball heaven, and I couldn’t believe my good fortune in somehow getting sent here. To top it all off, the coaches are world class motivators. How Hackley continues to come up with faculty like this has always been beyond me, and I couldn’t help recalling moments with icons like Warren Hunke, Bert Clough, K.C. MacArthur, and Phil Havens while watching the coaches work.

I’d been invited along this year as guest hitting instructor. After twenty years at it, from Little League through NCAA Division I, I’d wanted to pass along some of what I had learned. It would be my first contact with the school’s students since graduating fifty-two years earlier.

I was totally unprepared for the kind of person attending Hackley these days. Bright, articulate, reflective, considerate young men all. It was very much like coaching college ball. We could talk, and they had a lot to say. All twelve of them.

And this was the Junior Varsity. Freshman and Sophomores. The little kids.

Conor M. ’12 and I spoke about his grandfather back in the day. A sophomore when I entered Lower School in the Sixth Grade, Bob Akin ’54 was unforgettable. If the Review ever does a piece on Hackley fashion through the ages, Bob would have to be the cover model. Nobody had that early 50’s prep school look down quite like Conor’s grandfather. At least that’s how I remember him today.

Bob’s best friend happened to be the brother of a classmate of mine, so Conor and I had a connection within the Hackley family that made my presence in camp feel perfectly natural to both of us, a heartfelt way to bridge the generations.

I was constantly reminded of my own playing days at Hackley, forever comparing Pete Slader’s brand of coaching those teams with techniques currently used. Curiously, the varsity level of competition seemed comparable, and it was easy to visualize an all-star club comprised of ballplayers from both eras.

In a hazy, Kevin Costner “Field of Dreams” kind of way, you could almost see them taking the field out there together.

Bonding with students is challenging for an alum, especially an ancient one bearing tales of their ancestors dating back to the middle of another century, but my proximity as hitting instructor affords a unique way to forge such relationships. The remarkable young men I worked with are truly special, and that message needs to be passed along. Clearly, there is something very important taking place at Hackley, a thing that should draw us all closer together. I’ve searched for a simple way to express what I found in these kids, and came up with a single word. Twenty-first Century Hackley is teaching children kindness, and her students have been taking those lessons to heart.

Steve Frolo, Varsity Baseball Coach, and the other coaches all spoke to this at some length for me, and expansively, and it wouldn’t hurt for someone at the school to detail what is going on up there in their own view, but I’m sticking with mine here. That one word.

Kindness.

From K through 12, faculty and staff are focused on producing the kind of people who can really make a difference in the world out of something parents of my generation cited as the foundation of education in their day: The Golden Rule. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

And my, how those old-timers lamented its loss in the elementary school curriculum by the time I’d entered kindergarten. To the men and women who fought World War II, Tom Brokaw’s “greatest generation,” the nation had lost its moral compass, and dropping the values they had been grounded in was clearly the reason why.

And now, this extraordinary thing is happening on the Hilltop, as if completing a cycle. From my vantage point, we’d have to call it the return of The Golden Rule.

I’d urge every one of you to find some way to get closer to our school and discover for yourself what this is all about. Consider it an obligation. To yourself and your community.

Hackley has spearheaded an effort of incalculable value, one that reflects on us all. Alums who’ve lost touch may not know who they really are. Not in terms of how the outside world is looking at us, anyway. And to us, to succeed.

The results are quite spectacular. Wholesome children. I’m proud to say I know twelve of them personally.

Read all the Tim MacDonald Baseball stories:

Hackley Baseball 1956 – 1958 | 2010 Spring Training | Cinco Ocho Rules! | 2011 Spring Training | 2012 Spring Training