Redding School District

Hello Partnership Educators,

 It was a spring exhibition game in Florida’s Payne Park.  The game was between the Boston Red Sox the Milwaukee Braves.  They used to say that Payne Park was rightly named, at least from a batter's perspective, because it was a big ballpark.   It was most difficult to hit a home run.  The Red Sox and the Braves were going at it that day.  Pitching for Boston was Ike Delock, a big right-hander.  Nothing spectacular except that he threw a lot of fastballs. 

That day a young rookie steps to the plate, who at the time, was called promising.  Nothing spectacular about that either since a lot of young rookies were called promising.  This young second baseman, who is barely twenty, has the bat poised above his shoulder.  On this perfectly ordinary day in the middle of this perfectly ordinary preseason game, the young second baseman is facing Delock when Ike winds up and throws a screaming fastball.   Some say that if that pitch would have been a curveball or any other pitch baseball history might be different.  The young second baseman uncoiled with a crusher.   Combine the speed of a fastball with the right bat speed and the ball is sent sailing.  The Braves manager Charlie Grimm couldn’t get over the hit that day.   It was almost 400 feet to that long left field fence and the rookie second baseman had sent the ball over the fence and into the trailer park beyond.  It was only a preseason game and insignificant in almost every way.  

Charlie, the Braves manager, had been counting on a recent trade acquisition for his team.  A big hitting outfielder named Bobbie Thompson.  However, right before the opening game of the season, Thompson broke his ankle.  That left an enormous hole in left field.   There were two or three other players who might have filled that position but manager Grimm recalled that one stunning preseason home run by that young second baseman.  Charlie chose that young man to replace Thompson.  It was certainly that one home run that became the reason why a young rookie stayed with the Braves and eventually hit more home runs than anyone that came before him in Major League Baseball history.   Because in March of 1954, a young faltering rookie second baseman named Hank Aaron got his shot because of one insignificant home run.

We are never sure when a watershed moment might occur within the lives of our students.  A small accomplishment is often underappreciated in our minds compared to the joy and pride within the minds of many of our struggling kids.  Thanks to those of you who are connecting with kids and supporting our young faltering rookies in learning, and giving them opportunity after opportunity to hit the life-changing home run in an insignificant activity.   It is our job to remove the barriers to learning for our kids while they come to the plate of life and look for that first home run.

Paul Orfalea, the founder of Kinko's, was a kid who couldn’t sit still in the classroom; his mind raced, he couldn’t read and he was terribly restless. Like many students who have dyslexia or ADHD, he was a D-minus student, flunked two grades and was expelled from several schools.  After building his two billion dollar company he explains that he was successful because he could draw on the very qualities he had to develop to compensate for his learning difficulties. That’s why Orfalea doesn’t like to use terms like learning disorders or learning disabilities. He prefers learning opportunities—the chance to learn new and different strategies for success.

Have a fantastic weekend,

Rob

 Superintendent