LLWS brings reunion for uncle
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When Ron Frick, president of the Lycoming County United Way, drew the Great Lakes team earlier this summer, he did not know what kind of reunion it would turn out to be.
Frick has served as an uncle in the Little League World Series for 19 years.
"Every year, you just hang out with 12-year-olds," Frick said. "They're your kids for two weeks."
This year, the Great Lakes team came from Hagerstown, Indiana, a town so small that the coaches had 23 players to choose from for the All-Star team. Thirteen made it, Frick said.
He found out that Hagerstown is about 20 minutes from New Castle, Indiana, which had been Frick's team in the World Series 10 years ago.
When he found out that he was going to have another team from Indiana, he reached out to the coach of his team a decade ago: Bret Mann.
"Wait until you meet Patrick Vinson," Frick said Mann told him.
"(Vinson) was so even-keeled with the kids," Frick said. During Hagertown's time in the World Series, which ended last Tuesday, he said there was no drama or issues with the kids. Typically there's at least one player wound up from the excitement.
Frick also asked Vinson if he knew Mann. Vinson told him, "Everyone in Indiana baseball knows Bret Mann."
Meeting Mann was a typical experience for Frick. He was there to greet them when the team stepped off the bus. After hitting it off during their time together, they kept in contact through social media.
After Frick reached out, Mann decided to make the 8-hour drive from Indiana to Pennsylvania to cheer on this year's Great Lakes team. He camped in a tent nearby so he could be there.
Ten years ago, when Mann stayed in his coach's room, he opened the shades and said he was never going to close them because he woke up each morning to a beautiful sunrise and when he looked down, it was "baseball heaven," Frick said.
Frick's favorite thing about being an uncle is seeing the overall appreciation of Lamade Stadium from the players.
"It's the wow factor," he said. "'I'm in South Williamsport at Little League World Series.'"
That doesn't go away even as the players grow up. Vinson and Mann stood on Lamade Hill looking out at the stadium, "like two little kids," Frick said.
When Great Lake was eliminated, Mann went back home, but he would have stayed until Sunday if he didn't have to go back, Frick said.
While they were in South Williamsport, Vinson and Mann had talked about ways that they could coach together sometime since they lived so close to each other, Frick said.