INTRODUCTION There are regular baseball teams and there are special baseball teams Regular baseball teams are a bunch of players who just happen to wear the same uniform and play on the same side Special baseball teams are a group of players who are so much more than that Special baseball teams are the fun teams full of players who respect each other and support each other and always have each other's backs no matter what The McIntyre Manatees were a special baseball team The neighborhood they lived in was called McIntyre And Manatees was their mascot 1
M M Manatees because manatees are animals that are kind of weird and funny looking but also smart and capable of learning from their mistakes Seriously It was the perfect mascot for this team The Manatees knew how to practice hard and play hard while making sure everyone was still having a good time Sometimes after an especially good practice or after a really tough game they'd go get ice cream together Or if they were really hungry they'd grab some burgers But it wasn't always that way 2
When the players on the Manatees got to be 11 years old they were no longer playing little-kid baseball They were playing real baseball And that meant they needed a team captain At least that's what their coach Coach Joe believed The job of the team captain said Coach Joe was to make sure the team practiced the right way and did their drills the right way No more goofing around No more not trying your best Yeah this was big-kid baseball And it was serious The captain was the one who would make sure everyone was having fun while also trying their best at every practice and every game But the captain also had another job that might have been even more important The captain was supposed to be the person their teammates could talk to if they had a problem Sometimes the captain might have to call a players-only meeting to let the players talk to each other without Coach Joe around 3
