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
4 Team meetings were optional but usually all the players went It was the captain's job to make sure the team was a special team and not just a regular team But then Coach Joe made Luis the new kid the team captain Luis Who hadn't even played for the Manatees the season before Luis Who wasn't even friends yet with the other players on the team Luis Who didn't even seem to want to be captain But Coach Joe had some kind of dumb test he used on the players to decide who was going to be captain and apparently Luis did better on the test than everybody else So Luis got to be captain For Luis the trouble was just starting How would he get the Manatees to balance working hard and having fun How would he help his teammates learn to be friends rather than always trying to compete with each other One thing was for sure It wouldn't be easy
Luis the shortstop soon made friends with Gary the catcher but he had a much harder time getting everyone else on the team to like him First there was Aliyah the speedy center fielder who felt like she should have been team captain And for good reason Most everyone liked Aliyah She was a nice person and an excellent baseball player Gary and Aliyah were best friends which is probably why Aliyah eventually agreed to give Luis a chance Then there was Roberto one of the team's best hitters The problem was Roberto wanted to be the center fielder which is why he was the only person who never really liked Aliyah in the first place Aliyah and Gary and Luis talked to Roberto about playing a different position because it would be best for the team He eventually agreed and on top of that he convinced some of the other Manatees to give Luis a chance as team captain Before they knew it Lisa the pitcher was cool with Luis being captain and that meant there 5
