So it seems that a number of you liked Orange Crush: A Wiffle Ball Story. And if that’s you, I’ve got good news: there’s more.
Like I said before, the coaches feel like we lived through a movie. But it wasn't just because of the storyline; it was because of the 12 goofy kids we had in the dugout. They're what makes the whole thing so amazing.
So allow me to present:
#OrangeCrush: Tales from the Dugout
#TalesFromTheDugout
Part 1: Bagpipes
So we have a kid who only started playing baseball in 2019 (so this is only his 3rd season of playing baseball). Great kid. Doesn’t like to wear shoes. Super fun to have on the team.
We put together walk-up music for each kid. Most kids chose hip hop songs, or hard rock. One kid picked Eye of the Tiger. The usual. This kid? He picks a Scottish dirge played on bagpipes as his walk-up music (and earns his nickname in the process).
Early on, we realize Bagpipes has an arm. He throws hard. Problem is that he throws like Nuke Laloosh or Wild Thing Vaughn. You never know where the ball is going to go.
So we give him a few opportunities to pitch during the season. Has some success here and there. He would be lights out for one inning, and then really struggle the next.
In one game mid-season, he gave up the first home run anyone had ever hit off of us, a towering blast over the left centerfield fence (this did not help his confidence as a pitcher; we lost that game 11-1). On the whole, he pitched 5 innings in our first 30 games.
Now we’re in Willie & Wiffle stage. We pitch him in the playoff semi-finals (against our friendly nemesis who had beaten us 5 of 6 times). 3 up, 3 down, & he looks awesome: Strike, Strike, Throws behind batter, Strike, Strike, Strike, throws one over the catchers head. Strike.
Good enough to get outs; wild enough to scare the bejeebers out of the hitters. So we decide to roll the dice on a second inning (Mighty Ducks of Baseball, remember?)
Second inning, 3 up, 3 down, AGAIN. And now we’re thinking, “Huh, what have we here?”
So we get to the state tournament (remember this kid has thrown 5 innings *all season.*) We throw him in the middle of game 1. Gives up a run or two, but we're up 7-0, so it’s fine. He does his job.
So he throw him for an inning in Game 2. He ends up throwing 2 innings, only faces 7 batters to get 6 outs in our 10-0 win. So we throw him in Game 3, and Game 4, and Game 5, AND Game 6.
He literally pitches *in every single game of the state tournament*. A kid who never pitched TILL THIS YEAR. Mighty Ducks of Baseball.
It's the night before bracket play in the state championship. We tell the kids to get a good meal & go to bed early. They've played a bunch of baseball, & the quarterfinals game is at 8am, so they'll need to wake up at 6am to get to the field by 7 to do Willie Mays & Wiffle Ball.
Later that night my wife goes on a walk with a friend around the lake near our house. It's probably 9:30pm. She sees a flash of orange down near the water. It's Bagpipes, no shoes, but still in his game uniform, fishing in the dark. He waves. I'm not even joking.
A great moment from Game 5 against No. 3 seed. Recall that their No. 3 hitter (a 6 ft, 180 lb 11 year old) hit a monster blast in the bottom of the 1st. He's up again in the 3rd. Bagpipes pitching. We’re ahead, but they’re coming back. We don’t want this kid to spark something.
So we tell our catcher to walk the kid. Don't give him anything to hit. So the catcher sets up outside the plate & hardly crouches at all. Bagpipes pitches. Ball 1. Good deal. Do it again. This time Bagpipes doesn’t quite get it outside enough. Kid swings & fouls it off.
No problem. “Catcher, get farther outside and stand up more.” He does. Bagpipes pitches, still puts it over the plate, Big Kid swings and fouls off strike 2.
Head coach says, “We don’t want to pitch to this kid. We need to walk him.” So I holler at the catcher to get way outside & stand up. He starts to move that way, but Bagpipes is already into his windup.
Pitch comes, high and over the plate. Big Kid swings….and misses. Strike 3. Bagpipes literally strikes the kid out *while we're trying to intentionally walk him.*
But the magic isn’t done yet. In the state championship game, we go up 5-0, then the powerhouse team claws back and ties it 5-5. We get 2, they get 2. Now it’s 7-7. And our kids are nervous. They can feel the game slipping a bit.
Top of the 4th, and Bagpipes is up first. First pitch. BOOM - towering blast over the left centerfield fence to give our team the lead and re-spark Orange Crush (my son hit the grand slam in the next inning, and we never looked back).
First home run we’ve ever hit as a team, by the kid who gave up our first home run ever as a team. Because he's Bagpipes and he plays for #OrangeCrush. #TalesFromTheDugout

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More from @joe_rigney

21 Jul
I don’t normally post family stuff on Twitter, but I thought I’d make an exception for a great little story that some of you may enjoy. Anyone who knows me knows I love baseball. I coach both of my older sons here in the Twin Cities. This is a story about my oldest son’s team.
He plays for the 11AAA Minneapolis Millers (my middle son plays for the 10AAA Millers). (Fun fact: my grandfather managed the Minneapolis Millers minor league team in 1955 before being called up to manage the NY Giants in 1956). Here’s a pic of him in a Millers uniform.
By all accounts, the 11AAA Millers are a mediocre travel ball team. We’re a city team with 12 goofy kids with all kinds of personality. (Early in the season one kid brought a baby Yoda doll to the game and called him Rally Yoda.)
Read 40 tweets
16 Mar
With a little help from @KSPrior, I’d like to try to bring a bit more clarity to the empathy/sympathy debate. I still think what I think, but finding other ways to express it has its important uses, and my thinking has been clarified through some of my interactions.
And to those who say, “Isn’t the fact that you’re still talking about this evidence that *you* were unclear?”, let me say, perhaps. It also might be that some people struggle to read carefully and charitably.
But regardless, my goal is to avoid quarrelsomeness (which isn't the same as avoiding debate), to be kind to everyone (which isn't the same as caving to pressure), to teach, to patiently endure evil (including misrepresentations), & to correct opponents with gentleness.
Read 13 tweets
15 Mar
So a few quick items on these two response to the empathy/sympathy discussion from @JoelMcDurmon. lambsreign.com/blog/canceling… lambsreign.com/blog/the-dange…
1) I appreciate Dr. McDurmon's attempt to substantively engage with arguments. As I've said before, after 2+ years, I couldn't point to a single public response to my work on empathy that actually engaged with my arguments and position (I have had fruitful private conversations).
Instead, online criticisms (whether on Twitter or in other forms) have misrepresented the actual claims I've made and attacked strawmen with my face on it. (There have been a few exceptions on Twitter). So it's good that someone took the time to attempt making arguments.
Read 24 tweets
12 Mar
Since it seems like people are wanting to talk "empathy" today, I had one thought based on @RevKevDeYoung's recent article about 4 Approaches to Race, Gender, and Politics. thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevin-de…
In it, Kevin argues for four different "teams" based on different moods, instincts, and sensibilities. He uses a positive word that each team would likely accept to describe them:
So the debate about the Man Rampant video and "the sin of empathy" provides a good test case for Kevin's taxonomy. It seems to me that it breaks down like this:

4’s (Team Courageous) loved the content and are promoting it like crazy (and in some cases may be misusing it)
Read 7 tweets
9 Feb
So, every time this sort of dustup happens in response to my interviews & writings on empathy, I find that it's a real opportunity *for me* to do a couple of things:
1) It's an opportunity to obey Jesus by rejoicing when people slander and misrepresent you.
2) It's an opportunity to obey Jesus by praying for opponents and critics who willfully misrepresent you and attack strawman versions of your arguments.
3) It's an opportunity for gratitude for critics who actually take the time to understand one's position *and represent it accurately*. I have friends who disagree with my framing in the Man Rampant video. I've been helped by their feedback & gotten clarity in my own mind.
Read 6 tweets
11 Jan
Some reflections as things become clearer in the aftermath of last week (apologies for the length). Obviously the situation is still in process and I've not looked at everything. But the following (at this point) seems to me to be the case:
At the Capital we've got different groups:
1a) normal marchers, waving American flags & wearing MAGA hats (who went back to their hotels after the rally)
1b) Selfie-taking attention-seekers: those who were there to see a show & those who were there to put on a show (Viking man)
1c) Angry protestors who wanted to put pressure on their representatives about certifying the election.
1d) Angry rioters who wanted to find their political opponents & beat them into submission (& who assaulted & killed police officers in the process).
Read 31 tweets

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