Texas Little Leaguer Shown Most Genuine Sportsmanship Ever
Evidently Tom Hanks character, Jimmy Dugan, in the blockbuster movie "A League Of Their Own", had it all wrong when he shouted at one of his female players, "There's no crying in baseball."
I'm not sure if you've been keeping up with the regional tournaments that are part of this year's Little League World Series that's been airing each day on the ESPN network, but it looks like there is crying in baseball.
In fact, we were just shown two separate instances of crying and one of them led to what could very well be argued as the greatest display of sportsmanship in the history of baseball.
Here's How It All Began
It was the bottom half of the very first inning of the Southwest Region Championship between Little League teams from Texas East and Oklahoma.
Texas East is leading Oklahoma 3-2. Oklahoma is charging though with only one out and men on first and second base, and Oklahoma's slugger, Isaiah Jarvis, a 12-year-old Little Leaguer from Tulsa is at the plate.
Texas East star pitcher, Kaiden Shelton errantly throws a fast ball that hits Jarvis square in the helmet. Jarvis immediately hits the ground but it's what happens after he arrives at first base that will go down in history.
Only One Person Was There For Shelton
Three words from the umpire shook Shelton to the core. "Oh My God" is what we're told the umpire uttered when Jarvis went down. It was more than Shelton could take and he began to cry. (See Jimmy, there's your first instance of crying in baseball)
But during his broken moment, only one person came to the aid of Shelton. Not his coach. Not any other player. It was Jarvis who stepped off first base to console his shaken opponent who had just beaned him.
Little League District 2's post on Facebook tells the story spectacularly.
Just watch the video from Jomboy on Twitter that shows exactly how it all went down.
It was immediately after this unbelievable display of sportsmanship that anyone watching began to sob, making it the second instance of crying in baseball. But these were tears of pride, tears of joy, tears of admiration and tears of gratitude.
Thank you Isaiah Jarvis! You proved there's still light in some dark times.