LAKELAND, Fla. — A couple of years ago, my son Nick was on a baseball field, on a cold and gray spring evening, fielding grounders from a coach.
I stood on a grass hill, overlooking a junior varsity baseball field.
“Do you know who is hitting the grounders to your son?” somebody asked.
He looked familiar but was too far away.
“That’s Chris Ilitch,” the person said.
“Why the heck is he here?” I asked.
“He coaches one of the younger teams.”
My son had just joined the West Oakland Wings, a travel baseball organization based in Oakland County.