PHILADELPHIA -- When Mets bullpen coach Ricky Bones was 12 years old, his parents worked full-time. So when Bones finished school each day in Guayama, Puerto Rico, he would head to the home of Efrain Texidor, his local Little League coach. There, Texidor would drill Bones on the nuances of the game.
"I learned a lot from them because he was really strict," said Bones, who went on to pitch 11 big league seasons for seven different teams.
Thirty-seven years later, Texidor's son, Carlos, is a coach himself, leading the Radames Lopez Little League team from Guayama to the World Series in Williamsport, Pa.