The "Say It Ain't So, Bill" Story

Bill Sassaman's photograph I took
for this year's Baseball Yearbook.

It was an ordinary day.  Still trying to understand how one of the best baseball coaches in the history of the Lancaster-Lebanon Baseball League, Bill Sassaman, and one of my friends and teaching peers, could be given the axe.  Here's a guy who has coached for 31 years of his young life, had a .653 winning percentage as a head coach of 23 years and devoted his entire professional career to education and coaching the youth of the community and all he gets for this is a statement that the school wants to take the baseball program in a different direction.  What other direction can you take?  My two sons were coached by Bill when he first began his career and they, as well as my wife and I, have nothing but praise for the job he has done.  Three losing seasons in 23 years as head coach is a tremendous feat!  I have worked with Bill since 1988 in the printing of the baseball yearbook as well as his yearly scoresheets.  He always impressed me with his knowledge of the game and coaching techniques as well as how he could always get the best from each one of his players.  Bill was an All-Star outfielder at Muhlenberg High School and Kutztown University where he played outfield.  He was informed by the athletic director on May 7 about the school's decision and was given 24 hours to write a letter of resignation.  He decided to spend the next week trying to make the school change their mind, but realized it was a futile effort.  Bill's teams had competed in Class AAAA, the top level for high school ball in the state of Pennsylvania, and were constantly near the top in local section titles, District titles and with four state title runs.  One year he was picked for Coach of the Year in the Mid-Atlantic States.  When Bill began his high school coaching, he helped develop the Manheim Township Dugout Club which I was a member of when it started and was the president of for a year.  

Manheim Township High School baseball field.

He was responsible for, along with the club, the tremendous facilities that are considered one of the best in Pennsylvania.  An online survey taken in Lancaster County asked if Bill Sassaman should have been retained for 2016 and the reaction was extremely positive.  So why is Bill no longer with the program?  I believe today's parents are to blame.  You cut the wrong boy after tryouts or don't give another boy the amount of playing time their parents believe they should have and phone calls are made to the right person in the school district and any coach can be eliminated.  Every child is an all-star!!  That's what almost every parent believes today.  I'm so glad that when I coached baseball in the late 1960's to the early 1990's, the parents believed in what I did and didn't interfere.  Not once did a parent criticize me or question my coaching.  I guess I was just lucky that I had the chance to retire on my own before I was asked to retire.  Bill wasn't as lucky.  I believe Bill's passion towards the sport of baseball and his energy level is still such that he can be a productive coach again soon.  His statement in the local newspaper was: "I'm a strong believer that good things come out of bad things."  Won't take long before Township realizes they made the wrong decision.  Any new coach coming in will now find they not only will have to coach baseball, but will have to put up with the desires of the parents to have their all-star athlete play full time.  Or else a new coach will be sought once again.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.