It happened again on Saturday, and it made my night.

(You'll want to read this whole thing because there's an epic picture near the end).

My wife and I were out at dinner to celebrate my birthday (44 years old and still going head-first down the slip n slide at Summer Camp!), when a guy in his mid-20s and a big beard walked up to me and said, "you're Dan Spring!"

I didn't recognize him at all but thankfully he quickly reminded me, "I'm Jeremy and did lessons and your baseball camp...my nickname at camp was "Abba!"

I immediately remembered him! The last time I saw him, he was 12 so I didn't feel bad about not recognizing the bearded 25-year-old version of him :-)

"Dan, your camps were the most fun thing I ever did in sports growing up," which I loved hearing, but the conversation we had next was even more heart-warming.

Jeremy stopped playing baseball at age 12 and is currently pursuing a career in music as both a teacher and performer. Actively playing sports is not a part of his life anymore, nor was it past Little League.

But he's a MASSIVE baseball fan, and he says his experience at Spring Training is what turned him into a life-long lover of the game.

We talked about the Dodgers and he asked my opinion on what these massive, deferred salary contracts like Ohtani's mean for the game. For 15 minutes, we just talked baseball. It was awesome.

His passion for baseball was obvious and knowing that he became a fan of the game for life, because of the positive experiences he had at Spring Training before he even hit middle school, is EXACTLY why I'm still coaching after all these years.

Yes, Jeremy, and all the other players who take lessons from me improve their skills.

Yes, Jeremy, and all the other players who come to camp learn how to be great teammates.

Yes, Jeremy, and all the other players who do anything with Spring Training have FUN.

The result of the sum of all those experiences? A life-long LOVE of the game.

I don't judge my success as a coach based on what Spring Training players' Little League stats are or how far they go in the game.

I've had lots of former players make the High School team. Super cool.

Some have gone on to play in college. Even cooler.

A few have made it to pro ball. Amazing!

However, most stop playing when Little League ends.

But what's true about all of those players, and the thing I'm most proud of as 2024 comes to an end and I look back on the last 21 years of coaching in this area, is that they developed character traits through the game that will serve them no matter what they do in life, and that 10 years, 20 years, 40 years from now, they'll still love the game.

They'll love sitting on the couch as grown men and watching a ballgame with their parents.

They'll be as excited to go to Dodger Stadium with their college buddies as they were when they went with their Tee Ball teammates for an end of the season celebration.

Someday, they'll share their love of the game with their own kids and become Little League Dads themselves.

Some perspective and math: there are roughly 4 million children born in the Unites States each year. Half of them are boys; so, 2 million potential big leaguers are born each year. Assuming the current MLB population is made up from a 10-year period of births (it's probably more than that but 10 is a nice round number), that means there were 20 million Americans who could be in The Bigs now. How many players were there from the United States on MLB rosters in 2024? 949.

That's 949 out of 20,000,000. Or, .00004745%

.00004745 Spring Training players will make the big leagues. But 100% will grow up to be adults and they will all "go pro" in something else.

In a youth sports world that is increasingly focused on all the wrong things, knowing that the players who come through my programs develop as ballplayers, but more importantly as human beings and fans of the game, is what still drives me to this day.

As players, we never know when our last game will be.

As parents, we never know the last time we'll get to sit in the stands and watch our kids play.

That's why the experience is so much more important than everything else in youth sports.

Our kids' time with their teammates.

Our time with our kids.

The lessons they learn through sports.

How the game made them feel will last a lifetime!

Those are the things that matter.

And that's why I'm so proud that after 20+ years Spring Training is still laser-focused on what matters most in youth sports. And what that experience has meant to literally 10s of thousands of kids I've coached over the past 2 decades is what continues to motivate me today.

That's why I'm as excited for the 2025 season as I was for the 1989 season.

That's me holding the 38-ounce bat they gave us on picture day, with my Dad coaching the team...I told you it was worth reading this far! Oh, and I can still name almost every kid on that team. But I absolutely CAN NOT remember how many games we won, or what my batting average was (not high!), or who our best pitcher was (not me!)

And that's why someone will have to drag me off the field the day after my 88th birthday, when I finally "retire" from coaching.

Thanks for giving me the opportunity to turn your ballplayer into a baseball super-fan.

Thanks for the allowing me to continue to be around the game on a daily basis, especially as the years tick by.

Thanks for an amazing 2024.

And let's have an even better 2025.

PLAY HARD, HAVE FUN!