NEVER CHANGE THE DIMENSIONS OF HOME PLATE

Coach John Scolinos

Twenty-five years ago, in Nashville, Tennessee, during the first week of January, 1996, more than 4,000 eager baseball coaches descended upon the Opryland Hotel for the 52nd annual American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) convention. One of numerous speakers scheduled to present during the convention was a Casey Stengel-type gent by the name of John Scolinos.

Scolinos was 78 years old and five years retired from a college coaching career that began in 1948. He shuffled to the stage to an impressive standing ovation, wearing dark polyester pants, a light blue shirt, and a string around his neck from which a baseball home plate hung — a full-sized, stark-white home plate.

Speaking for 25 minutes and not once mentioning the prop hanging around his neck, Coach Scolinos appeared to notice the snickering among some of the coaches. Even those who knew him had to wonder exactly where he was going with this, or if he had simply forgotten about home plate since he’d gotten on stage. 
Then, finally …
“You’re probably all wondering why I’m wearing home plate around my neck,” he said, his voice growing irascible. The audience laughed, acknowledging the possibility. “I may be old, but I’m not crazy. The reason I stand before you today is to share with you baseball people what I’ve learned in my life, what I’ve learned about home plate in my 78 years.”

Several hands went up when Scolinos asked how many Little League coaches were in the room. “Do you know how wide home plate is in Little League?” After a pause, someone offered, “Seventeen inches?”, more of a question than answer.
“That’s right,” he said. “How about in Babe Ruth’s day? Any Babe Ruth coaches in the house?” Another long pause. “Seventeen inches?” a guess from another reluctant coach in the audience. “That’s right,” said Scolinos. 
“Now, how many high school coaches do we have in the room?” Hundreds of hands shot up, as the pattern began to appear. “How wide is home plate in high school baseball?”
“Seventeen inches,” they said, sounding more confident. “You’re right!” Scolinos barked. 

“And you college coaches, how wide is home plate in college?” Seventeen inches!” was the loud reply from dozens of voices. And again, “Any Minor League coaches here? How wide is home plate in pro ball?”

“Seventeen inches!” came another chorus.
“RIGHT! And in the Major Leagues, how wide home plate is in the Major Leagues? Again, “Seventeen inches!”
“SEV-EN-TEEN INCHES!” he confirmed, his voice bellowing off the walls. “And what do they do with a Big League pitcher who can’t throw the ball over a 17-inch plate?” Pause. “They send him to Pocatello (home of a minor league farm team)!” he hollered, drawing raucous laughter. 
“What they don’t do is this: they don’t say, ‘Ah, that’s okay, Jimmy. If you can’t hit a 17-inch target? We’ll make it 18 inches or 19 inches. We’ll even make it 20-inches so you have a better chance of hitting it. If you can’t hit that, let us know so we can make it wider still, say 25-inches.'” Pause. 
“Coaches… what do we do when your best player shows up late to practice? Or when our team rules forbid facial hair and a guy shows up unshaven? What if he gets caught drinking? Do we hold him accountable? Or do we change the rules to fit him?...Do we widen home plate? "

The chuckles gradually faded as 4,000 coaches grew quiet, the fog lifting as the old coach’s message began to unfold. He turned the plate toward himself and, using a Sharpie, began to draw something. When he turned it toward the crowd, point up, the outline of a house was revealed, complete with a freshly drawn door and two windows. 
“This is the problem in our homes today. With our marriages, with the way we parent our kids. With our discipline. We don’t teach accountability to our kids, and there is no consequence for failing to meet standards. We just widen the plate!” Pause. 
Then, to the point at the top of the house he added a small American flag. “This is the problem in our schools today. The quality of our education is going downhill fast and teachers have been stripped of the tools they need to be successful, and to educate and discipline our young people. We are allowing others to widen home plate! Where is that getting us?” Silence. 
He then replaced the flag with a Cross. “And this is the problem in the Church, where powerful people in positions of authority have taken advantage of young children, only to have such an atrocity swept under the rug for years. Our church leaders are widening home plate for themselves! And we allow it.”
“And the same is true with our government. Our so-called representatives make rules for us that don’t apply to themselves. They take bribes from lobbyists and foreign countries. They no longer serve us. And we allow them to widen home plate! We see our country falling into a dark abyss while we just watch.”~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~"I was amazed. At a baseball convention where I expected to learn something about curve balls and bunting and how to run better practices, I had learned something far more valuable," one of the coaches from the attendance stated later in the evening.  "From an old man with home plate strung around his neck, I had learned something about life, about myself, about my own weaknesses and about my responsibilities as a leader. I have to hold myself and others accountable to that which I know to be right, lest our families, our faith, and our society continue down an undesirable path," he added with profound resolve.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“If I am lucky,” Coach Scolinos concluded, “you will remember one thing from this old coach today. It is this: If we fail to hold ourselves to a higher standard, a standard of what we know to be right; if we fail to hold our spouses and our children to the same standards, if we are unwilling or unable to provide a consequence when they do not meet the standard; and if our schools, churches and government fail to hold themselves accountable to those they serve, there is but one thing to look forward to …”
With that, he held home plate in front of his chest, turned it around, and revealed its dark black backside. “…We have dark days ahead!”
The applause was long and deafening. A standing ovation.
Note: John Harry Scolinos was the head baseball coach at Pepperdine University from 1946 to 1960 and at California State Polytechnic University Pomona from 1962 to 1991, compiling career college baseball record of 1,070–954–13. Scolinos was also the head football coach at Pepperdine from 1955 to 1959, tallying a mark of 17–26–1.
Coach Scolinos died in 2009 at the age of 91, but not before touching the lives of countless players and coaches. He was by far the best clinic speaker the ABCA has ever known because he was so much more than a baseball coach. His message was clear: “Coaches, keep your players—no matter how good they are—your own children, your churches, your government, and most of all, keep yourself at 17-inches."
"Don't widen the plate."

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