A column by MLive sports writer Lee Thompson
Jaret Koin is a fourth-year starter for the Alma College baseball team. (Courtesy Alma College Athletics)
ALMA, MI – In an emotional moment with the world on his mind, Jaret Koin fired off a letter.
He expected no reply, no response and no results.
“It felt like everything was in my head and I had to let it out,” he said.
As it turns out, the Alma College senior was not alone in the pain, the passion, the heartbreak and the love he was feeling. And what he had to say is exactly what so many others wanted to hear.
Koin’s final collegiate baseball season had been taken away, with the coronavirus threat bringing a sudden halt to all spring sports – and so much more – on that infamous March 12 day. There was a flurry of sentiment bubbling up and the former Standish-Sterling star couldn’t keep it bottled in his brain.
He plopped down on his bed, pulled out his phone and began to type in his notes.
“Dear Baseball.”
Koin poured his heart into a letter he never expected to write, telling of his appreciation for a game that has impacted his life and invaded his soul. He would miss his teammates and coaches, for certain, but this was something broader.
This was the game America fell in love with so long ago. The game that gave us Cobb, Kaline, The Babe and The Bird. The game that lured our grandfathers and great-grandfathers to the grandstands.
The game that is played by Major Leaguers and Little Leaguers alike, and is passed from generation to generation like an heirloom in a family that spans the nation.
It was handed to Koin and his childhood buddies by age 5, coming in the form of tee ball games in Standish, sandlot games in Melita and front-yard wiffle ball showdowns with little brothers Kale and Carson. By 12, his father was throwing him BP until he could throw no more each night in the batting cage constructed at the family home.
The son of Michelle and Aaron Koin would flourish with bat and ball, making those toys his tools of choice as he progressed from the Tri-Village Association to the Bay County Pony League and the Saginaw Bay Riverdawgs travel team. He would become a skilled and seasoned player, opening himself to wondrous experiences through high school and college ball.
Koin knows what this game has meant to him. But did the game know?
“Dear Baseball.”
At no point in his letter did Koin suggest to the game that it was easy or that it came without its share of hardship and heartbreak. Owner of the all-time Alma College record for being hit by pitch 38 times, he understands the literal pain involved.
Then there’s the deeper kind. Koin’s final game of his four-year varsity career with Standish-Sterling ended in sorrow as he and his teammates saw a five-run lead in the bottom of the seventh vanish in a stunning 6-5 loss to New Lothrop in the state quarterfinals.
But agony is countered by ecstasy in this game, and anybody who enters as many baseball battles as Koin experiences both. Visions of racing home as the tying run with cousin Austin Koin right on his heels with the winner in the 2016 district final against archrival Pinconning will linger for the long haul. So, too, will blasting his first collegiate home run – a grand slam no less – as a freshman against Berea College.
The game was treating Koin well as he entered his senior season at Alma this spring. A fourth-year starter, he ranks second with 198 total bases, third with 28 doubles, fourth with 148 hits and sixth with 33 stolen bases on the career leaders lists for the Scots. Wearing No. 9 in salute to his boyhood baseball idol Carlos Guillen of the Detroit Tigers, he was poised for an unforgettable year.
But 13 games into the season, COVID-19 became a catch word, and it soon became apparent that this would be a season like no other.
“Our coach was thinking ‘There’s no way they’re canceling the season. That’s not in the picture. They’d never do that,’” Koin said. “The next day, he called all the seniors together and said ‘All spring sports are over. I don’t know what else to say.’
“I was trying to tough it out and not cry. I finally went to my car and let it out for about 15 minutes, then I called my dad. That was it. We were done.”
When he got home, he had something he just had to say.
“Dear Baseball.”
With fast-fluttering thumbs, Koin penned his letter then sent it on its way. It required no stamp, no envelope, no address.
He posted it on Twitter and Facebook and expected nothing else to come from it beyond cathartic release. Instead it prompted reply, response and – eventually – even results.
Jaret Koin celebrates with his Alma College teammates. (Courtesy Alma College Athletics)
More than 1,000 people responded to his posts across the two social mediums, with more than 100 adding comments. So many others had fallen in love with this game. So many others were feeling the sting. In a time of social distancing, it would do nothing but good to give baseball a hug.
“It got to a lot people, inspired a lot of people,” Koin said. “That kind of shows what the game really means to people and how much of an impact it can have on someone.”
In part due to an overwhelming call for action, the NCAA Division III administrative council ruled that all spring sports athletes could retain their eligibility from this season. For this year’s seniors who are still attending school next spring, a second senior season is allowed.
Jaret Koin does not need to say goodbye to baseball just yet.
But when the time comes, he already knows the words.
Dear Baseball,
As I sit here in a puddle of tears after just being told mid-practice that my senior season has ended, I have to thank you.
Thank you so much.
Aside from my family, you’re the only one that has seen me grow and progress through the years. I can honestly say you, baseball, have really helped me find myself and what I love. I look at you as a passion, a way to express my emotions and -- most of all -- a friend.
You have always brought the best out in me. Though you’re a game of failure, you allowed me to progress so much mentally and physically. You’ve made me the person I am today and I’m so thankful for that. I know for a fact that everything you’ve taught will not go to waste and that you’ll always be a key part in my life.
So, baseball, I guess this is where all the fun playing time comes to an end. While this is one of the most emotional goodbyes I’ve had in my young life so far, I now know I can take on any challenge brought my way.
Sincerely,
The guy who played baseball for 18+ years and never settled into a position.
Niner out.
Jaret Koin with his brothers Carson and Kale after his summer league game with the Derby Twins in Kansas. (Courtesy)
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