wonderful story, pf. thanks.
we had a developmentally challenged boy on our baseball team last year named julian. i had to run down the line from the first base coach's box on every single pitch he faced to show him how to stand, and hold the bat, and so on. every single pitch; dozens of times over the season. it was very tiring and slowed the games down a lot, but not one person ever complained. i had tremendous respect for my head coach for choosing him to be on our team after seeing how aggresively competitive the coaches on other teams were.
during one important game, julian got up to bat and got hit by a nasty pitch on his tiny elbow. he cried, but i convinced him to take first base. he was thrilled to be on base for his first time, which i think helped the pain go away. unfortunately, we didn't do anything else that inning.
the next time he came up to bat, he was terrified so he kind of asked me if he could just go sit down. i knew that the coach from the other team would demand the rules be followed, so i just told the ump we'd take an out and moved on.
again, no one from our side said a peep. in fact, in his final trip to the plate, all of the players and fans from our side started chanting "king julian!" and convinced him to get up to bat. surprisingly enough he walked, and after the game (we lost) he told me that he went 2 for 2, so our head coach gave him the game ball.
it was great. his mom thanked us over and over at the end of the season party, and took pictures of julian with the coach and i. he said he was going to frame it and put it in his room.