Wisdom from Oz

Zach Osborne is never far away from the moment that made him the most famous 12-year-old baseball player on planet Earth.

    Osborne is now a senior at Pleasure Ridge Park High School. And located right next door to his high school is the ball field where, in 2002, he and a dozen of his neighborhood buddies blossomed into the best Little League baseball team in the world.

    “I’ll be in class at 4th period every day,” says the 18-year-old, “and look out the window and see that sign that says “Valley Sports----World Champions.” Osborne was the star shortstop on the team that beat Japan in Williamsport, Pennsylvania to capture the 2002 Little League World Series title.

    Even though Osborne has changed a lot since that magical summer six years ago, he still gets recognized. “The other day we ordered some pizza at my house,” recalls Osborne. “The delivery guy comes up and says, ‘You look real familiar to me. You look like the kid from the Valley Sports team.’ When I told him I was Zach Osborne, he said, ‘I thought that was you. Nice to meet you.’”

    Baseball fans in Louisville may linger for many more years in Osborne’s past. But this Zach doesn’t look back. “I just try to look forward and not focus on the past whether good or bad,” says the PRP shortstop. “Baseball is a hard game to play. You’re going to fail a lot in this game. You can’t get down on yourself. You can get inducted into the Hall of Fame getting three hits in 10 at bats. You’ve got to keep looking forward.”

    That bit of wisdom from ‘Oz’ is borne out of many more baseball successes than setbacks. Yet his teammates and coaches say one of Zach’s most admirable qualities is his humility.

    “Valley Sports that year was Louisville’s team,” says PRP Baseball Coach Bill Miller. “There were some humble kids on that team. For a player like Osborne, who’s had the success he’s had, you’d never know it. He never pumps it in your face like a lot of people would.”

    “The Little League World Series thing, you have to ask Oz to talk about it,” says PRP catcher Eric Bainer. “He just wants to win. He wants the team to do well.”

    “When you first meet him,” says Eric’s twin brother Luke Bainer, “you expect someone who is cocky. But Zach’s not like that. He’s been our best friend for four years. That helps the team out. It’s easier to play like that.”

    That close bond is one thing Osborne says his high school team has in common with the World Series championship squad. “This team is really loose. You have to be loose and have great camaraderie between players and coaches.”

    However, this PRP ball club is more than just a one-Zach act. Zack Cox is projected as a first-round Major League Baseball draft choice this summer. He has already committed to play college baseball at SEC contender Arkansas.

    “Zack Cox is a power guy,” says first-baseman Kris Sipes. “He’s a work horse. He is just the guy who can get things started for us. He gets us rolling.”

    “Cox is the most humble, hard working guy I’ve ever been around,” says the Panther catcher Eric Bainer.

    The Bainer brothers will have much to contribute to this year’s edition of Pleasure Ridge Park baseball. There will be many games this spring in which Luke will be on the mound firing his best stuff at batters while Eric calls the game from his position as catcher.

    “When Eric’s behind the plate,” says Luke of his identical twin. “I can get into the zone. He works hard the whole game for you.”

    “I’m just real comfortable catching him,” Eric says of his twin brother. “Catching him is the easiest thing in the world.”

    This senior season at PRP won’t be the final year the Bainer brothers play baseball together. Both have accepted appointments to the United States Military Academy at West Point where they will play baseball for the Army.

    “A West Point education is worth about $300,000,” says Luke.

    “Our dad, Michael Bainer, played minor league baseball in the Mariners system,” says Eric. “Dad said “If you graduate from an academy, I will buy you any car you want.”

    Right now, the Bainer boys and the rest of the Panthers want something money can’t buy:  a state championship in baseball.

    Alex “Peanut” Hornback, another member of the Valley Sports World Championship team, says it has been tougher winning a state championship in Kentucky than it was capturing a world title in Pennsylvania.

    “This team has more talent at every position,” said second-baseman Hornback. “You’ve got to have talent, but you’ve got to have teamwork too. If you play well as an individual, but don’t focus on the team, you will lose.”

    Losing doesn’t happen often at PRP High School. Coach Bill Miller is starting his 28th season coaching at his alma mater. Since 1987, there have been only three seasons in which Miller’s team failed to win at least 30-games.

    “I tell our players that what we do here is to put ourselves into position every year to play for the state championship,” said the former football and baseball player at the University of Alabama. “Other teams around the state hope to go to the state championship. They hope to go. We expect to go. That is our expectation for our program.”

    Miller’s team won three consecutive Kentucky state baseball titles from 1994-96. But the man who once played football for the legendary Bear Bryant says coaching is only part of the championship puzzle.

    “Good players were the key,” says the 58-year-old coach. “If any coach tells you he wins without talent he is an egotistical fool! On those championship teams, we had good players who bought into a system, who did what they were asked to do without question, and put team goals ahead of personal glory. Those are the kind of players who win state championships.”

     Luke Bainer says those are just the kind of players who populate Miller’s roster this year too. “We know what to do in certain situations. You can’t go up there swinging for a home run if what your team really needs is to advance the runner. You can’t want to be the hero more than you want the team to win.”

    Osborne says that’s the kind of attitude it takes to win. And he should know, since he and his mates whipped the world half a decade ago.

    “But the main thing for us,” says Osborne with his PRP baseball cap fitting snuggly on his brow, “Don’t make the game bigger than what it is. Don’t stress over it too much. It’s just a game you love to play.”

    And that’s just the kind of winning wisdom that Oz needs to supply in order to add a Kentucky title to the world championship he already owns.



Garry Gupton is a play-by-play broadcaster for Fox Sports Network, Insight Communications and Big Blue Sports, and an associate pastor at Highview Baptist Church.