A few nights ago, I watched the movie "Field of Dreams" with my son who saw for the first time what I call the best baseball movie ever.

Again, I cried at the end. It happens every time I see Kevin Costner play catch with his "dead" father who has returned to life on the magical baseball field that his son built in Iowa.For anyone like me who never played catch with his dad or for those who are fortunate to hold onto the memory of this special father-and-son experience, the final scene of the film will bring the toughest of men to their knees.It's not portrayed as overly dramatic. In fact, Costner and his father talk to each other like they had never met. It's not until his father begins to walk away when Costner calls out one beautiful word spoken with a shaking voice followed by a question that every father should love to hear from his son."Da - ad, you wanna have a catch?"The film is laden with classic lines about baseball's wonderful seduction.James Earl Jones, who plays a tired counterculture writer from the '60s, says, "People will come, Ray … (to the field in Iowa) they'll turn up your driveway not knowing for sure why they're doing it. They'll arrive at your door as innocent as children, longing for the past … it is money they have but peace they lack. And they'll walk out to the bleachers, sit in shirtsleeves on a perfect afternoon … and they'll watch the game and it'll be as if they dipped themselves in magic waters … the one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game; it's a part of our past, Ray. It reminds us of all that was once good and that could be good again. …"And yet, baseball can be anything but "good" at times. I'm glad my son plays this most difficult game because after he strikes out or makes an error, he picks himself back up and has to try again to get a hit or make a catch. Baseball, much like life, is a game of failure sprinkled with moments of euphoric success. Even those who succeed in the game still fail 70 percent of the time. Unlike other, faster-moving sports, when you fail in baseball, everyone sees you and the game stops for that brutally agonizing moment that makes you want to find that rock to crawl under or that tree to run behind so you can make yourself invisible to everyone watching.I once coached a team that lost the championship of a tournament when a pitched ball in the strike zone glanced off our catcher's glove, allowing the game-winning run to score from third base.While all the cheers from one side and the tears from our side defined the winners and losers, our catcher got back into his squat.Fifteen minutes later, everyone had left the field. All that remained was our team on the bus minus our catcher, who was still frozen behind home plate in his squat as if he was waiting for another pitch that would never come. All this time, I squatted next to him. I said nothing. There is nothing to say that would erase his pain. He was a senior and it was his final game. When the sun dropped below the horizon, he pounded his mitt, stood up and walked to the bus.Nearly a year after he graduated, I saw him in a store. He came up to me with a weak smile and extended his hand."Thanks, coach," he said softly.I simply nodded my head and shook his hand again. We never once spoke a single word to each other about the end of that game.My son and I love baseball. When he gets nine hits in a tournament, he learns that hard work brings rewards.When he makes a great defensive play to keep a championship game tied in the last inning, he proves that he can handle the pressure of a moment and life will bring him many.When he gets back up and stares out at a pitcher after being knocked down from a high inside fastball, he refuses to be intimidated or frightened by anything that stands in front of an opportunity for him to succeed.So go out and sign up your kid to play baseball.He'll strike out. He'll make errors in the field.If he stays with the game, he'll get his hits, make good plays, and enjoy team victories.He'll learn that baseball, like life, is full of failure, but that's what makes those winning moments all that more special.For anyone who would like to be a guest columnist, Rich Strack will help you write your idea. Contact him at

katehep11@gmail.com.