David P. Hoose: Pays tribute to youth coach Tim Molaghan

As I was boarding a plane for Washington Thursday, I got word of the death of Tim Molaghan.

Tim was one of the finest men I have ever met and, without question, the best youth baseball coach I have ever seen. When I was coaching the Lions in the Northampton Little League, Tim was the coach of our arch rivals, the Elks. Not only did he beat us in every important game, but he would do it using every player on his squad, sometimes pitching a 10-year-old who had never taken the mound before. He not only won, he won with grace.

For Tim, it was always about the kids. When I and others formed Mike Laga Youth Baseball 17 years ago, I immediately sought out Tim to coach our 13-14-year-old Sandy Koufax team. After a couple of years, I lured him out of retirement and he coached for us for about 13 seasons. Ironically, he had announced that he would not coach this year. He said it was time to hit a few more golf balls and a few less baseballs.

He later joined the board of directors of Mike Laga Youth Baseball. We relied on his common sense and baseball smarts in every discussion that we ever undertook.

Any parent who ever had a kid on one of Tim’s teams will back up what I now say. He was simply the best. The best at teaching skills. The best at making kids feel good about themselves and good about the game of baseball. And of course the best at winning, while playing every kid and making sure that every kid had fun.

This is such a tremendous loss for this community. I can’t believe he is gone. I will miss him for a long time.

On behalf of myself and the board of Mike Laga Youth Baseball, we extend our deepest sympathy to Gerry, Brendan, Ryan, Devin and the rest of his family.

David P. Hoose

Northampton