Courtesy photo
Bob Holland with his grandson, Carter, has been coaching youth baseball for 50 years.
Bob Holland Jr. was just a couple years out of Altoona Area High School back in 1977, when his father, Bob Holland Sr., due to a change in shifts at his job, asked his son if he wanted to take over as the manager of the former Patriots team in the East End Little League.
Holland Jr., who had helped his father coach the team for the previous couple of seasons, agreed, and the late Bob Cummings, who at that time was the league president, put the young first-year manager on a one-year probation period.
Holland Jr. passed with flying colors, and this summer, he is celebrating his milestone 50th season as either a youth baseball manager or coach in this area. He is currently in his 40th season in the East End League, coaching his grandson Carter, age 8, on the Barton’s Plumbing team in the East End’s Minor League (for players ages 6-9) that is currently in the playoffs and bidding for its third consecutive league title.
Holland, who will celebrate his 68th birthday this fall, is actually pulling double duty this summer, also serving on the coaching staff for the Caporuscio’s Plumbing team in the East End’s Major League (for players ages 9-12). His grandson is a batboy for the Caporuscio’s team.
Despite his retirement from the paid workforce in 2023, Holland Jr. isn’t finding himself with too much time on his hands this summer.
“I’ve been pretty busy,” Holland said.
And it’s been a labor of love for Holland, who has also put in another decade as a manager in the Altoona Area Baseball Association, where his Drayer Physical Therapy-sponsored team went 33-0 and won its league championship in 2009, as well as the title in the Dean Patterson Little World Series that year.
“I still love doing it,” Holland Jr. said about teaching the game of baseball to youngsters. “I have sometimes thought that it might be time to get out, but then some 9-year-old kid who I see has a lot of potential as a ballplayer always comes along and I talk myself into staying to coach him until he turns 12.
“I believe that Little League baseball is a great institution,” said Holland, who estimates that he has coached or managed in at least 1,000 youth baseball games over the past half-century. “I was the former president and vice president of the East End League, and I was also on the league’s board of directors. But coaching and managing teams is what I love to do and what I want to do.”
Holland admits that youth baseball has endured plenty of transitions over the past half-century, though.
“It’s harder now,” Holland said. “Little League has changed. Of course, you have the aluminum bats now instead of the old wooden bats, and now you have travel ball, where you might have a kid missing one of the league games because of a travel ball game. I really don’t like that. I think that if you’re going to commit to a (youth baseball league) team, then (you’ve got) to commit to that team.”
Along with the fundamentals of the game, Holland tries to impart those valuable life lessons such as commitment, dedication and punctuality to his young charges.
“I try to teach them the fundamentals like the correct way to hit, throw and catch, but probably the biggest thing that I teach them is not to quit,” Holland said. “I tell them to show up for practices and to show up on time because when you become an adult and you have a job, you’ve got to show up on time and give 100 percent.”
Holland said that it is important to recognize the personality differences as well as the differences in athletic proficiency among the players.
“Obviously, in some cases, Jimmy might be better athletically than Joey, but you also have to get to know the different personalities of the kids,” Holland said. “Even though I push my players pretty good and I try to make them the best players that they can be, you can’t automatically treat one kid like you treat another kid, because their mindsets can be completely different.”
Over the years, Holland has earned the respect and admiration of probably thousands of current and former players, coaches and officials in area youth baseball circles.
“Bob is a tremendous guy, he’s been great for the Little League baseball community here,” said Jason McGinnis, who is in his sixth season as the president of the East End League. “He deeply cares about children and their well-being, and he’s been part of Little League baseball here for 50 years, and that’s a testament to what he brings to the table, as well as to his passion for the game, and to his passion for helping kids to learn the game.”
East End vice president Josh Klausman has known and admired Holland for three and a half decades. Klausman played in the East End League in the mid-1990s, on a Dean Patterson-sponsored team that was managed by Klausman’s father, Jim. The Dean Patterson squads and the Miller’s Corner teams then that were managed by Holland were the best in the league at that time and enjoyed a great rivalry.
“I believe that Bob Holland is one of the pillars of Little League Baseball in this area,” Josh Klausman said. “He’s put in countless hours for the kids, and some of them who are now in their 30s, 40s and 50s are still reaching out to him and coming to see him. If I don’t know anything else about a person, that says enough. He is just a genuinely good human being.”
But like any human being who has spent nearly seven decades on this planet, Holland has sustained his share of battle scars.
He underwent surgery for prostate cancer this past January and said that he feels OK now.
“I had prostate cancer, and I had my prostate removed this past January,” Holland said. “Luckily, (the doctors) caught it early and luckily they got it all, and I’ve healed up pretty good. So far, so good.”
A deeper, much more painful wound for Holland and his wife, Linda, was the passing of their son, Bobby III, at the age of 39 back in 2020.
Holland Jr. coached both of his sons, Bobby III and Chris, in youth baseball competition, and Holland Jr. has also coached both of his grandsons, Carter and recent Altoona Area High School graduate Keldon, 18.
Bobby Holland III regularly pitched batting practice at the games for his dad, and his death has left a void for his family that will always remain.
“When my son died, it took something out of me,” Holland Jr. said. “I’m not the same person that I was before my son passed away — something in me just died with him, and it’s hard for me to explain.
“Bobby threw batting practice for me, and to be honest, it’s tough for me even to this day to go down to the field. When he passed away, it was so tough for my wife and me. It was something that I wouldn’t wish on anybody.”
Coaching his grandson Carter now is a way for Holland — who has coached or managed a team to at least one championship in both the East End and Altoona Area leagues — to preserve his beloved late son’s legacy.
“I don’t know if I’d have stayed in coaching 50 years were it not for my youngest grandson,” Holland said. “And whether I’ll be back next year, I don’t know. I probably will be, but I’m not going to give anybody a 100 percent guarantee.
“I’ve coached a lot of kids. I’ve met a lot of great people and made a lot of friends through coaching, and I’ve also had a lot of great coaches to work with through the years. Coaching is my way of giving back to my community.”
