Buddy Baseball Season 17 — Flag Football at 9:30, First Pitch at 1:15
Buddy Baseball season seventeen started on Saturday, October 3, and Jon showed up to opening day having already competed in an entirely different sport that morning. At 9:30 he was at his second Special Olympics flag football skills competition of the fall. By 1:15 he was standing on the baseline in his Cyclones shirt for the national anthem. Two sports, two uniforms, one very full Saturday.
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Watch Jon’s whole double-header above — or keep reading below.
I have to confess that I was not there for any of it. I was home hosting a ladies’ luncheon, one of the menus I am testing for my next cookbook, Brunches, Luncheons & Tea Parties. So this was a Jason-and-Jon day from start to finish, and my phone kept lighting up with pictures while I was busy in the kitchen. Every one of them made me smile.
The Morning — Five Flag Football Skills Before Lunch
Jon is on the skills team, which means he competes in individual events instead of the five-on-five games. There are five of them: throwing for distance, throwing for accuracy, catching, pulling a flag, and footwork, which is running through a line of cones as fast as he can go. I wrote about what a Special Olympics flag football skills day looks like after his first competition of the season, so I will not repeat all of it here. But look at that wind-up.
That face is pure concentration. He gets that arm back, plants his feet, and he means it every single time.
Then came the flag pull, which is still his favorite. A volunteer takes off running with flags on her belt, and Jon’s whole job is to chase her down and take one. He does not need to be told twice.
Number 5, walking between stations and already looking for whatever comes next. As soon as the last event wrapped up, Jason drove him home so he could trade his flag football jersey for his Cyclones shirt. There was no time to sit around. First pitch was at 1:15.
Buddy Baseball Opening Day — Season Seventeen
Jon started Buddy Baseball the spring after he turned eight. There are two seasons every year, one in the spring and one in the fall, and he has played every single one of them but one. That makes this fall his seventeenth season with the Cyclones, and October 11 is his seventeenth birthday. Seventeen seasons and seventeen years. I could not have planned that if I tried.
Opening day is always a celebration. There was a cookout, and the Boy Scout honor guard came out to present the flag for the national anthem, the way they do every year. The players lined up along the baseline, and then it was time to play ball.
He is still a Cyclone, and he has the same buddy this season, which matters more than I can explain. Buddy Baseball pairs every player with a buddy who helps them on the field and in the dugout, and seeing the same faces season after season is a big part of why Jon loves it the way he does.
The only season Jon has ever missed was the fall of 2024, when he had a major surgery at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg. His whole team rallied around him while he was in the hospital. And the doctors and nurses who cared for him gave him a baseball glove that every one of them had signed. I wrote about that glove, and about his comeback, in Jon’s opening day post from the spring.
Seventeen seasons. One missed. And the one he missed is the one where his team showed up for him. That is Buddy Baseball, and that is why we keep counting.
Buddy Baseball FAQ — What Families Ask Us
What is Buddy Baseball?
It is a non-competitive baseball league for boys and girls with special needs, and ours serves kids and young adults ages 8 to 21 here in the Tampa Bay area. Every player is paired with a buddy who helps on the field and in the dugout. Everybody bats, everybody runs, and everybody gets cheered for.
How many Buddy Baseball seasons has Jon played?
This fall is his seventeenth. He started the spring after he turned eight, and there is a spring season and a fall season every year. The only one he has missed was the fall of 2024, when he was in the hospital recovering from surgery.
Can a child play Special Olympics and Buddy Baseball in the same season?
Jon does. His Special Olympics flag football season and his fall Buddy Baseball season overlap, which is how he ended up with two games on the same Saturday. It made for a long day, and he loved every minute of it.
What happens at Buddy Baseball opening day?
Ours starts with a cookout, and the Boy Scout honor guard presents the flag for the national anthem every single year. Then the teams take the field and the season is officially underway. It feels like a party, because it is one.
💛 New here? Meet Jon.
Jon’s whole story lives on his own page — how he came home, every season he has played, and what we have learned raising a child with Down syndrome.
More Jonathan Moments You’ll Love
- Jonathan’s First Hit of the Season — Opening Day with the Cyclones — the comeback after his surgery, and the glove his surgical team signed.
- Special Olympics Flag Football — Jon’s Game Day, Big Throws, and That Smile — his first skills competition of the fall, and the medal he wore all the way home.
- Jonathan’s Last Buddy Baseball Game of the Season — Three Hits and a Home Run — how he closed out the spring.
📬 Come to the table on Saturday
Every Saturday morning I send a printable meal plan and full grocery list — the whole week, formatted for the fridge and the grocery run — plus new recipes and whatever’s happening at the Longstreth house. Drop your email below and I’ll save you a seat.
Buddy Baseball — About Stephanie Longstreth
Stephanie Longstreth is the home cook, mom, and storyteller behind StephanieCooksForACrowd.com. She cooks for a family of seven in Florida — five kids, two cats, and one husband who appreciates a good meal. Four of her children came home through adoption, and family stories are woven into everything she makes and shares. Find her crowd-friendly recipes, weekly meal plans, and real family life on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and Pinterest @stephaniecooksforacrowd.