Stories From Now And Then: Short Stories for Kids
Jul 4, 2026 · 19 min · 7 segments
OR ... The Boy In The Yellow Tuxedo. Follow along for this incredibly fun and zany true story from the Old Library, where Deprecatus can apparently ... bake? Visit us at: storiesfromnowandthen.com…
Once upon a time, not so very long ago, in a small town called Scituate on the shores of Massachusetts, there lived a young baseball player named Jesse Cole.
Jesse loved baseball.
There are photographs of him, just three years old, throwing baseballs with all his might.
He practiced pitching until his arms ached.
He knew every rule by heart.
And when he was old enough, he went to a college called Wofford down in South Carolina to play Division I baseball alongside the best college athletes in the country.
This was his dream coming true.
If he was good enough and lucky enough, he might make it all the way to the big leagues.
But then one terrible day, something inside Jesse's shoulder tore.
Pop, just like that.
The doctors said he could no longer pitch.
His playing days were over.
Jesse was just a young man, barely more than a boy, and already his greatest dream lay shattered at his feet.
Instead of giving up and turning away from baseball forever, he stayed at college and tried something new.
He took classes in theater.
He learned about putting on shows, about entertaining people, about making audiences laugh and gasp and cheer.
And slowly, Jesse realized something wonderful.
He loved putting on a show just as much as he loved playing baseball.
"What if," he thought to himself, "What if I could put those two things together?" When Jesse graduated, he got a job with the Gastonia Grizzlies, a baseball team owned by a man named Ken Silver.
The team was, unfortunately, failing.
Hardly anyone came to the games.
The stadium was old and shabby.
The team was losing money.
Mr.
Silver needed someone who could think differently, someone who could imagine things that had never been done before.
Once upon a time, not so very long ago, in a small town called Scituate on the shores of Massachusetts, there lived a young baseball player named Jesse Cole.
Jesse loved baseball.
There are photographs of him, just three years old, throwing baseballs with all his might.
He practiced pitching until his arms ached.
He knew every rule by heart.
And when he was old enough, he went to a college called Wofford down in South Carolina to play Division I baseball alongside the best college athletes in the country.
This was his dream coming true.
If he was good enough and lucky enough, he might make it all the way to the big leagues.
But then one terrible day, something inside Jesse's shoulder tore.
Pop, just like that.
The doctors said he could no longer pitch.
His playing days were over.
Jesse was just a young man, barely more than a boy, and already his greatest dream lay shattered at his feet.
Instead of giving up and turning away from baseball forever, he stayed at college and tried something new.
He took classes in theater.
He learned about putting on shows, about entertaining people, about making audiences laugh and gasp and cheer.
And slowly, Jesse realized something wonderful.
He loved putting on a show just as much as he loved playing baseball.
"What if," he thought to himself, "What if I could put those two things together?" When Jesse graduated, he got a job with the Gastonia Grizzlies, a baseball team owned by a man named Ken Silver.
The team was, unfortunately, failing.
Hardly anyone came to the games.
The stadium was old and shabby.
The team was losing money.
Mr.
Silver needed someone who could think differently, someone who could imagine things that had never been done before.
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