When Don Spall took over as the manager of the Post 6 senior baseball team in 2007, he knew about the responsibility that went along with wearing the pinstripes.

He played for legendary manager Bob Ronk, where he was part of the 1982 state champion team. He later coached under Ronk in 1990s, and became the pitching coach for John Hurlock when Hurlock took over the program in the mid ’90s.

Hurlock was stricken with cancer in 2003, and he immediately drew up a plan for Spall to take over the team. Spall finally did take the reins after the 2007 passing of Hurlock, whom Spall considered one of his best friends.

Hurlock was confident in Spall’s ability as a manager. He had just one request. He wanted Spall to stay with the program long enough to find a replacement manager that he and Ronk would have supported.

Today is that day.

Spall announced that he is stepping down as the head man of Post 6 baseball after compiling an 82-54 record in four seasons.

He will be replaced by Don Andrews, who has previously served as the Post 6 junior team manager, and has been on the staff for eight years. Andrews becomes just the fourth Post 6 manager in 60 years, a program whose history dates back to the 1930s.

“Don has paid eight years of dividends to the program, and has coached the junior team for the past three,” Spall said of Andrews. “He has experience as a manager, running his own team. I have tried to teach him everything that John taught me. All this time, Mr. Andrews has stood beside me, doing his own thing with the junior team. I feel comfortable in leaving the storied history of Post 6 baseball in his hands.”

Spall felt that his family was growing up without him around. He said he looks forward to spending more time with them.

“I would like to cherish the opportunity to spend more time with my wife Krista, and my family, [children Garrett, 20, and Shelby, 17], before they grow up and have families of their own,” Spall said. “I plan to use this time to travel around the states. There are a lot of things that you can’t see and do in North America during the winter time.

“I have a list as long as my arm of things my wife put together for me to do around the house, things I have had to put off because of baseball and can’t be done once it starts getting cold.”

Spall said he is going to dearly miss the relationships that he’s developed with the players and coaches over the past two decades. His team went 24-12 this season, and played for its first regional title since 2001 before falling to Terre Haute Post 346 in the finals Monday.

“I had the opportunity to watch many young boys mature into men,” Spall said. “I would like to think that I influenced them and helped their parents turn their teenagers into adults.

“I’m going to hold the memories very close to my heart. I’ll never forget my players, all the fun times and all the sad times, and all the baseball around the state of Indiana we played over the last 23 years. I’m going to miss it, for sure, when high school baseball starts next year where I would be out scouting potential talent. I’m going to miss that.”

Spall also hopes that his players take a developed sense of accountability with them as they have moved on from Post 6 as adults.

“I think at some point, whether it be at age 17, 18, or 19, a teenager becomes a young man, and one of the things he’s going to do the rest of his life is have to walk up to his supervisor and have a conversation with them. I would hope that all of the boys that have played for me will be able to go to someone like that and look them in the eye and have a conversation with them,” he said.

New Post 6 skipper

Andrews relishes the opportunity given to him, and considers it a challenge.

“I don’t have a son who plays anymore. But, I coach for, what I say is the right reasons,” Andrews, who led the Post 6 junior team to a state title in 2009, said. “When I grew up, I had great coaches — Dave Barnes, Bob Rodibaugh and Gerald Hood. I thought that those coaches, along with the teachers I had and my parents, made me the person I am today. I want to give the same back to these young players.

“The kids that will be returning to the senior team, I have coached them all before. It’ll be a lot of fun, but it’ll be a lot of pressure. Legion baseball in Kokomo has been in existence for over 80 years. We have a lot of tradition. I feel excited about it. It’s nothing that I’m not ready for. I expect Spall to still be involved somehow, whether it be fundraisers or the alumni club.”

Andrews said his managerial style doesn’t differ that much from Spall’s, yet did talk about one difference.

“I know he believes that you have to outscore the other team to win,” Andrews said of Spall. “I believe that defense wins championships. I think that if I have the best defense, and the best pitching staff, I can score enough runs to beat the other team.”

Both Spall and Andrews are confident that the future of Post 6 baseball is bright, considering the location and support from the surrounding area.

“That makes my job as a coach easy. We have great baseball in Howard County and the surrounding area,” Andrews said. “We had three high school teams advance to the regional round this year. Like I said last year, as state champions in the junior division, I didn’t really have to do a lot of coaching. I handed the lineup to the boys, and they went out and played the game. I don’t pitch, I don’t go out and play defense or hit — the boys do. That makes my job easy.

“We want all the best baseball players in Howard County and surrounding area to play for Post 6. It is of no cost to them. I know all of the college coaches in the state of Indiana, and it’s a great opportunity to play for college exposure.”