Major League Baseball’s World Series gets underway this week with the end result that only one team will successfully execute its "business plan" to achieve the company mission: World champions. Baseball is big business, but many small businesses also face the same management challenges as major league tycoons.

Both big business and small business must manage budgets, salaries, facilities, equipment, sales, competition and customers. Regarding human resources, success comes by effectively coaching employees’ talents, attitudes and job performance.

Somewhere in between big business and small business falls the business of parenting. And in sports lie opportunities to teach children little lessons about life.

A few years ago, our daughter Mary was a bat girl for the Arizona Heat professional softball team. The Heat featured several former Arizona Wildcats, including Leah Braatz and Nancy Evans. Debbie Day was manager.

As successful, educated women athletes, they were ideal role models for our 9-year-old.

Mary knew the game, having played softball for three years. She was hyper-excited as she dressed in her team’s "Scorpions" uniform. My wife and I drove her to Hi Corbett Field, told her to have fun and do what the coaches said.

The Heat’s general manager greeted us and took Mary into the dugout to meet the players. We sat nearby; close enough to watch her yet far enough away to give her some independence.

As the team took the field, Mary joined them for the national anthem. Although the crowd was very small, her big smile filled the stadium.

For safety, she had to wear one of the Heat’s batting helmets. It was way too big and she looked like a Darth Vadar bobblehead when she ran balls out to the umpire.

As the game played on, she dutifully retrieved bats, helmets, foul balls and cheered on the Heat. From our seats, we could hear her trademark giggle!

Center fielder Cheryl Bolding, known for her hitting and constant high-energy chatter, soon had a new, pony-tailed BFF (Best Friend Forever) at her side. We noticed Mary shadowing her in the dugout … relentlessly.

Good choice, Bolding was a fine role model.

It was a good game with many exciting plays. In the late innings, the Heat was losing but had the winning runs on base. Then, there was a close play at first base. The batter was… OUT!

One of the Heat’s coaches came screaming out of the dugout to argue the call. He yelled, got in the ump’s face, kicked dirt, yelled some more, waved his arms, and threw his cap on the ground.

At that, the umpire ejected the coach from the game.

From the dugout, the players continued the taunting. We couldn’t hear the words but the toxic tone was obvious. The heated heckling continued for two more batters until the head umpire stopped the game to warn the Arizona coaches and players.

Their adrenaline doused, the rally fell short and the Heat lost.

On the drive home after the game, Mary was a mini-Cheryl Bolding chatterbox. The players had made her feel like part of the team. They took her down into the locker room for autographs and photos.

Between laughs, she told us about her picture with the team. By the time everyone lined up, one of the players already had stripped off her uniform.

"Was she in your picture?"

"Yeah Dad, naked. Gross!", Mary said. "But you can’t see anything. She hid in back with just her socks on."

We then asked about the play at first base. She said the players were really mad.

"She was safe, what a pukey call," Mary said. "The whole team said so."

"Did you yell at the umpire?" I askd.

"I wanted to, but I just listened to the players," Mary said. "For girls, they said some really rude stuff. I didn’t understand it all, but it sure sounded funny. And Mom, they said some bad words even you don’t know."

This is a true story, drawn from Yohem’s 25-year, award-winning communications career with the Southern Arizona Home Builders Association, Tucson Electric Power, and Southwest Gas. Yohem’s column looking at the lighter side of "challenges" in the business world appears the first and third weeks of each month in Inside Tucson Business.