Little Leaguer and stepdad bond through baseball

For Sam Heskett’s relationship with his stepdad, David Wannen, to blossom, it first had to get over The Wall.

The Wall is not a psychological term doctors use. It’s a massive rock in Central Park Heskett used to hit baseballs over when he was a young boy with Wannen pitching to him.

“I remember that it was about 150 feet away from home plate and I was age 6,” said Heskett, who turned 12 on June 20. “I kept hitting it well past that.” 

“Three Tree Stadium” was what they called their baseball haven in the park, as three large trees formed a diamond formation in the shape of bases, while a hill and the massive rock acted as The Wall, a facsimile of an outfield fence.

Central Park is a special place for Sam, his older sister Olivia (now 14 years old), their mother Jamé and Wannen. Wannen started seeing his now-wife Jamé on March 23, 2007. He met her children, Sam and Olivia Heskett, at the end of May — just before Sam’s fifth birthday — in the park. Heskett and Wannen bonded over baseball, and Heskett has overcome his phobias and just completed a breakout season for the Bulfamonte Mowers of the South Riverdale Little League’s Majors Division,  hitting .524 and striking out 72 batters in eight games pitched.

“I remember being immediately impressed with his scrappiness,” Wannen said of their time in the park. “The kid was fast and had a lot of energy. We immediately got down to work tossing the football, running around, general goofing off. In that first hour, he was on my back pretending I was a horse.

“It was the ‘ballpark’ where out relationship was forged.”

Heskett struggled in school as a second-grader. He was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and had sensitivities to smells (McDonald’s french fries, for example), to certain touches (cotton socks) and to sounds (the turn of a car engine), Wannen said. He also had nighttime anxiety. 

He received treatment at New York University and turned his behavior around in third grade using a point-based economy system designed to reward good behavior. Third grade was also when Heskett began playing organized baseball.