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Little League mourns Martin Richard, eight-year-old victim of Boston Marathon bombings

Pete Thamel of Sports Illustrated wrote a fantastic obituary for Martin Richard, the eight-year-old boy killed by last week's Boston Marathon bombings.

Pete Thamel of Sports Illustrated wrote a fantastic obituary for Martin Richard, the eight-year-old boy killed by last week's Boston Marathon bombings. Much of it focused on his time playing Little League baseball in his home town of Dorchester, Mass.

As a community searches for answers, Savin Hill mourns the loss of Martin, who epitomized the untainted, quintessentially American joy of Little League baseball. Martin flashed an easy smile, donned an oversized black glove and wore Bruins gear to practice and No. 25 for games. But nothing stood out to Rangers Coach Mike Christopher more than Martin's gap-toothed smile.

"He's what you think of," Christopher said, "when you think of a little leaguer."

As a player, Martin's skills and focus stood out for his age. As one of the team's younger players last year as a 7-year-old, he'd earned the coaches' trust enough to pitch and play the infield. Martin spoke judiciously, followed directions and never had any discipline issues.

"At baseball, he was there to play baseball," Christopher said. "He's the kind of kid you want your little leaguer to be. He's like 'Mr. Baseball.' You just try and strive to have your kid be the type of kid that he was."

Click here to read the full story, which I highly recommend.