The Baseball World Honors Fallen New York Little Leaguer

As we reported last week, 4th grader Lazar LaPenna, of Long Beach, New York, suffered a fatal seizure after hitting a baseball and running to first base. There was no injury caused by a baseball. Lazar suffered from epilepsy for several years and was on medication for seizures.

LaPenna loved baseball and the Mets. His dad was his coach. The baseball world and others took notice of this awful tragedy and even took to Twitter to recruit everyone to pay tribute to the little boy from Long Island.

As with most tragedies, a ray of light comes from the rubble. Kids, sports teams, head coaches, players, teams and classrooms from across the country united to pay tribute to the little boy from Long Island. On Monday May 9th, baseball players, softball players and hundreds of others honored Lazar by wearing their uniforms to school and leaving their #BatsOutForLazar.

Kids from Tennessee and West Virginia paid tribute to Lazar.

Even the New York Jets were effected by this horrendous loss. Head coach Robert Saleh did not issue the number 9 for the team's offseason training activities this weekend.

Saleh and a number of his staff members had "Lazar" and 9 on their back in honor of the Long Beach/Lido Little Leaguer.

From teams to coaches, from TV personalities to just ordinary people that were moved by Lazar LaPenna's story, people took to Twitter in droves to show their team colors for the little boy that loved baseball.

His mom told newsday.com, "Little League evened the playing field for him. He was just like everybody else and he could try his best." Baseball is that sanctuary for some kids. They feel like they can be their best. The baseball world lost a good one, in Lazar LaPenna. You can tell by how many people that he never met were touched by him.