Former MLB outfielder Eric Byrnes on new book 'Let Them Play': A guide for coaching youth sports autonomously

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Before Eric Byrnes was drafted to Major League Baseball in 1994, he was just a kid from California who loved to play sports.

Byrnes, discernibly a star baseball player, also learned karate and played football, tennis and basketball. Thinking back on the baseball memories he was most fond of as a child, he remembers relationships with friends, Jack in the Box tacos with his mother ahead of a game and cracking his first home run, which resulted in a shattered station wagon window.

"I can’t tell you if we won a certain game or a certain championship," Byrnes told Fox News Digital. "I made the all-star team, but I couldn’t tell you what happened during the all-star tournament. I can tell you that I remember the pool party we had at my buddy’s house afterward."

BYRNES LIVING THE DREAM, EVEN OUT OF BASEBALL

Former MLB outfielder Eric Byrnes is the author of "Let Them Play: A Parenting and Coaching Guide to Youth Sports." (Eric Byrnes)

Today, the former MLB outfielder is a youth baseball coach for travel teams. As a coach, he draws from a sentiment that influences his sports memories: Let the kids play ball – and just play ball.

Byrnes recently authored a book titled "Let Them Play: A Parenting and Coaching Guide to Youth Sports." The book’s premise is to encourage a fearless and free environment for youth athletes – the next generation of elites.

"‘Let Them Play’ was conjured up by myself and three other guys that either I played with at UCLA or in the big leagues," Byrnes said. "We were all at a stage with our kids where none of us had coached yet, and we all had the same observation: They were over-coached."

The four men deduced that this was