The Energizer Bunny has nothing on Jim Hall.

Not when it comes to baseball, anyway.

After coaching Lockport to the Class AA state championship in 2005 with a record of 40-3, Hall retired as the Porters’ coach in 2006. He never lost his passion for the game, however.

As it says on his hallwaybaseball.com website, he has continued to “live the dream.”

In addition to giving countless lessons, he has coached internationally the past 10 years, taking teams to Aruba, Italy, Germany, Czech Republic, Japan, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. The trip he has been talking about in a hopeful manner for the last decade – taking a team to Cuba – will become reality this summer as he manages Team America on its visit there.

“We will fly to Cuba with 14 kids and 33 people in all,” Hall said. “Some people say I’m crazy doing this. But I always like going and representing our country.

“The people all over the world are very good to us. Cuba is still a communist country. I want to go there and show respect for the country, the people and their baseball. We’ll be making history.”

An undeniable fact is that the Cubans know baseball. More and more, major league rosters are dotted with Cuban stars who have come to the United States to play with and against the best in the world.

“We’ll have at least one game against the Cuban National Team and hope we play them more than once,” Hall said. “Other than that, we will be playing against Cuban travel teams.

“We’ll play nine-inning games with wood bats, we’ll stay at a hotel on the ocean, and [Hall’s wife] Rhonda will be with us. I’m really looking forward to it.”

Hall said the Team America roster will include Lincoln-Way West graduates Zach Speaker, Drew Clavenna and Connor Hogan plus Lincoln-Way East grad Ken Alexa.

Justin Sartori from Sandwich also will be on the trip. His dad, Tim Sartori, was a quarterback and baseball player during Hall’s tenure coaching both sports at Lockport, and he will make the trip and lend a coaching hand in Cuba.

Team America will fly to Cuba shortly after the conclusion of the Midwest Baseball Classic, another of Hall’s baseball babies, scheduled July 26 to 28 at the Plainfield South diamonds. Teams from several states will participate. Illinois White, with Hall the head coach, will be the Illinois entry.

The players from Illinois White will be picked by Hall and his assistants from the Suburban Baseball Tournament, a showcase event that Hall will lead Saturday and Sunday at Plainfield South.

“We will have about 180 kids in the showcase,” he said. “We sent out over 7,000 emails to colleges, letting them know about it. We want to get these kids exposure. Lots of kids who have played in the Midwest Baseball Classic have gone on to play college baseball.”

The players at the showcase largely will be entering their senior year of high school, although some juniors and a few sophomores will be in the mix.

“We’ll probably have three-quarters of the [Illinois White] team picked by the end of the showcase,” said Hall, who also is the current president of the Old Timers Baseball Association of Will County. “I’ll talk with the other coaches to get the final roster set.”

All part of life for a “retired” Hall of Fame coach who has no intention of leaving the game anytime soon.

• Dick Goss can be reached at dgoss@shawmedia.com.