This time of year we should all play ball
It was sunny and cool when I woke up this morning, but it will warm up later. Highs should be in the mid-70s in Washington by this afternoon and, of course, my allergies are acting up. I'll go look for my baseball glove this morning -- all it's going to take is a whiff of leather and neatsfoot oil for my thoughts to turn to little league baseball.
I played youth baseball in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts on fields at Dean Park, Edgemere Park, a small sliver of earth near the legendary Spags wholesale store on Route 9, and when we made the playoffs, at a few parks in Worcester. At one of these fields I remember pitching with a large tree to my back in fairly shallow right field. Driving to the other side of town for a game was like going on a road trip and part of the allure of going to a new venue was finding a new pizza joint for the post game meal. When I started playing on the high school team we actually got to take buses and went on real road trips, sometimes to other states. It felt like being a minor leaguer traveling by bus from Trenton to Wilmington.
Baseball reveals its beauty in many forms, athletic, aesthetic, situational. I love the fields where it's played where nothing is uniform from park to park, save for the distance between the bases, the mound and the plate, and the point where the foul lines start. When I was growing up I knew there would always be a field on which to play organized ball. We never played under the lights and we never, as far as I can remember, had trouble finding a place to play our league games.
So this morning I'm thinking about the Courtland Milloy column I read a couple of weeks ago in the Post Metro section. Milloy wrote that this season, the first in 34 years with big league baseball in DC, the Department of Parks and Recreation is strictly enforcing pay to play rules for night games in District parks. Milloy introduces us to Mason Clark, a community icon who has coached youth baseball in Northeast Washington since 1963. Clark explains that this year his organization will be billed to the tune of $400 per week for evening games.
That's real money and a real obstacle for kids playing for the love of the game and the coaches who are volunteering their time for the love of the community. While district taxpayers are handing over money to fund a permanent home for the Nationals and related infrastructure development, the District government can do better than potentially shut out our little leaguers.
I'll look for updates on this story. Meanwhile, I'm going to look for my glove.
I played youth baseball in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts on fields at Dean Park, Edgemere Park, a small sliver of earth near the legendary Spags wholesale store on Route 9, and when we made the playoffs, at a few parks in Worcester. At one of these fields I remember pitching with a large tree to my back in fairly shallow right field. Driving to the other side of town for a game was like going on a road trip and part of the allure of going to a new venue was finding a new pizza joint for the post game meal. When I started playing on the high school team we actually got to take buses and went on real road trips, sometimes to other states. It felt like being a minor leaguer traveling by bus from Trenton to Wilmington.
Baseball reveals its beauty in many forms, athletic, aesthetic, situational. I love the fields where it's played where nothing is uniform from park to park, save for the distance between the bases, the mound and the plate, and the point where the foul lines start. When I was growing up I knew there would always be a field on which to play organized ball. We never played under the lights and we never, as far as I can remember, had trouble finding a place to play our league games.
So this morning I'm thinking about the Courtland Milloy column I read a couple of weeks ago in the Post Metro section. Milloy wrote that this season, the first in 34 years with big league baseball in DC, the Department of Parks and Recreation is strictly enforcing pay to play rules for night games in District parks. Milloy introduces us to Mason Clark, a community icon who has coached youth baseball in Northeast Washington since 1963. Clark explains that this year his organization will be billed to the tune of $400 per week for evening games.
That's real money and a real obstacle for kids playing for the love of the game and the coaches who are volunteering their time for the love of the community. While district taxpayers are handing over money to fund a permanent home for the Nationals and related infrastructure development, the District government can do better than potentially shut out our little leaguers.
I'll look for updates on this story. Meanwhile, I'm going to look for my glove.
posted by alexzwerdling at 9:05 AM
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