The Little League Softball World Series produces so many wonderful stories...stories of cool housing families who give up ten days and devote their home, vehicle and kitchen table to girls from all over the world here to play a softball tournament...
stories of international teams traveling long distances and enjoying Oregon and American culture...
stories of tournament volunteers who spend HOURS up at Alpenrose painting and grilling hamburgers and arranging travel and selling souvenirs and posting scores on websites and faxing press releases to the newspapers...
and raking, cutting, and painting Alpenrose fields so that these girls have their "Field of Dreams" to play on during their memorable experience at the World Series. The fieldwork has been lovingly orchestrated by Mike Hebrard of Athletic Field Design for 15 years...and he wouldn't have it any other way.
Mike and his crew, including former LL ump Bob Proctor (who travels down from Tacoma, Washington, every year to help out) and son Andy, who plays baseball at Feather River College in northern California and literally grew up prepping fields at Alpenrose, begin work on the fields just as soon as the regular league and all-star schedules wrap-up. And since Oregon District 4 is very busy, that doesn't leave much time!
I always enjoy talking about Oregon youth softball and baseball, and sat down with Mike and Bob in between LLSoftbal World Series games to visit about the "Keep America Playing" t-shirts all his guys were wearing. "This is a movement to educate volunteers and coaches about maintaining fields," Mike told me. (more information can be found at www.keepamericaplaying.com) I have no problem telling you that Keep America Playing is presented by Turface -- without Turface, we wouldn't be able to play baseball and softball in Oregon. Period.
Because I spend a lot of time around ballparks, I was especially impressed by this effort. Keeping the diamonds safe and playable is essential to a positive experience for the kids. Pride in a community park shows pride in the community and our nation is built on strong communities. (off my soapbox now :)
Field maintenance is usually volunteer dads who are happy to help, but are not experts beyond raking and mowing, maybe one guy is really good with the chalk... Giving leagues and teams some information about how to really care for and extend the life of our fields goes a long way in promoting and preserving our favorite sports of baseball and softball.
When you're watching the semi-final games tonight on ESPN2, think about Mike and Bob and they guys who work behind the scenes to give the girls a Big League Ballpark experience right there in the middle of a working dairy.
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