by Chris Vincent
SUNY Youth Sports Institute
Baldwinsville, NY - I have a friend who gets an idea and runs with it. He started a DJ business at the age of 14 and was DJing sweet 16's when he was 15. He now has a commercial driving license to drive for a document destruction company called CINTAS, has his own garbage business called White Glove Waste And Recycling, and has a well respected DJ business called "The Professional Sound of CNY".
In the summer of 2010, while sitting around with nothing to do, he got a brilliant idea to get a baseball game together. We were all at the age of 22 or 23 so you would think it would have been difficult to get everyone together at one time, but my entrepreneurial friend got right on the horn and called a friend of ours that had a very important resource: Baseball Fields. Nolan Reeves is a friend of ours that we graduated with and his family owns Reeves farms, which is a very successful farm company in Baldwinsville, New York. They sponsor the field system for the Baldwinsville Little League.
So now that we got the go-ahead from Nolan to use the field, and of course he would be participating, it was time to spread the word. The best time we found to play America's pastime was on a Sunday afternoon, when people were most likely to be available for a spontaneous recreational activity. The first Sunday we corralled about 12 of our friends to participate, dusted off our mitts, and headed down to the field.
SUNY Youth Sports Institute
Baldwinsville, NY - I have a friend who gets an idea and runs with it. He started a DJ business at the age of 14 and was DJing sweet 16's when he was 15. He now has a commercial driving license to drive for a document destruction company called CINTAS, has his own garbage business called White Glove Waste And Recycling, and has a well respected DJ business called "The Professional Sound of CNY".
In the summer of 2010, while sitting around with nothing to do, he got a brilliant idea to get a baseball game together. We were all at the age of 22 or 23 so you would think it would have been difficult to get everyone together at one time, but my entrepreneurial friend got right on the horn and called a friend of ours that had a very important resource: Baseball Fields. Nolan Reeves is a friend of ours that we graduated with and his family owns Reeves farms, which is a very successful farm company in Baldwinsville, New York. They sponsor the field system for the Baldwinsville Little League.
So now that we got the go-ahead from Nolan to use the field, and of course he would be participating, it was time to spread the word. The best time we found to play America's pastime was on a Sunday afternoon, when people were most likely to be available for a spontaneous recreational activity. The first Sunday we corralled about 12 of our friends to participate, dusted off our mitts, and headed down to the field.
It felt so great to just have a catch again. There is nothing like the sound of the ball hitting your glove. The smell of the grass and the leather of the glove brought me right back to little league practices. A few friends that were there had been on my little league team so a lot of stories and good times were being shared and laughed about. Having just 12 people did not stop us from playing. We utilized some of the problem solving skills we learned as kids and decided to make four teams of three. Three people would bat and the other nine were to rotate in the field.
Everybody got to bat 3 times until the rain we had been playing in grew heavier, surrendering us to the dugout. Nolan the farmer told us that it would rain, and farmers are always right when it comes to rain. Regardless, we accomplished our goal, which was to have fun, and I left the field with something that I hadn't had in a long time... a sore arm.
The next Sunday was a better showing. We even got a few fathers to show up and play, including mine. My father was my coach back in Little League so it was like going right back to childhood. While he was pitching he called a timeout and called the infielders in for a conference at the mound. I knew exactly what he was doing: the hidden ball trick. I like to win, so I could not let my teammate who was on first base fall for it.
So, as any good son would do, I had to call my father out on it.
The first summer, and definitely not the last, of our Baldwinsville Sandlot League was an overall success. Every Sunday, more and more people showed up but we could never field a full two teams. The word has gotten around now so I know that next summer we will make this happen again, thus preserving the two great qualities of America's pastime; spirited competition and community enjoyment.
Roy Campanella (catcher of Brooklyn Dodgers from the 1940's and 50's) once said that, "You gotta be a man to play baseball for a living, but you gotta have a lot of little boy in you, too." This quote really hits the nail on the head because playing on those Sundays was like going back in time to my childhood.
