Balls well-struck marked the morning twelve-year-old game between Marion Local and Fort Loramie in Saturday action at North Star. (Press Pros Feature Photos)
The value of a baseball culture was never more apparent than on Saturday as area youths exhibited some of each of the five skills in baseball, with a heavy nod to impact of their dads.
North Star, OH – Following one of the morning twelve-year-old contests at the newly renovated North Star Little League field Saturday, I witnessed a brief ‘CTJ’ session between a disappointed Fort Loramie player and his coach/dad.
Loramie had not played well in their lopsided loss to a team from Marion Local, and in their post-game meeting in left field it was so quiet you could have heard the chiggers moving about in the grass.
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“What are we going to do?” the dad asked, shrugging. “We got another game coming up in a couple of hours. We have to be ready to play. We have to play better. That’s all we can do now.”
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Five minutes later the disappointment was gone, washed away by lemonade and a big bucket of bar-b-que chicken. The great general Napoleon once said that an army marches on its stomach. And apparently, so does Little League baseball.
On the winning side of the field another dad was having a different conversation with his son – a smiling one – while encouraging him and reinforcing that he had played well and his contribution had helped his team win.
Nearly word for word, it reminded me of what Craig Stammen had said about his own dad, Jeff, during his formative baseball years in North Star and Versailles.
“I had the perfect baseball dad,” smiled Stammen. “He loved baseball and he was always encouraging me…pumping me up. If he had a criticism he did it privately, but never on the way home. Some other time, when the time was right.”
Plays were made that looked like how the big guys do it…Russia’s third baseman in the 12U game with Versailles.
It was a day when across the landscape of Versailles, Ohio one could note the impact of dads and their developmental impact on their sons and the baseball culture in communities like Versailles, Russia, Fort Loramie, Fort Recovery, Maria Stein, St. Henry, Coldwater, Minster and others.
It was a day when one after another you could see twelve-year-olds exhibiting the five skills of baseball well beyond the fact of their age and experience. And the reason they were doing that was because they had a dad in the house who takes the time to teach and support them in their pursuit to play and compete.
“Who’s taught you the most about how to play baseball?” I asked a young player at the Heritage Park fields on Thursday night.
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“My dad,” he said proudly. “We play together just about every day. He taught me how to catch the ball back-handed. And he pitches batting practice to me all the time.”
I smiled, thinking of all the years when my own dad did his best to catch for me in the back yard as I tried to develop my skills as a high school pitcher. He finally quit when his shins couldn’t take any more – when my fastball became quicker than his reflexes.
But you could tell as you watched on Saturday – that dads in west-central Ohio communities are spending a lot of time teaching their sons how to become better baseball players.
A good old-fashioned pickle (rundown)…in the 12U game between Fort Loramie and Marion Local.
Speaking of the backhand, Russia’s third baseman made a fine stop on a hard-hit ball during the fourth inning of their game with Versailles, not unlike what Craig Stammen might see from Manny Machado (the Padres third baseman) this weekend in Arlington, Texas.
Young outfielders were tracking and making catches on fly balls. Typically you think of a fly ball as an easy out. But when you’re twelve, and you’re trying to understand what it means to take a good route on the ball to catch it, it’s not as easy to learn as you think.
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Hitters made hard contact. In the noon game Versailles quickly ran out to 4-0 lead in the top of the first against Russia. Russia came back over the next three innings, hitting the ball hard to all parts of the field.
Instincts shown told me that contrary to popular opinion that kids don’t watch enough baseball on television, they’re learning from some source…and I suspect television. In some cases the only thing they lack is repetition. To learn the game you have to play the game, and at twelve you’ve only just begun.
Not as easy as you think…twelve-year-olds learning to track, and catch, a fly ball hit 200 feet.
Pitching was conspicuous.
In particular, a righthander from Russia named Patrick Borchers impressed with his ability to throw strikes and outlast hitters who wasted one good pitch after another with a 3-2 coun
Versailles countered with their own righthander, Luke Schlater, whose fastball was a tick or so better than anyone else’s. And he threw it confidently!
Importantly, there were lots of adults at the North Star Field, as there were at the high school field on 185 as I passed on my way home. The parking lot was full of cars…people coming and going. I was reminded of what Yogi Berra once said about Little League when he said that Little League baseball is a wonderful thing because it keeps parents off the streets.
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Hall of fame pitcher, and former Yankee manager Bob Lemon once offered that “baseball is made for kids, and grownups only screw it up.”
Another hall of famer, Warren Spahn, who won more games as a lefthander than any pitcher in history (363) once told someone that he started playing baseball as soon as he was able to walk. “And from that day forward I never got any older – not until I stopped playing,” said Spahn.
Famous sportswriter Grantland Rice famously said, “There’s just something comforting about boys playing baseball, like the warmth of the sun on a spring day.”
And from some anonymous source someone once said that baseball connects fathers and sons in a language all their own.
And that, along with the early evidence of the game’s five skills has been the most notable attribute of this weekend’s Stammen Classic.
Impressive young arms…like Versailles Luke Schlater, who threw strikes and played with personality.
The dad from Fort Loramie who said…We have another game to play. So what are we going go do?…soundly strangely like what Hank Aaron once told a reporter when he said, “Whether I was in a slump, or feeling bad, or having trouble off the field, the only thing to do was keep swinging.”
A language all their own? I’d bet my house that the dad from Fort Loramie never knew that Aaron said that.
And to repeat what I wrote earlier in the week about why so many schools from the area have won OHSAA state titles in baseball. The reason can be found in two-parent homes with expectations, standards of character; and dads who take the time to become a father after the fact of birth.
Even former player, broadcaster, hall of famer, and funny man Bob Uecker concedes that there’s something special between dads and sons who share baseball together.
Russia’s Patrick Borchers eyes a strikeout in Saturday’s game with Versailles.
“The biggest thrill a ballplayer can have is when your son takes after you,” Uecker once said. “That happened when my son was in his championship Little League game. He really showed me something. Struck out three times. Made an error that lost the game. Parents were throwing things at our car and swearing at us as we drove off. Man, I was proud.”
Of course, that was Uecker’s unique take on things.
The rest of us view it as time well spent, win or lose.
Happy Father’s Day…to baseball dads!
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