Photograph by Robert Scheer
Diamondback team coach Mark Murray tells Rehan Mehra, 6, to play third base during practice.
By Torre Peña
Preempting major league baseball's opening day hype by more than a week, Saratoga Little League is in full swing. Two loyal fans, Mary and Leonard Farmer, cling to blankets while watching T-Ball. They come to Congress Springs Park to see their two grandchildren and their son, Dennis, who coaches them.
"We come out for every game," Mary Farmer says. "I root for both sides."
For many of the 5- and 6-year-olds in the T-Ball division, this is their first taste of baseball.
Farmer pointed out her grandson, Casey, resting on the bench. The owner of a particularly adept swing, Casey has been momentarily stunned by a line drive to his forehead. He shakes it off in time to join his sister Chelsea for a post-game snack.
Farmer says little league helps kids learn how to get along. Hardball also improves hand-eye coordination.
On the other side of a waist-high fence, nine Diamondbacks spread out on a miniature field in preparation for the Yankees' turn at bat. The 7-year-olds brace themselves against the long shadows of early spring and the last gusting gasps of winter. Employing a hopping strategy to keep warm, Diamondbacks bob between each pitch. They've graduated from the tee to face the consistent "womp" of a pitching machine.
As the fields progress toward the parking lot, the players are older. The fans get louder.
The oldest kids in the "Majors" are 12. And a giant of a 12-year-old fires fastballs with terrifying speed and precision on the "Majors" field, which is the center attraction.
Volunteer parent power is the driving force behind Little League, says league president Susie Dymoke. About 480 children play organized baseball on 37 teams in Saratoga.
Moving from England to Saratoga three years ago, Dymoke became involved with Little League when her son joined a team. Dymoke soon learned that baseball was more than a sport; she has met more people than she can remember.
"It can be as sociable as you want it to be, but, by golly, you can get a lot out of it," Dymoke says.
Registration fees and the annual "hit-a-thon" fundraiser generate money to run Little League, and every year local businesses rally to sponsor teams. This year the league forked out $25,000 on fields, grounds and equipment. But Dymoke is concerned that the Saratoga Recreation Department will raise the rent on fields in response to the city's impending budget squeeze.
"Without the generosity of sponsors we'd be in quite a hole financially," she explains.
The season runs to mid-June, longer for the older kids if they advance in the regional competition. Dymoke is looking forward to the carnival and barbecue at season's end. "It's an old-fashioned family atmosphere," she says.
In the meantime, players will be busy scurrying between games and visiting the "snack shack" for hot dogs and candy.
This article appeared in the Saratoga News, April 16, 1997.
©1997 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.