Big-time Little League returning
Just before the first pitch of the 2010 national championship game, the head coach of the hometown team remembers taking a minute to look at the 4,000-or-so people sitting on the hill surrounding Ancaster’s Little League diamond. As he did, he was blown away.
The fact that his team went on to lose to B.C. in that final contest and missed representing the country at the World Series in Williamsport, Pa. by just that much still stings a bit. Yet that moment remains visceral and unforgettable even five years later.
“It truly is the best baseball experience I’ve had,” Dave Whalen says. Now it’s coming back. Ancaster’s executive board is waiting for official approval from Little League Canada to host the 2019 Canadian championship which is expected to arrive any day. It would mean that four summers from now, some of the top 11and 12-year-old players from B.C. to the Maritimes will be fighting for the national title at the Jerseyville Road park.
It would also represent an enormous opportunity.
When it was last here, the tournament was seen as a way to grow youth baseball in this area. That hasn’t changed this time around. Though this time there’s a slight tweak in the target.
Ancaster Little League president Mark Strongman hopes this tournament won’t just create excitement among casual observers and fired-up Blue Jays fans who might want to register their children in the sport. He’s also hoping to provide a stage to solidify baseball at the grassroots level.
Youth baseball has become complicated in recent years by a surge in so-called "elite" teams. Essentially anyone can start a team, call it elite, promise high-level coaching, solid development and exposure to U.S. scouts, and charge significant fees for the experience.
Dean Dicenzo, who coaches with one of the established elite programs but is also on the executive of the Ontario Baseball Association’s Hamilton Cardinals — theoretically one step down — says costs can range from $6,000 a year to as high as $17,000.
But he says many parents are willing to pay because the teams have done a good job of selling themselves as the path to a scholarship or more.
“I can’t even keep up with the names (of all the new teams),” Dicenzo says. “It’s out of control.”
Some are great. Some less so. Some of the players truly fit the description of elite talents. Some less so. Some go on to play university baseball. Many don’t.
The trouble is, as more teams are created, more players are needed to fill the rosters. Some spots are filled by attracting kids from other teams’ lineups. Most of the rest are drawn from OBA and Little League organizations creating a trickle-up effect. This has hit many of the grassroots associations — like Ancaster — hard.
“Sooner or later it’s going to be the demise of our sport because it costs too much to play,” Strongman says.
By comparison, Little League costs roughly $1,000 for the summer, he says. No, it’s not an applesto-apples comparison with the other levels. The elite programs do more travelling and many offer indoor facilities throughout the winter as part of the package.
But if the chance to play in a national championship can serve as a carrot on the end of a stick for kids and parents, he hopes some will decide to stay and be part of it. This would begin to rebuild the strength of the program and add numbers. Then the tournament itself could serve as a showcase to keep the momentum going. Especially if it could match what happened in 2010.
Games that summer were shown on Cable 14, stories were published across the country, celebrities threw out first pitches and friends and neighbours came out to watch and cheer. Combine this with the home team’s success on the field and Whalen says it was a week that served its secondary purpose by generating tons of interest in the younger age groups who were watching it all play out.
Strongman hopes the same thing can happen again in four years.
Oakville was supposed to host the event this time but passed. So he jumped on the chance to do it again. Prior to the last championship the diamond was completely redone and a new clubhouse built at a total cost of $400,000 so everything’s pretty much ready to go. Once Little League Canada makes it official, he’ll start assembling a committee. Can it change things? The man in charge of Ancaster’s district is a believer. “There’s no better way to promote Little League,” Steve Bagnell says, “than to have the Canadian championships in your backyard.”