Little League trying to hang on
At age 33, Jared Tafoya is the rookie president of a storied organization that might not survive in the city past summertime.
Tafoya and his 10-member board of directors are trying to save Santa Fe Little League. It almost collapsed after the death last December of its longtime leader, Paul Grace.
Grace, a 64-yearold attorney, had held the league together by sheer force of will. He was an administrator, umpire, groundskeeper and crew member in concession stands.
Soon after he died, it appeared the Santa Fe Little League would die, too. It sent out a signal of distress in hopes of finding coaches, board members and a president.
“If we cannot get the needed volunteers for these positions, the league will be forced to dissolve,” members stated in a posting on Facebook.
Tafoya, a Navy veteran who is studying to become a teacher, took over as league president.
“It was a real loss when Paul passed away,” Tafoya said recently. “I didn’t want a legacy of baseball to go away.”
That might still happen. By Tafoya’s count, the Santa Fe Little League has only about 150 kids playing at various levels.
It did not have enough players to field teams in the original Little League baseball division for 10- to 12-year-olds. That’s the famous one you see on television, when top teams from across the globe compete each August at the Little League World Series in South Williamsport, Pa.
Santa Fe kids in that age group saw their hometown Little League dwindling. So most of them joined the more robust Santa Fe AABC, part of the American Amateur Baseball Congress.
“There’s more competition over there,” Tafoya said of the AABC.
Does it matter if Little League fades away as long as Santa Fe has the AABC baseball and softball programs, which are stronger anyway?
“I think it does,” Tafoya said. “I believe it’s necessary to have competing leagues. There’s also a sense of pride for those who used to be Little League parents back in the day to keep it going.”
What’s really important is for kids to have an opportunity to play ball with
calm, knowledgeable coaches to guide them. That gets them into the fresh air, away from their phones and video games, for at least a few hours.
One organization can provide that experience as well as two can. But, like Tafoya, I want to see Little League baseball and softball remain in Santa Fe.
Hometown tradition is one reason. Equally important is that Little League baseball is an institution that has made a difference in America, usually for the better.
The first Little League World Series in 1947 featured a racially mixed championship team from Williamsport, Pa. Black and white kids playing baseball together on a big stage was extraordinary in a time when segregated schools were both common and legal.
Another breakthrough occurred in 1971, when an allblack team from Gary, Ind., qualified for the Little League World Series.
The boys from Gary were led by Lloyd McClendon, who hit five home runs in five at-bats during the series. Opposing pitchers intentionally walked the future major-leaguer the other 10 times he batted.
A team from Taiwan defeated Gary for the championship, but
nobody could stop talking about McClendon.
They called him Legendary Lloyd, a kid so talented he made everyone his age want to take the field. McClendon went on to play in the major leagues, and he later managed the Pittsburgh Pirates and Seattle Mariners.
I interviewed McClendon as his big-league playing career was winding down. He said not a week went by without someone, typically a stranger, bringing up his days in Little League. That time shaped his life.
Little League baseball also could be stubborn in holding onto its own prejudices. Its official stand for almost four decades was that girls were barred from its teams.
Carolyn King helped change that in 1973 by taking the field and outperforming boys in a Little League in Ypsilanti, Mich.
In a ridiculous response, the brass at Little League’s international headquarters revoked Ypsilanti’s charter. King’s family sued, and the Little League organization saw the future in a clear light. It welcomed girls after that.
In Santa Fe, Tafoya said he got involved in Little League this year in part because his nieces play ball. Tafoya also is a product of Little League, so he wants it to continue in Santa Fe.
To revive the organization, he and his board will need marketing skills, cash and a lot of kids.
If this is the last summer, if Little League dies locally, it might not be a big story. But it would be a sad day.