From the brink, Little League mounts comeback

Though Brayan Chavez is only 12 years old, he’s a savvy bargain hunter. He was the first of 94 kids to sign up over the weekend for the 2019 season of Little League Baseball in Santa Fe. Early registration gave each of them at least a $10 discount on the participation fee of $55 per player.

It was a promising start. Now the Santa Fe Little League needs several hundred more boys and girls to win another fight for its life.

A storied international organization, Little League will turn 80 years old in the spring. But it’s an endangered enterprise in Santa Fe. Only about 150 players in the city joined Little League this past season.

With so few kids, Santa Fe’s Little League could not offer softball. Nor could it field a single baseball team for 10- to 12-year-old kids. That’s the famous division. It commands network television coverage each summer at the Little League World Series in South Williamsport, Pa.

The dominant youth program in Santa Fe is AABC, shorthand for the American Amateur Baseball Congress. AABC has been drawing many times more kids than Little League.

Little League is fighting for survival in Santa Fe with new leaders, a fresh marketing strategy and plans for an extended season.

Its presidents are Michelle Plummer, 42, of the American League and Victoria Ortiz, 30, of National League.

“I want Little League to come back to Santa Fe because it kind of went away,” said Ortiz, whose two children will play in her organization.

In addition to lowering the participation fee, Little League is offering discounts for families with more than one child.

The presidents also hope to expand the season from 12 games to 20. They figure additional playing time will draw more kids and sharpen their skills.

Little League will be run with a family approach.

Ortiz’s husband, Aaron, serves as her vice president. And Plummer’s husband, James, is her vice president.

The men are buddies and co-workers. Both cover the graveyard shift as members of the Santa Fe Police Department’s patrol division. Aaron Ortiz, 33, is a sergeant and James Plummer, 42, is one of his officers.

They’re on the streets from 8:30 p.m. to 6:30 a.m. This schedule keeps afternoons free for Little League games.

Aaron Ortiz envisions a regular season running from early April through the first week in June. If all goes well, Santa Fe’s all-star teams would then compete in post-season tournaments.

He and Plummer have nothing but good words for AABC, the rival organization. But both played Little League baseball as boys, so it’s a tradition they want to save for their kids and the city.

Few enterprises have started so humbly as Little League did in 1939.

Carl Stotz of Williamsport, Pa., had two small nephews who loved baseball. But as children of the Great Depression, they had no team and no place to play.

It was a simpler time. Stotz didn’t have to ask anyone at city hall for a grant or a permit. He and a few friends simply converted a sandlot on West 4th Street in Williamsport into a baseball field with dimensions tailored for kids.

Little League was born that day. It soon expanded to other neighborhoods and cities. Williamsport in 1947 hosted the first Little League World Series.

Then the organization incorporated as it grew. Stotz lost control of his creation in a bitter dispute.

He feared Little League was becoming a pressure-packed monster instead of the neighborhood diversion he had started.

Stotz sued but lost his case. He became estranged from Little League in the mid-1950s, then watched it grow internationally.

Even with a powerful parent organization, Santa Fe’s Little League has waned. It almost collapsed after the death last December of its leader, 64-yearold attorney Paul Grace.

Without Grace, Little League got a late start in preparing for last season and could field only a fraction of the teams it once had.

Now younger people with kids are in charge. They hope to rebuild Little League into a competitive operation.

This can happen, they say, by spreading their message and landing more players.

How many kids will it take? “As many as we can get,” said Michelle Plummer.