The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Association supports baseball for decades
Youths, families grow up in leagues
For 65 years, the Amherst Athletic Association has made it possible for youths to play ball.
Every spring, Amherst turns into a diamond city. Ball diamonds, that is. For 65 years, the Amherst Athletic Association has made it possible for youths to play ball.
The group started in 1953 and remains an independent organizer of baseball and softball for youths age 3 to 19.
“As long as we’re doing what’s best for the kids and having fun, that’s really the important part,” said Amherst Athletic Association President Andy Dever.
The association pays its umpires and hires young people to work the concession stands and maintain the fields.
But the AAA directors and coaches volunteer their time guiding 950 youths in a season running about two months from May to July, plus playoffs.
The association uses some Amherst school facilities. Its directors know city officials and the players participate in the city’s Memorial Day parade, but the association remains independent.
Families pay for their players to participate but the leagues do not get widespread taxpayer support through City Hall, the officials said.
Play ball
On the field, the games have various time limits, rule changes and shortened inning counts to keep the games moving and somewhat balanced for talent.
“You don’t want people here for three hours in the heat in the summer with kids who aren’t necessarily throwing strikes,” Dever said. “If everyone’s throwing strikes, you’ve got a quick game anyhow.”
Blast Ball is for youngsters age 3 and 4. There’s a game a week lasting an hour and the point is for players to have fun while learning some basics about teamwork and ball.
As the players get older, the leagues have more requirements so games become more competitive to fall in with high school rules so it’s not a big shock when they get to that age level, said Tom Williams, who serves as boys major league director.
Younger players pitch and catch at least two innings to develop for the next year. Pitchers learn about windups and balks, catchers learn about picking off runners on leadoffs and attempts to steal bases, Williams said.
“In the end we try to be a developmental league,” Dever said. “We want the kids learning the fundamentals, developing, and if they want to go play tournament ball or try our travel program, they have those avenues. But in the end we want to be a developmental league.
In upper leagues, the association allows returning players to stay on a team and coaches have a draft to pick new players.
Depending on the coaching and players available, sometimes there are dominant teams or squads that struggle, but the association wants to field competitive teams.
“In general, that works out well,” Dever said.
“The difficult part is coming up knowing up who your pitcher and who your catcher is,” Williams said.
“Pitchers and catchers are the biggest thing,” Dever said.
Family act
In many ways, the Amherst Athletic Association is a family endeavor.
Williams, Dever and association past president Chuck Winiarski all got involved when their own children began playing.
“I was that parent to go to the game and help coach,” said Winiarski, who now serves as Ward 3 city councilman. He recalled thinking how he would do things differently if he got the chance.
“Well, I got lucky and I got opportunities to coach, be a league director and eventually run the program,” Winiarski said. “Just an active volunteer, is how I got involved.”
“I figured, I complained enough, I probably should get involved,” said Williams, who played baseball growing up on Lorain and who has served as coach and umpire. He got involved with the Amherst Athletic Association when his daughter played, and his son continues to play.
“If everyone that complained got involved, we’d have plenty of volunteers,” Dever said.
The Amherst Athletic Association has been around enough that multiple generations of families have played in the leagues, Winiarski said. He noted there can be 400 players in the association’s adult softball leagues; with children and adults, the Amherst Athletic Association may have 1,600 people involved, or more than 10 percent of the population of the city.
“It’s multigenerational,” Winiarski said. “It’s just what people do in Amherst in the summer.”
Still going
The Amherst Athletic Association peaked at about 1,200 youth players.
From the national level on down, there is debate about the popularity of baseball among young people. Youths also have more demands from school and more sports opportunities.
But the league officials said they are not worried for the program.
“I think with the younger kids, there is always going to be demand for recreational, go out and play ball with your buddies,” Winiarski said.
Although the season is over for now, new players and volunteers are welcome, especially next spring, Dever and Williams.
When Williams served as a Lorain County commissioner, he said youth baseball was a respite from politics and issues arising from county government.
Dever recounted the board’s work in April, then the first day of practice at Amherst Junior High School.
“You just hear all the kids giggling and laughing on the field, you’re like, ah, that’s why you do it,” Dever said. “You’re like, that’s pretty cool.
“I think that’s probably the biggest thing for us, just the kids getting out there,” he said. “They’re playing for fun. They’re not getting paid for it, they’re not doing it because of punishment, they’re doing it just for the fun of the game. That’s probably the best part of it, I think.”