LeRoy Pennysaver & News

LE ROY PENNYSAVER & NEWS - JULY 5, 2020 by Lynne Belluscio In baseball there are sacrifices. A batter will sacrifice to the outfield to bring in a run. Or a batter will bunt, to advance a runner from first to second, or second to third, knowing full well that he’ll be thrown out at first. When a manager calls for a sacrifice, it’s a hard call for a player to accept especially if you’re a Little League player. A manager once said, “It’s a mentality. You gotta understand it’s helping your team win and it’s an important part of the game.” Learning to bunt is almost a lost art. “You gotta want to bunt, you gotta want to get it down.” Larry Bowa, a coach for the Phillies said, “Guys don’t want to work at it and they can’t bunt. They don’t know how to bunt. To me, if you practice bunting, it’s the easiest thing in the world. If you don’t practice, it’s the hardest thing in the world.” Maybe you’ve never heard of Masahiro Kawai. He played baseball for the Yomiuri Giants in Japan for twenty years, and he holds the professional baseball record for the most sacrifice bunts – 514. In 2003, he surpassed Baseball Hall of Fame star, Eddie Collins’ record of 511. While I was looking up those stats I was surprised to see that Tom McGinnis’ grandfather, Rabbit Maranville – also a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame – was eleventh on the list of most sacrifices with 300, just ahead of Ty Cobb with 292. Rabbit, after retiring from baseball, managed for a while, and then taught thousands of kids how to play baseball in clinics at Yankee Stadium and the Polo Grounds. Among his pupils were future big leaguers, Whitey Ford, Bob Grim and Billy Loes. In LeRoy, the game of baseball is learned on the Little League Field behind LeRoy House. This year, it appeared that there would be no Little League season, but there is a ray of hope, and Little League will attempt to put together a short season. They will start practice on July 6. But it will not be without sacrifices. – Not sacrifices of the kids coming to bat, but by the folks that want to watch their kids and grandkids play. In order to provide an opportunity for the kids to play, and to learn to love the game, they will play on the field with very few spectators. According to their website, only two spectators per player will be allowed near the ball field. Don’t get mad. Don’t get angry. It’s unusual times, and the kids deserve the opportunity to play ball. They have been playing ball on that field since August 10, 1952. On that day, there were two, four inning games played. The first game was between the Indians and the White Sox. The Sox won with a 2-run homer hit by Allen Cohen. (Cohen would become the home run champion for the season. He became a noted author and a dean of John F. Kennedy University in Monterey, California.) The second game was won by the Red Sox over the Yankees, 11 to 0. There are a lot of memories on that Little League Field, and if everyone is willing to make a few sacrifices, there will be some new memories started this year. The Board of the Little League has been in contact with several other towns to see how they are going to reopen. And obviously they are in contact with Little League International in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Their objective is to provide the opportunity for the kids to play baseball. The games will be scheduled far apart, so only the two teams on the field will be in the area. There won’t be the gang of kids playing around before and after the games. Social distancing is critical. And there is to be no bubble gum and - - - think about it - - no sunflower seeds to spit out. (I suspect they have also prohibited chewing tobacco.) No pizza, hot dogs, nachos or food prepared on site. There are many rules concerning equipment and how many kids can be in the dugout at any one time. It is going to take a lot of effort to field two teams safely so they can play. Yes, there are sacrifices to be made. But baseball will be played. And kids will learn that the sacrifices are worth the effort for the team. The catcher and umpire aren’t the only ones wearing masks on the field! One of my favorite quotations is from the movie Bull Durham: “Baseball is a simple game. You throw the ball. You hit the ball. You catch the ball. Sometimes you win. Sometimes you lose. And sometimes it rains.” And this year, there is social distancing. The Sacrifices of Playing Baseball Rabbit Maranville instructing young ball player.