It’S Still A Game Class A Baseball, Which Offers The Game In Its Simplest And Purest Form, Can Bring Out The Kid In Anyone

Iwas 12 years old when my dad took me to my first baseball game. I saw the Everett Giants come and play the Spokane Indians at Indians Stadium. I got my first taste of professional baseball in that stadium in 1989.

The smell of the concessions mingled with those of the field and the leather of the glove that I held in my lap. The field was mowed in that crisscross pattern that seems so magical to a child. The organ plunked away with familiar, if cheesy, tunes that go with baseball in its traditional form.

From up in the stands, I could hear the umpire actually make the calls, the players razzing each other in the clubhouses, the pop of the ball and the slap of the baseballs in the gloves. It was as if I were on the field.

I scampered down to the field with my friends to get autographs of the players. The players were young and new but they looked like giants to me. I remember being surprised when almost all of them took time for each kid who was leaning over the fence with a program and a pen.

The players had smiles on for the most part, along with the obligatory snuff in their cheeks, and they had a spring in their step not always seen in older ball players.

Darrell Sherman trotted over to the fence in between fielding grounders and loosening up his arm. He was small, even for a center fielder. He wore a huge grin as he bantered with the small swarm of children around him and he laughed frequently and loudly. He signed my program along with a few others and he shook hands with several of the kids. When he took the field he was all business, but he seemed to love his business with great passion.

By the standards of sportswriters and other experienced adults, the game was probably not very exciting. The home team lost, 7-3, and the lead did not change hands after the third inning. Probably few in the sports community have any specific memories of the game now. None of this bothered me at the time. I had gone to see a baseball game with my father and I had a wonderful time.

Anyone who has watched a kid try to get an autograph at a Mariners’ game knows it isn’t real likely to happen. It is more than likely that a kid can get the autograph of a Spokane Indians player and this is an advantage of having a Single A baseball team in your town.

Big league baseball clubs, unlike other major sports teams, have a farm system of sorts for younger players. Single A baseball is often the first step in professional baseball for younger players. Double A is the next step and Triple A is one step away from the majors.

Recently there has been talk of landing a Triple A team in Spokane. Proponents claim that it would be a big step up for the city. I don’t agree. I think we’d lose some of the simplicity of the games.

No, Spokane Indians baseball isn’t the big leagues. The players are straight out of high school for the most part and few of them will ever see the majors. I saw Sherman, the man who led the Northwest League in stolen bases that year, and I watched him disappear into relative obscurity. Many would argue that any change from Spokane would be coming out of obscurity, but I was 12.

I saw Dave Staton, the Indian’s third baseman and best power hitter for the year as well. I still remember my excitement when I actually found a baseball card of Staton two or three years later. He, too, has disappeared from the national scene but he holds a place in my mind that few players can occupy.

I’m sure that same excitement could happen with a club of higher caliber, but that just isn’t important when you’re 12. I was much happier with an autograph of Sherman than I would have been watching a more famous athlete with no connection to his fans.

Single A ball represents what is good about baseball, and it manages to avoid a lot of the negatives. There are few highly publicized incidents of scandal or player indiscretion. The players nearly always have time for the kids, even though they play for peanuts. They muff grounders now and then and throw off target more than a major league fan would be used to, but the games are at once exciting and relaxed. They have a perfect balance of this duality that makes baseball so attractive.

The players are human and they’re playing a game for all they can. I couldn’t have had a better first experience with baseball than I did at Indians Stadium when I was 12.

The team fills a much needed role in society. A role that I don’t see being filled by any other level of play, at least not in the same way.

Single A baseball is an opportunity for players to improve their skills while being part of professional baseball. It allows them to do this without all the media and fan pressure. The players can sign autographs and even talk to fans as regular people.

Baseball is a business, like any other. I understand that dollar signs allow the game to continue and keep the clubs in the big cities where they are. Perhaps Single A ball is innocent enough to avoid some of that. Sure, it is a stopping point for players and coaches alike, but it is a permanent fixture for many fans in the area.

It’s about kids, both in the stands and on the field, and it’s baseball. A more pure and simple form of baseball can’t be found at any other level.

This is important. And it should be recognized for the impact it has on kids. That first Single A baseball game I attended in 1989 is one of the fondest memories I have of my father and me doing something fun together.

And I think the same is true for many other young fans.

at Gonzaga University who has never played baseball but remains very much a fan of baseball at all levels.