PITTSBURG, Kan. — For little league players, summer evenings and weekends are filled with sounds of baseballs cracking against bats and cheers from coaches, teammates and parents.
Saturday marked opening day for JL Hutchinson Baseball League, an organization dedicated to bringing the children and the community together for the beloved sport. The day was filled with games, grub, newfound friendships and, most important, fun.
During the opening ceremony, special guest Jake Webb, former player for the Pittsburgh Pirates, threw out the first pitch. The Pittsburg native got his start playing as a child in the JL Hutch league.
“It taught me to love the game of baseball,” Webb said. “It was a great avenue to get out and play with my friends and get to be a part of the community and just enjoy learning the game.”
Webb credits his JL Hutch league experiences for guiding him and developing an appreciation for the sport.
“You have to find a way to get out and play the game and learn to love the game,” he said. “That’s going to take you farther than anything else because if you don’t love what you’re doing, it’s hard to be successful at it.”
Although the coaches enjoy the light-hearted competitiveness of the league, what drives them to volunteer their time is that they are continuing a legacy for Pittsburg. The non-profit baseball league has been building skills, camaraderie and relationships since 1946.
“Everybody's coming together for one goal,” JL Hutch Board President and Coach Bubba Lundy said. “And that's just to make sure we have a great league and great experience for these kids.”
Children from seven to 15 can play in the JL Hutch, and while the goal is to teach the fundamentals of the game, enjoyment is the number one priority.
“We're all competitive, so yes, we all want to win, but at the same time, we want to make sure that kids have fun,” Lundy said. “That's the number one goal for every coach out there, is to ensure that all the kids are having fun.”
Born and raised in Pittsburg, Lundy has fond memories of playing in the JL Hutch League. His team even made it to the world series in Clifton, New York, when he was in the 13-to-14-age division.
To this day, he keeps in touch with many teammates, and several serve on the JL Hutch board or volunteer as a coach.
Within recent years, traveling baseball teams have exploded in popularity, but local leagues like JL Hutch are striving to create an experience that requires less time commitment and financial strain than the travel leagues.
“Travel baseball is not for everybody, and so it's important for communities to have a local rec league that they can come play with their buddies, with their friends, against their friends,” Coach and Board Member Chris Farris said. “And it's all in the spirit of fun.”
Farris, who has been coaching in the league for eight years, said that while he believes teaching the fundamentals of the sport is important, he and the other coaches try not to take it too seriously.
“I can't tell you my wins and losses,” he said, “but hopefully the kids have a lot of memories and things like that. And I just think that's important.”
Abigail Fern, whose sons played for JL Hutch, appreciated that her children got to meet other boys their age who attended different elementary schools, and it widened their circle of friends.
“My boys got to know all the kids their age from across the city,” she said. “They have friends from other elementary schools, so it was nice for them to get to know kids before middle school.”
In addition to the coaches and board members volunteering their time to help the league, many parents pitch in to help make the league a success, Farris said. But the community involvement extends beyond those who are directly involved in the league.
JL Hutch runs largely on donations and business sponsors. Without these monetary contributions, the league would not be able to pay for field space or maintenance.
The league also employs umpires and scorekeepers, which gives teenagers work experience. Fern pointed out that there is a shortage of sports officials and that she hopes this experience will spark an interest for them.
“So hopefully JL Hutch is contributing to growing the next generation of sports officials, especially at these youth events,” she said. “They don’t get paid a ton. They just have to love it, and they have to be able to be OK with what they hear from the crowd. So hopefully JL Hutch’s doing their part in prepping the next group.”
Ultimately, the JL Hutch league continues to carry on thanks to passionate people who love the game.
“I think every kid should try baseball out for a few years,” Farris said. “You don't know if it's going to be something you really enjoy until you try it.”
“It's just a very community-based thing, and it's really important,” Fern said. “Baseball is one of those things in our history and traditions in the United States that brings communities together, and that's what this league does. It doesn't matter where you go to school or anything else. It just matters that you can gather at the ballpark and have a good time on a weeknight, and it brings all sorts of people together.”
This reporting is made possible, in part, by the Support Local Journalism Project Fund. Learn more at: southeastkansas.org/Localnews
