New London High School baseball coach Kevin Jaskiewicz says you can divide baseball players into two categories.
“There’s the guys who play baseball,” he said, “and then there are the baseball guys.”
The former know how to play the game and do it well—they hit the cutoff man, they are smart on the base paths, and have productive at-bats.
All good to be sure, but then there are the baseball guys—they are different. For them, baseball is something that occupies their minds. For them baseball is as much an intellectual pursuit as it is an athletic one.
They wrestle with the game’s intricacies, nuances, and frustrations as well as revel in its contradictory nature—after all, the good ones fail seven times out of 10.
“Those players are harder to find,” Jaskiewicz said.
But if current trends keep up, he may have a greater pool of players from which to choose. After what many in New London have called a lull in the interest of baseball over the past few years, the old game is experiencing a spike in popularity. Both the number of players in the New London Little League and the numbers who tried out for baseball at the high school are up this year.
“Baseball is making a comeback,” Dean Bailey, president of the NLLL, said.
The Little League has more than 350 players age 6 to 12, while Jaskiewicz reported that 62 students tried out for the Whalers this year, up from 34 in 2007.
“It goes in trends,” Jaskiewicz said, “but there seems to be an enthusiasm for the game in New London.”
Baseball has a storied history in New London, as it was a destination for barnstorming teams in the early part of the century.
The city also had a semi-pro team, the Vagabonds, coached by the legendary Rollie Pier, that played around New England.
New London is also home to a vintage baseball team, Thames River Base Ball Club, that plays games according to the 1861 rules.
Another coaching great, Gil Varjas, won four state titles in more than 30 years of coaching at NLHS.
Jaskiewicz said the city is located in something of a baseball hotbed, smack in the middle of the never-ending Red Sox-Yankees feud.
“Plus, we also have the [Connecticut] Defenders right here,” he said.
Baseball held unrivalled popularity among young people in the city for decades, something that is not quite the case now, as athletes can now play soccer and lacrosse year round.
Also, some focus exclusively on one sport, such as football or basketball.
“There are more children competing in all the sports, not just baseball,” said Bill Brennan, a coach in the Farm League, for 8- to 11-year-olds.
Bailey remembers a time when it was de rigueur to play football in the fall, basketball in the winter, and baseball in the spring and summer.
“It’s not like that now,” he noted.
Jaskiewicz said the rhythm of the baseball season is different, and sometimes more hectic.
“Football is one game a week,” he said. “We sometimes play six games a week—and we like it that way.”
Bailey, who is in his second year as president of NLLL, has been taking steps to make sure there is a healthy baseball culture in the city.
After a few years of talks, the New London American and National Little Leagues decided to merge.
“There’s a cost savings involved,” Bailey said.
Plus, Bailey said, the players all go to school together, so there was little reason to separate them.
Bailey said the league fees for this year were $40 for players, but no family would pay more than $60 total.
“We can also offer assistance for those who have trouble affording it,” he said.
The new NLLL will have all its teams playing at both of its facilities, Mitchell Woods on Montauk Avenue and Bates Woods Park.
Bailey said scores of parents and volunteers worked on getting the diamonds ready for the season.
“We also had some really nice donors,” he said.
Bailey praised both Mitchell College, which owns Mitchell Woods, and the Public Works Department for the condition of the fields.
Keith Chapman, the Public Works director, said the department “made a real effort” to ready the fields.
Chapman was on hand to throw out the first pitch at the Farm and Minor Leagues Opening Day ceremony on May 10 at Mitchell Woods.
The Farm and Minor leagues feature games between players age 6 through 11.
“We’ve experienced some growing pains,” Joe Clement, the president of the Farm League, said, “but it’s going to get a lot better.”
According to Bailey, NLLL’s next goal is to expand girls’ softball.
“We have the young girls play minors and at the farm level,” he said. “But we want to grow the softball program.”
And the future of softball might include someone such as Chantele Alford, 9, who plays on the New London Times farm team.
“When I wake up, all I want to do is play baseball,” she said. “I want to play forever.”
Sounds like a baseball guy, or girl, in the making.