First of two parts
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Near the top, Vice Mayor Jeff Cooper, Mayor Andy Weissman, City Manager John Nachbar spend a night out with the boys.
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Pitching what? Vice Mayor Jeff Cooper, Mayor Andy Weissman, City Manager John Nachbar, luckily all righthanders.
If you are a baseball fan or a parent, dare you to envision a more inviting scene than vast Bill Botts Field – two feet wider than the Grand Canyon, late on an early spring afternoon, even if it is cool and overcast.
Colorfully attired in unies that their dads’ great-, great-, great-grandfathers would recognize, boys just entering their teen years were romping about, doing what boys of any age crave:
Spending their excess energy, as if they had a million years’ worth. And $40 left over.
Running.
Swinging a bat.
Jawing.
Sky-gazing.
Relaxing on the ground.
Wandering about the yawning landscape, waiting for 6:15 to tick in.
Mr. Everywhere, father/entrepreneur/businessman/lawyer/baseball scout-organizer-leader (and former School Board member) Scott Zeidman, steps out from behind home plate.
For clarity’s sake, it took 3½ minutes to explain the context of last evening’s season opener between the Mets and the Athletics.
“This is a Westside Baseball Group Westchester Babe Ruth Official Title team,” said Mr. Zeidman, pausing neither for comma nor breath.
When the subject is baseball, Mr. Zeidman rolls.
“Westchester Babe Ruth has been around for 55 years,” he says. “But rather than changing the name, we put in an oversight group called Westside Baseball that covers Westchester Babe Ruth and Westside Pony, which includes Culver City, Cheviot Hills, Westchester, and surrounding communities.”
Last summer, Westchester’s 14-year-old All-Star team made it to the World Series, finishing third in the country.
Can the players repeat?
“I think that all three, the 13-year-old team, the 14-year-old team and the 15-year-old team have excellent opportunities to go very far this year,” Mr. Zeidman said.
“It is on a level where we have added Culver City to what was Westchester, Cheviot Hills, Inglewood – I mean, to add in 40, 50, 60 kids is incredible.”
Playing on weekends, the boys will race through 13 games in the first half of the league schedule and 10 in the second – and then the playoffs start in mid-June.
During the league season, the three age groups play together. They move onto separate teams when all-star competition begins.
Last season, Mr. Zeidman explained that the Culver City forerunner of the present incarnation, the Culver City Juniors (mainly13- and 14-year-olds), played in a four-team league.
“It was good competition,” he said, “but it wasn’t as good as what it is now. A hundred kids in the league now with another 75 coming for the second half of the season, an incredible group of kids, managers and support from the community.
“This league of 10 teams is a melting pot of communities, and we use four different fields.”
(To be continued)
