ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, April 30, 1996 TAG: 9604300108
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: COVESVILLE
SOURCE: Associated Press
CHILDREN SHOULD have fields on which to play ball without worrying where the money came from, John Grisham says, so he paid for several near his Virginia home.
When best-selling author John Grisham discovered that ballfields were at a premium around rural Covesville, he set about rectifying the matter.
``A lot of kids living here were not playing ball because they had to go to a field in downtown Charlottesville or Crozet or Lovingston,'' Grisham said Saturday at the opening at Cove Creek Park. ``The project started off with humble ambitions, and it just sort of snowballed.''
Cove Creek Park has six ballfields, complete with scoreboards, bleachers and warning tracks. Twenty-six youth baseball and softball teams with more than 300 players now call it their home field.
``It's a big deal down here,'' Grisham said. ``The community wanted the ballpark. It's a source of pride.''
The author said his reason for funding the construction of the fields is simple:
``When I was a kid, somebody built ballfields for me. ... When I was a kid, somebody took time to coach me or to sponsor me. That's why I did it. I don't know who built those fields, I never thought about it. But kids aren't supposed to think about things like that. Kids are just supposed to show up and play.
``I just can't stand the idea of kids not having a place to play ball.''
Neither of the teams Grisham coaches - the baseball team of his 13-year-old son or the softball team of his 10-year-old daughter - won Saturday.
``I built a ballpark, and I'm 0-3,'' Grisham said.
LENGTH: Short : 44 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. On Saturday, opening day at the Covesville park heby CNBfinanced, John Grisham checks the finger of Chris Harring, catcher
of a baseball team the best-selling author coaches.