THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 5, 1995 TAG: 9502020177
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
SOURCE: Ron Speer
LENGTH: Medium: 69 lines
When I was 16, our American Legion baseball team qualified for the state championships, and we went on what we considered a long trip for a week-long stay in what we thought was a pretty big city.
It was a terribly exciting week, filled with baseball and pretty girls and downtown walks and an occasional fancy meal and trophies and other baseball players from the far corners of the state.
The townfolk took us in, and I and two other players shared a room in a house walking distance from the ballpark. I'd never been in such a nice house. In fact, I'd never been much of anywhere, and most everything was new and memorable.
That was a long time ago, way back in 1950, and I can recall all kinds of details from the trip and the tournament. We came in second, beaten for the title by a pitcher who was very fast and very wild. I never got a hit, but walked twice and twice got hit by a pitch. I can still see that fastballer's face as he peered at me before he threw, and I still remember how scared I was when the ball flew at me like nothing I'd seen before.
Otherwise, it was a wonderful week. Later, I realized we had traveled only about 120 miles from home, Scottsbluff's population probably was less than 20,000, and it really wasn't a very exciting place.
But to us country kids, it had all the trappings of the world series.
And those memories make me realize that bringing the 1996 Babe Ruth World Series to Manteo is a match made in Heaven.
Outer Banks folks should reap a financial windfall, and the 16, 17 and 18-year-olds probably will be awed even in a modern world by the things they'll be able to see and do.
Many of them probably will get their first look - and feel - of an ocean. The history books that told them about man's first flight will come alive when they tour the Wright Brothers' museum. There surely will be pig pickins' and steamed crab parties and boat rides that will be remembered forever by many of the young baseballers.
They'll wind-surf and hang-glide and climb Jockey's Ridge and surf, probably for the first time for many. They'll be awed by their first outdoor drama, ``The Lost Colony.''
They'll play baseball for 10 days in the double-elimination tournament, against some of America's best young players.
And they'll also meet some salt-of-the-earth people who will take them into Outer Banks homes and treat them like family.
That's one of the Babe Ruth rules, that the players live with host families while they're here. Parents and officials and friends stay in hotels and motels and rental cottages, and eat out, providing the financial boon to the host community.
Unfortunately, the series is played in the summer when the Outer Banks' facilities already are busy.
But hopefully the players and their parents will leave with memories so delightful they'll want to come back again and again.
The community and the people who'll be in charge of getting things ready have plenty of time to prepare for the invasion of young baseball talent from around the county. There shouldn't be many serious problems, since people from all walks of life in the Outer Banks have pitched in to show Babe Ruth officials that they'll be in the stands when the boys take the field a year-and-a-half from now.
And I'm sure the players will leave with memories that will last as long as mine, because the people in the community will make sure there's never a dull moment.
Play ball. by CNB