Waiting for the ball to drop
Coaches still frustrated with unresponsive city
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| Erica Burrus photo While Cardinals Care fields like Jim Edmonds Field at the Adams Community Center are well-maintained, a 265-foot center field fence is too short to support varsity baseball. |
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In a June 18 Journal article, area coaches said south baseball fields must be either upgraded or reconstructed. When asked how Anheuser-Busch American Legion manager Mike Clifton's plan for a new artificial turf field could be implemented and how existing fields could be upgraded, city representatives were largely unresponsive.
Despite the Journal's several attempts to contact city officials via e-mail and phone messages, only Alderman Fred Heitert responded promptly."I love baseball and I wish that we had more baseball fields for the people to play on, but we don't," Heitert said in an e-mail. "I share the frustration of the coaches, trying to find fields to play on. But they are not available."
Heitert, whose 12th Ward includes The Greens on River Des Peres Road and Willmore Park, added that Parks Commissioner Dan Skillman said, "the space needed for high school baseball is not available at the Greens or at Willmore Park."
A subsequent e-mail to Heitert asked, "If there is an existing field at the Greens and a bunch of sub-par fields at Willmore Park, why can't two bad fields be turned into one good one or the field at the Greens be upgraded with its needs, like a level surface and fences in front of the benches for safety. Does it have to do with the strategic land use plan? If so, why can't the planning commission amend it?"
His response again deferred to Skillman, saying he could not answer "specific questions."
Over the last month, since the June 18 article, eight voicemail and three e-mail messages were left for Skillman. After a visit to his office on July 9, another message was left.
None were answered.
Last Monday, city press secretary Ed Rhode finally responded on Skillman's behalf.
"After the story ... on the 'lack' of baseball fields in city parks, we have nothing to say on this issue," said Rhode, who expressed in a subsequent e-mail his displeasure that the city was not contacted for the June 18 article.
Clifton, who is an assistant coach at DuBourg in addition to running the Legion Post 299 baseball team, is disappointed at the city's inaction.
After traveling to comparable cities like Minneapolis, Minn., and Memphis, Tenn., and seeing their "awesome fields" with "nice surfaces," he said he doesn't know why a baseball-rich community like St. Louis cannot have better facilities for its older players.
"What's happened for years is that we've just complained among each other," Clifton said after hearing of the city's non-stance. "I just don't understand why the city doesn't want these parks to look great. I know they're not going to do anything, and I just don't understand it. Instead of listening to concerns, they're sour about it."
Keith Brooks, who works for Cardinals Care, said he wishes his organization would have been contacted initially as well, but he did answer questions about how Cardinals Care disseminates money and how the city bureaucracy works.
Brooks, who lives in south city, runs the Redbird Rookies program, which has been the prerequisite for Cardinals Care assistance since 2004. Redbird Rookies donates equipment and uniforms to youth leagues, ages 5-13, run by the city.
Because of the declining number of youth teams on the South Side, Brooks said they can't make a commitment to a south field until they know it will be used. One example is Fox Park, which was being used by the Police Athletic League run by Lt. Dan Howard.
"There's been a drastic drop in the number of teams, so that field isn't even being utilized," said Brooks, who noted that he is in regular contact with Howard and city officials. "I've actually brought in other teams to use that field since it's been freed up."
Adding more youth teams means creating more interest in the game among the city's youngsters. That's where Major League Baseball's Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities (RBI) program comes in. The program, now in its 20th year, has helped develop urban players, and does occasionally partner with Cardinals Care.
What Cardinals Care deals with primarily, however, is fields for youth. Of the 15 Cardinals Care fields in the St. Louis area, only six can support varsity baseball. And only Forest Park's Mark McGwire Field is in south city.
Including the four lighted fields at Forest Park, there are 13 ball diamonds in south city. Carondelet Park has the only other lighted field in south city, but a short porch in right field makes it inadequate for varsity baseball.
St. Mary's coach Marko Samardzic said the fields at Willmore Park and Cardondelet are both poorly maintained with rocky infields and debris-laden outfields. He did add that the city has tried to accommodate his school's requests.
"Any time we ask them to fix a field and work on it, they've been more than willing to work on it," Samardzic said. "I think this an opportunity for the city. They're concentrating on little kids, but if they made a varsity field, younger kids can play on that field, too. You've got to have one or two big fields that are decent.
"I don't know how a city like St. Louis, which claims to be the great baseball community, can't have any good fields on the South Side. We're left here, still with the question of why isn't this happening, with no answers."
Brooks said there is another way for clubs that have older players, like Legion teams, to get money.
Cardinals Care gave out over $250,000 in June to 70 organizations, according to Brooks. Some of those groups were organizations that "serve youths under the age of 20."
Those groups would not have to meet the Redbird Rookies criteria and could simply apply for a grant. Brooks said that the Anheuser-Busch Post 299 team, which plays its home games at The Greens, would be welcome to apply. He added that the deadline for the new cycle is in December and money would be distributed in the spring.
Clifton said donations from area businesses are what's needed in order for something to be done.
One organization that also could help is the Whitey Herzog Foundation, whose namesake has a soft spot for Legion teams. The Foundation has contacted Clifton about "offering some support in the future," but no face-to-face meeting has been scheduled.
Cardinals Care has worked with the Herzog Foundation in the past, and Brooks said organizations like it could help generate the funds necessary to build better fields on the South Side.
"We've talked to the city about prepping the ball fields better so that the teams using them can maintain those ball fields better or get them completely refurbished," Brooks said. "With some of those organizations that exist, they may not be aware of the option of applying for a cash grant to get those grants to refurbish those ball fields. We want to help as much as possible, but we do have to be fiscally responsible.
"I have a strong desire to make this happen, which is why I've been talking to Lt. Howard to try to make this happen. But we need that reassurance and we're not getting it."
Cardinals Care gets minimal cooperation from the city, according to Brooks. He said parks that are used by the city youth leagues have well-maintained fields, but the others fall through the cracks. The Cardinals Care fields, like at Forest Park, have great facilities, but in order for teams to reserve them, a lot of red tape needs to be cut. Those fields are primarily used by the city's youth leagues and its adult softball leagues.
"The city cooperation varies," Brooks said. "It put its own youth leagues under Redbird Rookies. We've done a number of ball fields in city parks. We consider them a partner, but when it comes to those ball fields or those parks that are outside of their leagues, they don't put as much into it."
Heitert said he would support Cardinals Care if it offered to build a baseball field in the city. But no such offer is on the table. Clifton is ready for the city to act.
"It's been conversation for over 10 years about this," Clifton said last month. "We need some action."
Cardinals Care seems ready to step up to the plate, but the city won't play ball.
Click here to read the June 18 article:
http://southsidejournal.stltoday.com/articles/2008/06/18/sports/sj2tn20080617-0618basefields0.ii1.txt
NameLightsVarsity
Cardondelet ParkYesNo
Cherokee ParkNoNo
Forest ParkYesYes
Lindenwood ParkNoNo
Minniewood ParkNoNo
River Des Peres (The Greens)NoYes
Sublette ParkNoNo
Tilles ParkNoNo
Willmore ParkNoYes*
*No outfield fence
What is MLB's RBI Program?
The program provides "start-up grants for programs demonstrating financial need." Since its inception, more than $30 million has been donated, according to mlb.com. That money does not go to providing better facilities, however, and is only used to give inner city youth more "exposure to baseball."
"The part of our program is giving them the service to experience the game," said Tom Sullivan, the RBI program's St. Louis representative at the Mathews-Dickey Boys Club on Kingshighway, which adopted the program in 1990. "But, we don't provide fields." Sullivan said he corresponds with Cardinals Care, but he doesn't do any work with the fields. He did say there is a group that works in other cities, Baseball Tomorrow, that "helps organizations get grants to build fields" within city limits.
The program is not limited to Major League Baseball cities and has representatives in most metropolitan areas, including Cheyenne, Wyo.; Socorro, N.M.; Knoxville, Tenn.; Spartanburg, S.C.; and Hilo, Hawaii.
