Baseball enthusiasts get in the swing for summer
BY LELAND ACKER
One thing that has been

a constant in America

over the generations is

baseball, said Terrance Mann, a character in the hit movie Field of Dreams.

"America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers," Mr. Mann said. "It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again, but baseball has marked the time. This field, this game, it's a part of our past. It reminds us of all that once was good and it could be again."

That speech, given by Mr. Mann to discourage the m a i n c h a r a c - ter, Ray Kinsella, from selling a farm he had converted i n t o a baseball field, ushered in a very sentimental part of the movie, which experts said had a 95 percent tear factor among men watching the film.

Baseball has been described as America's pastime, our national religion and the players are often referred to as the boys of summer.

As fans watch the Rusk Eagle baseball team steamroll through district 20-AAA, signups take place for city league teams and the major leagues begin spring training.

Baseball was a fundamental part of the popular Peanuts comic, the subject of many movies and novels and was one of the earliest frontiers for racial integration.

Rusk pitcher Chance Davis takes the signal for his next pitch during a recent game between the Rusk Eagles and the Elkhart Elks. The game, which marked the beginning of baseball season for the Eagles, whets fans' appetites for summer league baseball. PHOTO: LYNN LITTLEJOHN

Jackie Robinson broke the race barrier of modern-era Major League Baseball on April 15, 1947, when he joined the Brooklyn Dodgers.

According to the Web site Wikipedia.org, baseball is widely popular in North, Central and South America.

Yogi Berra once said that baseball was 90 percent mental and 10 percent physical. Rusk Eagle coach George Banda said his favorite part of baseball was seeing it played the way it was supposed to be played, "hard and fundamentally sound."

Baseball was dropped from the Olympics by the International Olympic Committee in 2005.

Alongside baseball is softball, primarily played by women and girls of all ages. Softball features a smaller field, a larger ball and requires great hitting and pitching skills.

Softball, like baseball, is becoming a year-round sport due to the emergence of "select ball." "Select ball" is similar to city league baseball or softball, but different in that a player has to try out for the team, said Lynn Littlejohn, whose daughter plays for the Sneaky Cleats softball team out of Tyler.

"In city league ball, you can be good, but you don't have to live the softball lifestyle in order to play," Mrs. Littlejohn said. "In select ball, you try out for the team, and if you are good enough, they pick you up as a player on their team."

Mrs. Littlejohn said select teams play year round, though many take the month of December off.

"We usually play two tournaments a month," Mrs. Littlejohn said.

There is debate as to whether select ball produces better softball players. Mrs. Littlejohn pointed out that several Rusk Lady Eagle players have played select ball.

"Pitcher Callie Collins plays for Texas Sting, Sierra Smith plays for a team out of Mesquite, Jerri Hill, Cami Griffin and others have played for Texas Pride for several years."

Rusk is 12-6-2 on the season, 3-1 and ranked #2 in district.

Mrs. Littlejohn said the allure of select ball was the specialized coaching from pitching and hitting instructors and the opportunity to compete on a national level. She said her daughter's team was trying to qualify for the national tournament.

So, as the weather warms up for spring, the ball fields come alive with the cracks of bats and the call to "play ball."