Collegiate baseball: kind of homecoming

By Stephen Hlawaty
Outdoors Columnist

Our national pastime might just be that: a national past time. The pastoral nature of baseball struggles for a place in this world of corporate sponsorships, endorsements and other super-sized endeavors. Baseball, in many ways, has been left out to pasture, making room for the more industrial nature of football.

Consider the language, as comedian George Carlin once did. The familiarity with which we "come home" to "earn a run" in baseball has been replaced --for many--by reaching the "end zone" to score not one, but up to six points in football. In baseball, we "round the bases," "tag the player," "bunt the ball." In football, we run "up the middle," "tackle the player," and "spike the ball." Baseball has the "pop-up"; football, the "bomb."

Baseball is generally played in ballparks, while football is played on the gridiron. There's a seventh-inning stretch in baseball during which spectators, well, stretch and have a sing-along to "Take Me Out to the Ball Game." Football has the "half-time report."

The rise and fall of baseball's popularity and the ever-rising popularity of football may reflect our nation's own shift in cultural values. Generally speaking, we are a culture that values the bottom line. Bigger is better, and might makes right.

That said, baseball remains. And lovers of the game can still find some of that old-time country comfort in Fort Collins' own Fort Collins Foxes. The Foxes, along with teams from Greeley, Laramie and Cheyenne, belong to the Mountain Collegiate Baseball League (MCBL).

The league includes the country's top collegiate baseball players, many hoping to play baseball professionally. Indeed, the Houston Astros drafted Foxes' pitcher Tom Vessella in last year's 11th round. As such, the MCBL tries to mirror professional play by having players bat only with wooden bats, a benchmark for scouts to assess a player's potential in the big leagues. But such professionalism is tempered with a healthy helping of hometown hospitality. Many league players board with community host families who provide a safe, friendly and comfortable familial environment. Such an environment finds its way to the "Fox Den," Colorado State University's own Ram Baseball Field, where the Foxes play all 24 home games.

While watching a game last month, the atmosphere reminded me of my own childhood little league games at Seither Stadium on Woodhaven Boulevard. The Foxes were playing the Greeley Grays. Fans sat on aluminum bleachers behind home plate. Batboy Soren Ostergren sang the national anthem. After the anthem, players took to the field, and the Foxes' mascot Sly-der took to the stands to hug kids, pose for photographs and pass out necklaces and tambourines. No surprise that Foxes' owner Kurt Colicchio admits that when you're here "you're going to be part of the game."

To encourage such participation, there are a variety of between-inning promotions: raffles for mountain bikes, dizzy bat races for kids, baseball tosses and Let's Make a Deal games in which restaurant coupons are presented to fans who produce particular items. Add a concession stand that offers hotdogs, brats, burgers, pretzels, sunflower seeds, nachos and soft drinks; a souvenir stand that sells hats, stuffed animals and pennants; and incredible baseball action, and you get what Colicchio calls "affordable family fun." There is no admission charge for kids under 6 and active military personnel with identification. And while there is a $3 admission fee for kids 7 to 14 and seniors over 55, the game is well worth the $5 admission fee for adults.

As for the game that night, the pitching was hard and fast. I expect that some of the balls flew across the plate in excess of 80 mph. Players were expert in their positions and played with heart. And as the sun set behind the foothills of Fort Collins, it cast a warming alpenglow onto the field and the players, something akin to what the color of a fond memory might be.

Foxes catcher Jack Kopacz added a little magic to the evening when he handed my son Ethan a baseball and said, "We have to give the little guy some reason to come back." I think the reason is clear. For many, a Foxes game offers a kind of homecoming. Thanks to Jack, we were safe at home.

For more information on the Foxes, visit www.fortcollinsfoxes.com. The team plays 10 home games in July.