SALEM, NH — You’ve heard all about baseball for the last few years because it’s boring, the games are too long and, worse, the sport is dying.
Major League Baseball heard that over the past year and adapted, shortening games with a pitch clock. And the sport at the highest level is thriving with record TV ratings.
But Salem didn’t believe it three years ago, when the naysayers started complaining.
In fact, Salem and his youth baseball association had a different take on America’s former favorite pastime: baseball is king!
While kids across the country appeared to be trading in their baseball bats for lacrosse bats, that wasn’t the case in the town on the Massachusetts border.
After suffering a setback from lost COVID seasons, the program has changed drastically for the better. Salem is thriving with more players than ever, new facilities, new board members, and more fundraisers.
Today the league is better organized. There is structure. There is communication and engagement between the coaches, the parents and of course the ball players. There is a plan where children play year-round, continuing to play football in the fall and basketball and hockey in the winter.
All of this has helped the program enjoy this historic summer. Three Salem teams, ages 10, 11, and 12, won all of the state championship titles last weekend.
The 10 year olds are in Beverly. The 11-year-olds are in Cranston, Rhode Island and the 12-year-olds are of course in Bristol, Connecticut.
“Salem has 30,000 people, so there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be good at baseball and why the league shouldn’t be competitive,” said Steve Quinn, the 12U team manager.
“As we started to get better, we put more emphasis on it and invested more time. If the coaches take the time, the parents get involved, and the players go there and work, you’ll be competitive and you’ll be good. You have to want it,” Quinn said. “There’s no reason Salem can’t and won’t do it.”
Quinn said he saw the effort firsthand as Salem Youth Baseball board members, coaches and parents worked together.
“We needed a culture change. We needed people to put the time and effort into the program and we did and it shows,” Quinn said. “We’re going through a culture shift and Salem’s parents, coaches, kids and the board have all put their time into it. You can see the difference and the results of these three state championships.”
The plan started about four years ago. The goal was to get as many kids as possible playing baseball year-round. Salem now has two teams in almost every age group that play in the AAU Team New England program. In addition, the programs provided the children with batting practice once a week at various indoor facilities, while pitching, batting and catching classes were held throughout the winter, avoiding scheduling conflicts with the other youth sports organizations as much as possible.
“I would say 90 percent of the kids (in the overall program) play in this travel program. Ultimately, I’ve been with the kids I coach today since January,” said 11-year-old Salem All-Star manager Dan DeFrancesco. “This 11-year-old team probably played 60 games this year. We started in January and are going through the travel program. We’re going to take a little break, end the recovery season, and then get right back together.
“You create continuity between the way you play on the field and the kids and parents know what to expect, the coaches know what’s expected and you can see that the older kids are doing well. Interest in the league is high and the numbers have increased significantly compared to the last six or seven years. It’s just so fast that more and more children are registering. We’re getting better and better athletes and the kids just love playing baseball.”
Alongside Team New England, the league’s first-year president, Adam Abbas, said the efforts of the new board members and community have helped raise more funds, which in turn feeds into the improvement of the overall program.
“We built two batting cages this year and will be redesigning two of our three fields this month. We’re just very proud to be improving our home play facilities,” said Abbas, who said the program involves nearly 450 children. “I’m just incredibly proud of everyone involved in this program. This is the best season we’ve had, but there’s more to do.
“The 12’s are going to Connecticut, the 10’s are going to Rhode Island, and the 11’s are going to Beverly, and we’re just excited to see what the next day brings.”
You can follow Jamie Pote on Twitter at @JamiePote
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