Baseball Tour Introduces Area Youth to America’s Pastime ‘For Love of the Game’
Published on: Wednesday, July 21, 2010
By Chris Grady
Photo by Chris Grady. Jeff Potter gives some parting words to participants of his free baseball clinic Thursday, July 15, 2010 at Prince George’s Stadium in Bowie.
For generations, baseball has been known as “America’s pastime.”
However, in Prince George’s County — like other areas around the country — there has been a decline in interest in the sport during the past four decades.
As the Potter Baseball East Coast Tour visited Prince George’s Stadium — home of the Bowie Baysox — last Thursday, Director Jeff Potter hoped his program’s free baseball clinic for youth age 7 to 13 would help young players become excited about the game once dubbed America’s favorite.
“I think you’ve got to get back to the roots of it, getting people involved and making it fun again,” he said.
About 70 boys and girls attended the clinic, which had been rescheduled from Wednesday, July 14, due to rain. The clinic in Bowie was just one of 18 stops the tour, which began July 2 in Potter’s hometown of Ellwood City, Pa., will make within 25 days.
“Hopefully, what the community sees is that kids are interested in baseball,” said Calvin Massie, executive director of the Prince George’s County Boys & Girls Club.
Potter, who authored the book “Whatever Happened to Baseball?” and was drafted as a pitcher by the Detroit Tigers in 1972 , said support for the tour has continuously grown since he began planning for it in April of last year.
Sixty players have already volunteered for next year’s tour, and he hopes to expand the program next summer to three separate tours, which would span much of the east coast.
This year, Potter has fielded the Potter Pirates— a team consisting of one player from each stop on the tour. The Pirates’ players travel with the tour to run free clinics and compete against local teams at each stop.
“It’s a great opportunity for these kids,” Potter said of the tour’s players.
Running the Bowie clinic alongside the Pirates were players from the Prince George’s Under 15 All-Star Team.
“I hope they are seeing there are older kids in the community willing to help here,” Moore said of the young athletes receiving instruction.
Following the clinic, the two teams competed at the stadium, and as part of the tour, any money raised from admission for the game and concessions went directly to the community organizations sponsoring the tour stop.
When Potter contacted local organizations, he wanted them to know his tour is not just about his team playing games, but it also is about celebrating the sport and helping the communities too.
“You’ve got to give it back,” said Pirates coach Andy Moore.
Outside of baseball, the tour participants have been involved in other community service activities, such as cooking breakfast last Friday for senior citizens on Kent Island.
After a recommendation from his coach, Bowie High School outfielder Kyle Carter joined the tour and said he and his Pirates teammates have helped people in need throughout this experience.
“I like coaching little kids,” he said.
The players volunteering to run the clinic instructed the younger participants in the fundamentals of throwing mechanics and hitting.
“It’s basically kids’ helping kids,” Massie said. “Hopefully, they will all have a big interest in baseball.”
The event also was beneficial for attendees as it allowed them to be active and to enjoy the outdoors. Additionally, the clinic gave the participants a chance to play baseball and find out if it is an activity they enjoy, said Massie.
“My motivation is getting more kids involved in baseball in Prince George’s County,” he said. “We used to be a powerhouse.”
As Potter closed the first of the clinic’s two sessions, he told the players gathered in front of him, “Stay with baseball… It is a beautiful game.”
