An Open Tryout, Yuma-Style
April 28, 2002 - Western Baseball League (WBL)
Yuma Bullfrogs News Release
The Historian William Manchester defined the American experience as the fusion of the Glory and the Dream. A large measure of what we call the American character, for good or ill, attaches to the games we play. No game surrenders more glory or propels more dreams than our national pastime.
The sun rose in Yuma this Sunday in a chamber of commerce blue sky and sixty young men armed with spikes, bats and mitts filed into Desert Sun Stadium to vie for a roster spot on the Yuma Bullfrogs Baseball team. One had driven without stop from Kansas. Another had to enlist the support of his mother to drive him from Northern California. Many seemed proud to wear attire noting a college affiliation, while others noted to anyone who would listen that they had professional experience. All the registrants were young men, so young that they all tried to mask their desires, their hopes and their secret dream of making the team in the four hours of an open tryout.
They filled out forms, exchanged greetings with players they knew and by 9:00 were on the field. The pitchers were sequestered in a large bullpen with the catchers while a coach strolled and pointed the speed gun and marked notes on a clipboard as the gloves popped from the sound of the heat they brought. By 10:00 am twelve pitchers were told it was not their day. They gathered gear and departedthe dream deferred for another day, another tryout. The ten remaining pitchers were told to prepare for a practice game and ambled off to the field.
The infielders had remained in the stadium and alternated at various positions. A ground ball eluded a hopeful and he grimaced as if fortune had deserted him. He looked up at his father and shrugged. The father motioned for him to relax and when his son looked away he sighed and softly said, He is so much better than that.
By noon the list had been pared again and the remaining players were placed on the field for a scrimmage. Hope abounded as each player made his way to the plate and often visibly ebbed as a ferocious swing would miss or leak out a weak pop fly.
When the scrimmage ended the team manager and coaches assembled on the Mound as hopefuls looked on. The wait seemed as a pause in time. Spectators, parents, wives and others fidgeted and masked hope with stoicism. The impromptu conference on the mound ended and the Manager called for the players. Surrounded by the hopefuls, Lonnie Goldberg the Bullfrog Manager called out six names and noted that they would be invited to Spring training.
The six stood quietly as others walked away and gathered gear and went back to find a place where hope and dreams could rekindle. Family or friends consoled many of the unclaimed.
The day that started with sixty hopefuls had dwindled to six, but for them, the selected six, the summer was just beginning. They met briefly with the Manager in his office and then returned outside to friends and family and were received with cheers and applause. Then, the local media interviewed them. It was an exciting moment. Whether any will find in the fields of summer the glory of great play remains to be seen, but clearly on this day the possibility of living a dream endures.
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Western Baseball League Stories from April 28, 2002
- An Open Tryout, Yuma-Style - Yuma Bullfrogs
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