FEATURES – MAY/JUNE 2009

Summer Fun Guide—Hometown Heroes

Ten years of success for Peninsula Pilots baseball based on strong players and family fun

By Kip Tabb

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There is a sound, smell and feel to a game of baseball that is uniquely American. It is the snap of a fast ball popping into a catcher’s mitt, the umpire’s guttural cry of “stree-ike,” families cheering for the home team and children screaming for their heroes.

It is the scent of hotdogs, soda and a warm summer evening. And it is a game of eternal optimism, for until the last out is made, hope lives within the spirit of even the most vanquished foe.

There was a time when every town had its own team, every boy and girl had a hometown hero and every night was family night at the ballpark. The golden age of baseball was not about the major league teams, but was a testament to the ubiquitous nature of the sport in American life.

The Peninsula Pilots are, in many ways, a throwback to that time and place. Playing in the Coastal Plain League, the Pilots field a team of college ballplayers who are getting their first taste of major league-style play. The league has 14 teams from South Carolina to Virginia.

The games are played in small cities and towns; Hampton is the largest urban center on the circuit. Homes are high school ball parks, municipal fields and, in the case of the Pilots, War Memorial Stadium—dating to 1948 and once the home to a number of minor league teams.

This is amateur baseball, but it is an important first step for college players hoping to break into professional baseball. College ball is played with aluminum bats, and adapting to a wooden bat after playing for years with aluminum can be difficult for batters and pitchers.

“The wooden bats are a real adjustment for the younger guys,” says Jeffrey Scott, Pilots general manager.

There are other adjustments, as well. Although the players practiced in college, here, no one tells them to come to practice—it is solely their responsibility to show up. The season is long, almost 60 games in 10 weeks, and it becomes hard work. “It’s a grind,” Scott says. “They play 56 games in a little over two months.”

These are players who are being scouted by major league teams, and scouts want to know how they are reacting to the pressure. “They [scouts] want to see how they deal with the grind,” Scott says. “It turns out to be a long year for them.”

Although they are athletes with tremendous skills and abilities, they are young, and for many of them, this is the first time that they are truly on their own and away from home. They are not, however, left to wander in the wilderness.

The Pilots—actually, every Coastal League team—has a very active sponsor family program. “The kids stay with host families,” Scott says. “We have a tremendous core of host families. We couldn’t ask for more support. They are a tremendous asset.”

It is the players who may be the best ambassadors for their sport. Recruited from colleges throughout the country (although this year, all of the players will come from east of the Mississippi), these are ballplayers who are not jaded by fame. “The players have an amazing relationship with the fans,” Scott says. “To the kids, these guys are living heroes.”

It has become a tradition that after every ball game, every player is surrounded by four or five or six young fans asking for autographs of baseballs, bats, hats—and patiently, invariably with good humor, the players respond to every request.

Now in the 10th season, the Pilots seem to be thriving. Averaging more than 1500 fans at home games throughout the 2008 season, the team has been a playoff contender for the past three years. The early indications are that they are loading up again.

According to Scott, a number of players are returning to the fold for a second year, and although they have lost their starring pitcher to Team USA, the Pilots look strong again this year.

We’ll have a very competitive team from opening day,” Scott adds. “We have nine returning players. We’ll be strong up the middle. Our starting catcher, shortstop and second baseman are all coming back.”

Returning players include a number of local standouts as well as athletes recruited from Michigan to Florida. “Jake McAloose is our shortstop,” Scott says. “He’s going to ODU and grew up in Virginia Beach—went to school in Princess Anne.” There is also outfielder Chris Baker, attending ODU, who hails from Chesapeake and pitcher Quinn Bright, who also grew up in Chesapeake and studies at Norfolk State.

If the game and the players are the initial draw, it is the atmosphere at the ballpark and very affordable prices—$5 general admission for adults, $2 hot dogs—that keeps families out every evening. Although the Pilots consistently field a very competitive team—they have gone deep in league playoffs for the past three years—Scott notes that most families come for an evening of entertainment first, baseball second.

And entertainment is what they find. There’s Slyder the Mascot, who has become an icon for the team. “He has been so good for us over the last few years,” Scott says. “We used to bring in outside entertainment, but he is the entertainment people want to see.”

There are nightly contests— shopping cart races, running the bases, etc. “We have had ‘70s and ‘80s theme nights. We had a tribute to West Virginia one night,” Scott says. “At WVU they burn a couch after winning their football games. Well, after we won that night, we dragged a couch out to second base and lit it on fire.”

It’s all part of a philosophy of doing business that seems to be working. “We have a great time out here,” Scott says. “We really believe in what we do.”

For more information on the Peninsula Pilots, visit www.peninsulapilots. com.

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