And, come
August,
once again, area baseball fans can get a glimpse of the next wave of baseball stars— only they won’t be making their big-league debuts for another decade or so.
T
hat’s because the Cal Ripken Major/60 World Series is headed back to the Rotary Sportsplex in Ocala, playing out from August 6 to 13. Cal Ripken Baseball is the younger (age 4 to 12) division of youth baseball that falls under the umbrella of the Babe Ruth League (BRL), and the Ripken Major/60 division represents the oldest youth players, ages 10 to 12. The Rotary Sportsplex is not a newcomer to major youth baseball series, previously hosting the Major/60 World Series in 2010 and 2013 and the Babe Ruth 14U World Series in 2014. “We’re back because of the people [in] Marion County, the support of the key people in the community and the support of the press,” Vice President/ Commissioner of the BRL Robert Flaherty said at the press conference announcing the 2016 Major/60 World Series. Sportsplex president Jeff Salamone anticipates 10 teams participating in the tournament. North America is divided into eight regions, each of which will send at least one team to the seven-day tournament. The American Division of the tournament is made up of the Middle Atlantic, Midwest Plains, Pacific Northwest and Southwest regional
We’re not going to lose focus on why we’re here.” That focus: developing and promoting youth baseball throughout the area. The Major/60 World Series honors the top teams in youth baseball, played on a diamond with 60-foot base paths (compared to 90 in adult baseball) and a 46-foot distance (compared to 60 feet, 6 inches) from pitching rubber to home plate. While there’s no way of knowing which players from this year’s Major/60 tournament will become household names, chances are you’ll be reading about somebody playing here in August in the future. Notable BRL alumni include several baseball Hall-of-Famers, including all-time steals leader Rickey Henderson, strikeout king Nolan Ryan and Ripken himself. Basketball legend Michael Jordan’s first love and favorite sport was baseball, and in The Jordan Rules, he said, “I still think to myself that my greatest accomplishment is the Most Valuable Player Award I got when my Babe Ruth League team
30pm : 7 / m p 0 3 : 5 Field 4 at pm. n o h c t i p t firs at 6pm/8 1 d l e i F n o and champions as well as the local Ocala champion. The National Division consists of the New England, Ohio Valley, Pacific Southwest and Southeast regional champions as well as the Florida state champ. The first five days (Saturday through Wednesday) consist of pool play, with a pair of simultaneous games played on two fields—first pitch on Field 4 at 5:30pm/7:30pm and on Field 1 at 6pm/8pm. Pool play sets the seeds for single elimination games beginning on Thursday, culminating in the World Series title game on Saturday, August 13 at 1pm. The World Series is a huge boon to the local economy, coming in the dead of the summer when hotel rooms are often vacant. The Sportsplex and the Ocala Visitors Convention Bureau (OVCB) provided $50,000 up front to the BRL to provide transportation expenses (getting teams to and from their home states to Florida and to and from the ballpark). Beyond that, every dollar generated stays in the region. With the BRL anticipating each team bringing 12 to 14 players plus multiple family members who stay in Ocala for 10 days on average, the profit to the local economy piles up quickly. “The World Series fills a lot of [hotel] beds,” Salamone says. “Families are staying in Ocala, eating in Ocala restaurants and seeing Ocala sights. This comes at a time of year when we need it—the hotels aren’t doing a whole lot. The millions this event brings to Marion County are appreciated.” OVCB sports marketing specialist Corry Locke commissioned a study of the 2014 BRL World Series event in Ocala, which estimated the boon to Marion County was $1.9 million. And those costs are not passed on to local youth baseball fans. Salamone sells a $50 family pass admitting holders to all 30 World Series games, and that pass provides admittance to everyone in a family, be it a single parent or a rooting section of a dozen strong. “We don’t charge for parking, and we don’t charge a perperson gate fee,” Salamone says. “This is a very affordable event, and bottom line, we would never turn anybody away.