Batters Up!

A parade of young ballplayers marched up 3rd Avenue Saturday to mark the 58th annual opening day of the North Newark Little League, a program serving hundreds of city girls and boys.

Coaches as well as players ranging in age from 4 to 18, representing 37 teams, made up the parade, which was escorted by the Newark Fire Department and members of the Trike-Masters motorcycle club.

Immediately afterwards, teams began playing a schedule of games lasting into the night at Kasberger Field on North 5th Street.

The North Newark Little League has grown recently by about 20 percent a year and now includes more than 500 girls and boys, said the league’s president, Vincent DeVincentis. The league also participates in “RBI” -- Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities -- a program sponsored by Major League Baseball designed to introduce America’s pastime to modern urban youth.

Through RBI, North Newark players have been visited by some of the most prominent figures in the sport, including New York Yankees manager Joe Girardi, Yankees GM Brian Cashman and Sharon Robinson, daughter of Jackie Robinson, the player who broke modern professional baseball’s color line, DeVincentis said. 

The North Newark league is also rolling out other programs this year designed to foster a sense of community among the players, said Mildred Ramos, a member of the league’s board. The league will take part in the Sadie Nash Leadership Project, a New York City-based program for young women. A group of 16- to 18-year-old players, who have been with the league since they were youngsters, will comprise a youth leadership council responsible for “peer outreach.”

The league will also keep track of player attendance and will follow up if players stop participating, Ramos said.

“We want to make sure there’s not something at home preventing them from coming,” Ramos said. “We’re not looking at it as just playing baseball, we’re looking at it as supporting the family.” 

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