Baseball beginning for Dixon

BY MIKE VENIER GUEST COLUMNIST Baseball is alive and well in our community. Are you getting your fill of this good old-fashioned winter? Too much cold, too much snow, and way too much ice under foot. As I turn on the TV or open up a newspaper, my subconscious thermometer always rises when the articles speak of baseball. Big league teams have begun there annual spring training sessions in warmer climates, and local youths are signing up to play. In Dixon, Al Morrison Memorial Baseball begins its 41st year of youth baseball leagues. The YMCA offers an instructional season for tots, the I-88 traveling teams are available for 9- to 14-year-olds, and the American Legion offers a league for boys 16 to 19, as well as our high school teams. When we toss in the Dixon Baseball Club, it makes six separate entities promoting and supporting baseball in our community. Al Morrison provides a wood-bat-only program for boys and girls ages 5-16. The board is working on a long-term lease agreement with the Dixon Park District to ensure the Borden's field complex will be used for its original purpose: to provide the community with safe and well-maintained baseball fields. The board currently maintains five fields, three batting cages, a concession stand, a watering system and scoreboards. We average 400 to 500 kids in the program and adhere to the original mission statement, which is to promote and protect the safety of all players and to teach them baseball, good sportsmanship, and citizenship. This program was established in 1967 and remains a great source of family fun. The Dixon Family YMCA provides an instructional program for 4- and 5-year-olds with a focus on fun and introduction to the basic fundamentals of the game. The program runs June 7-28 at the Reynolds field complex. The American Legion team plays a 25-game schedule with a year-end state tournament. This season begins when the high school team completes its season. This team travels to the Quad Cities and Chicago suburbs for games. The newest group promoting baseball in town is the I-88 traveling teams. As they enter their third season, the traveling program is including 9- and 10-year-olds. The two older teams average 40 to 60 games per season, and travel to the Chicago suburbs, Rockford and the Quad Cities for games. The program is under the direction of Dixon High School head baseball coach Dan Crawford. Crawford will coach the 9- and 10-year-olds. Ben Hendricks and Micah Melendrez (current college players who came up through the Al Morrison and high school programs) to coach the older teams. The Dixon Baseball Club is a spirited group of volunteers, under the direction of Tim and Patti Oliver and Dan and Sandy Burke, whose purpose is to raise funds in support of baseball. A visit to the Borden's field complex will reveal the fruits of their efforts: a new scoreboard, resurfaced field, and new field maintenance equipment added in the last two years.