FIELDING DREAMS
Local players work hard on and off the diamond to develop their talent | by Eddie Dees
54 | April • 2011
S
elling one lollipop at a time, the young boys of spring are preparing for the upcoming baseball season. Traveling baseball teams are big business these days and many families participate in fund raising activities to help their children pay to play. Once upon a time, teams relied on sponsorship
money to fund their activities. The tabs for uniforms, equipment, tournament fees and travel expenses were picked up by the businesses that donated to the worthy players. For their part, the players tried out to earn spots on these elite traveling teams and practiced hard so that their teams would do well. Players didn’t have the worry or the obligation of having to finance their own diamond dreams, as well. These days, however, baseball seasons are more than strikeouts, ground balls and stolen bases. Many hours are also spent selling candy, washing cars and promoting raffle tickets. A top quality, competitive team will spend thousands of dollars in a season playing in the tournaments that take place nearly every weekend. The Fayetteville area has excellent recreation programs and
the travel teams here are an extension of these programs. Many youngsters graduate from these traveling programs to excel in high school and college baseball and several have even gotten shots at the professional level. In fact, at least two local young
