Players from MIT and other schools unaccustomed to athletic luxury marvel at warm weather, blue skies and big league facilities.
By BOB PUTNAM
Published March 29, 2004
[Times photos: Kinfay Moroti ]
Union College assistant coach Dave Williams, left, heads into the dugout at Jack Russell Stadium as players John Gallagher, Jeff Viamari, and Frank Arcuri watch their teammates battle Western Connecticut University. Union is among the dozens of colleges and universities using the Clearwater stadium and area facilities.
Thomas College's Jordan McDonald, left, congratulates Sedrick Tydus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology after a game.
Mike Batty of the Massachussetts Institute of Technology prepares to throw out a Thomas College runner. MIT won to finish the spring tournament 5-3.
DUNEDIN - MIT baseball: welcome to the small-time.
There are no scholarships. The athletic budget is small. Fan support is scarce; non-existent during finals.
It's spring break and they're playing in a stadium that's nearly empty and there are no major league scouts in the seats, looking for the next Carlos Delgado.
But for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology baseball team, Jack Russell Stadium is still their field of dreams.
And it smells better, too.
"It was amazing to be in a place like this," said pitcher InHan Kang. "Our field stinks. The grass is bad, the clay on the infield is hard and we have a portable fence."
For most of these college players, this is as close as they will get to the majors.
The students paid $250 for round-trip airfare to spend their spring break here playing baseball at several spring training facilities. They were lured more by the sun, the sand and the chance to enjoy games on green grass under a true blue sky than any hope of being discovered.
The MIT team finished its eight-game schedule with a doubleheader Thursday at the Englebert Complex, the same facility where the Blue Jays practice.
"This is awesome," said Kang. "When we left Boston, there was 6 inches of snow on the ground."
MIT is one of 72 Division III baseball teams playing in a month-long tournament in the Tampa Bay area. The tournament was the brainchild of Williams College baseball coach Dave Barnard. Most of the games are played at various spring training sites such as Englebert Complex in Dunedin and Huggins Stengel Field in St. Petersburg.
But the big draw was guaranteeing each team at least two games at Jack Russell Stadium, the former spring training home for the Philadelphia Phillies.
In December the city agreed to lease the 49-year-old stadium to The Winning Inning, a Clearwater business that offers baseball and athletic training. The business pays the maintenance costs on the stadium, as well as the property taxes of $25,000 to $30,000.
"Everyone wants the chance to play in a place like this," said Randy Holland, president and CEO of The Winning Inning. "By allowing these teams to come here, it sort of puts Jack Russell back on the map."
MIT players got their opportunity to play at Jack Russell Stadium on Tuesday. Though the field is outdated, the players entered with wide eyes and dropped jaws. Compared to their field in Boston, this was a palace.
"We have to roll out the portable fence for games and baseballs often roll under it," catcher Kyle Zeller said.
MIT, which plays in the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference, doesn't have fields with sparkling, booster-funded amenities. The school firmly believes that athletics must be brought in line with academics, not the other way around.
There are more Nobel laureates (23 ) than first-round draft picks (zero). MIT players have a head for the game and an intellect far beyond it. Even the batting cage roof isn't safe. Reserve players spent time analyzing its structure after a number of foul balls landed on top of it.
"It's flat," catcher Adan Rodriguez said. "That doesn't make sense for Florida. It needs to be slanted because of all the rain."
Because the players put things academic ahead of things athletic, success on the field has been hard to achieve. The team went 1-26 two years ago and 7-17 last season.
These players are at MIT because of their grade point average, not their batting average.
"Kids aren't coming here for baseball," said first-year MIT manager Andy Barlow. "They're here for an education. But the great thing is you get players who truly love the game."
There are no athletic scholarships. No academic scholarships either, since it is impossible to make the case that any one student deserves such recognition over another. Financial aid at MIT is based solely on need.
Barlow knew the obstacles when he took over the program.
"I go to a few tournaments and look at players," he said. "But it's hard because they have to be qualified. Still, I love this grass-roots level. You really get to teach the game to players who want to learn."
Kang, who scored a perfect 1600 on his SAT, studies electrical engineering, which is the essential stat at an institution such as MIT. Because his academic workload usually requires him to do six hours of homework a night, Kang didn't know if he could handle daily three-hour baseball practices.
"It's hard," Kang said. "Some times I think I could do better in school if I didn't play. But playing baseball gives me time to relax and a chance to be a part of a team."
Kang pitched the second game of the doubleheader on Thursday. Before each throw, he carefully went through his wind-up.
"Why is he taking so long between pitches?" one fan asked.
"He's thinking," another responded. "Remember, he's from MIT."
The players have heard the nerd stereotypes. Some of it is true.
"We don't have many fans," Zeller said. "Most of the students don't have time to watch baseball games. They're doing homework."
But there's more to these ballplayers than attenuated vectors, epigenetic factors and the third law of thermodynamics.
"We have teams that'll say, "Gosh, they even look smart', " Kang said. "But I'm not spending time studying the velocity of my pitches or anything like that. People think we have an advantage because we're smart.
