New season, affiliations for Cedar Grove Baseball league

Cedar Grove Baseball players and coaches at last seasons opening ceremonies at Victory Road Park. Photo by Bill Forry

Cedar Grove Baseball has linked up with two of the nations leading youth baseball organizations this year, an innovation that league organizers hope will boost their player development and enrollment in the coming years.

The new affiliations with the Babe Ruth and Cal Ripken programs will give Cedar Grove access to higher-quality safety and training sessions and open up new lanes of competition with the potential to compete in regional and national tournaments.

The league is currently enrolling players from Dorchester and Mattapan with hopes of increasing their base of players by 10 percent this year. The league plays on city and state ball fields in Neponset, Cedar Grove, and Lower Mills. The season begins in mid-April and parents are encouraged to sign up their children as young as age 4 by the end of this month.

Were certainly going to enhance our outreach and we hope more and more young people realize that there are opportunities to play baseball here in Dorchester, said Cedar Grove Baseball president Charlie Maneikis. Part of the boards decision is that we now have a brand awareness with Babe Ruth and Cal Ripken that can help with that.

Aside from new uniforms that will include new identities with the affiliate leagues, Maneikis says that parents and players will see a difference right away in the pre-season preparations. There will be training sessions held at the Marina Bay Sports Complex, an indoor facility that Cedar Grove used on three occasions last year to help prepare players and coaches. This year, Maneikis said, there will be seven workout and practice sessions held at Marina Bay.

Over the next few years, one additional tangible change that will become present in our offerings as a result of our new affiliation will be more specialized skill building clinics, said Maneikis. By leveraging the terrific videos that are now available to us and by being connected to teams and resources throughout Eastern Mass, we will be able to create very focused, creative, and fun skill-building clinics. We did survey our parents this year during the registration process, and as a result, we know that parents are very much interested in these potential offerings.

Another important off-season development is a planned makeover for the Dorchester Park ball field that serves the youngest Cedar Grove players in the clinic divisions. The city of Boston using a grant from a private foundation plans to spend $35,000 on a mini-facelift of the Dot Bowl next month. The funding comes through the Boston Parks and Recreation, courtesy of the Highland Foundation and the Boston Red Sox.

The kids are gonna love it! said Maneikis. Renovations will create an actual look and feel of a small diamond with new clay and actual base paths.

Meanwhile, Maneikis said, the Cedar Grove league itself will spend another $5,000 this season on seeding and treating the grass at the ball fields they use. Thats on top of $5,000 spent on the same treatment last year. The idea of the lawn chemical and re-seeding program is to enhance the good work thats already being done by the guys and gals from the city and the DCR. It should mean even earlier greening and thicker grass.

See the article here:
New season, affiliations for Cedar Grove Baseball league