GRASSROOTS BASEBALL Goes to Masses on Route 66 Journey

GRASSROOTS BASEBALL Goes to Masses on Route 66 Journey

FANS&THRILLS

A dedicated baseball photographer and the outgoing president of the Baseball Hall of Fame have created a new organization called Grassroots Baseball, which honors and celebrates amateur baseball. Together they launched their initiative by channeling their inner tailgater: they drove an RV across the U.S. along historic Route 66.

After 25 years of rubbing elbows with the game’s greats, Jeff Idelson hung up his coat and tie to get behind the wheel of a Coachmen Galleria RV draped in the bright blue “Grassroots” logo and loaded down with baseball gear.

Over the course of 2,500 miles and 10 designated stops, Idelson’s primary purpose was to mingle with amateur baseball people, deliver baseball gear to the underprivileged and tote the talented Jean Fruth—who is as much a baseball historian as she is photographer—from one ballpark to another to document the trip for a book called Grassroots Baseball: Route 66.

They pulled their RV up to Little League parks, Boys and Girls Clubs, minor league ballparks, and the like, shooting photos, talking to people, eating ballpark fare—including both a burger with a glazed donut for a bun as well as frozen pickle juice—while celebrating something as American as baseball in a way that is too: on the go.

Even if we’re done for the day, and we’re at a local restaurant, sitting at the bar having a meal and somebody overhears us talking about baseball and Route 66, a new conversation starts,” said Fruth, by phone during a periodic break from the road. “People are really interested in what we’re doing. It’s hard to miss us in this RV. We’re getting a great reception about the message and the program that we’re doing.

Their concept originated as a follow-up to Fruth’s book “Grassroots Baseball: Where Legends Begin,” a collection of photographs from 15 baseball hotbeds with corresponding essays from Hall of Famers who grew up in those places.

This time Fruth and Idelson, who helped connect her with Hall of Fame players for her first book, wanted to do more than pay tribute to baseball’s roots—this time in towns along Route 66. They wanted to give back to the game with a charitable element as well.

We talked about the concept of making Grassroots baseball more than just a book,” Idelson said. “That’s how it all came together. We developed this program. It’s about celebrating the amateur game. It’s about elevating the game and about giving back to underprivileged communities.”

The San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks agreed to sponsor Grassroots and keep them loaded down with Rawlings baseball gloves and balls to give away. Big League Chew stocked their RV with bubble gum. They plotted a course of 10 stops along what was historically known as Route 66. They invited Hall of Famers who grew up at each of those points to meet up in their hometowns to preach and teach the game, players like Jim Thome, Johnny Bench, Trevor Hoffman and their national spokesman Goose Gossage.

The Grassroots tour launched in May in Chicago, where the historical highway begins. They finished in September in Santa Monica, Calif., where it ends. They weren’t even out of Chicago before getting the first dose of validation that they were onto something special.

One of their first stops was at the Jackie Robinson West Little League fields, where Fruth met a volunteer named John Talbert. He umpired back-to-back games, which impressed them enough. Then he invited them to tag along to another game he was volunteering for that night. He was coaching a team of 8-and-unders.

“You couldn’t get the smile off this guy’s face,” Fruth said. “You just meet these terrific people.”

Idelson pointed to a moment at the Chicago Boys and Girls Club, where he watched Gossage connect with a kid who had never played baseball before over a game of catch. The boy walked away with a new ball, a new glove and a new sport.

He was kind of a shy kid,” Idelson said. “And not only did Goose get this kid out of his shell, he put a massive smile on his face and instilled the confidence in this kid to say that he wanted to go out and play summer baseball. This kid’s brother came over and told him how meaningful it was. That was a pretty sweet moment.

One of Fruth’s favorite moments from the tour happened in Oklahoma City, birthplace of Johnny Bench, who grew up in nearby Binger, Okla. She had a little fun with a young boy and his parents, who came out to the Triple-A stadium called Bricktown Ballpark for a clinic Bench was giving at a Grassroots Baseball event. The boy was standing in full uniform, next to a statue of Bench, staring up at it, when Bench got out of the Grassroots RV.

I walk Johnny over and say, ‘Oh here’s your statue coming alive,’” Fruth said. “The family just couldn’t believe it. There was Johnny Bench, standing next to the Johnny Bench statue. It was just a terrific moment. And the kid asked Johnny to sign his cap, so Johnny signed it for him.

Amid all the poignant moments, Idelson and Fruth had some fun too. The health-conscious Idelson got talked into eating “Baseball’s Best Burger” by the Gateway Grizzlies organization of the Independent Frontier League in a suburb of St. Louis. It was a hamburger patty, two pieces of bacon and a slice of sharp cheddar cheese inside a sliced Krispy Kreme donut.

As a guy who basically lives on hummus most of the time, it was a shock to the system,” Idelson said. “But it was tasty.

Idelson tried another baseball “delicacy” at a Twin City Little League game in Festus, MO: frozen pickle juice.

They’re in these little Dixie cups and the kids are all licking them,” Idelson said. “I’m like geez, I have to try that and I tried it.” And? “It was kind of like eating the side dish to a burger,” Idelson said. “Except it was drinking the side dish to a burger.

Idelson faced his biggest culinary challenge on the trip home. After an appearance with George Brett in Santa Monica, Idelson and Fruth were set to turn the RV around to make the 2,500- mile trek back to Chicago. This time they were making stops along Route 66 to shoot sites that capture the overall Americana feel, like the world’s largest catsup bottle, a 170-foot tall water tower in Collinsville, Ind., and the Cadillac Ranch art installation in Amarillo, Tex.

While in Amarillo, Fruth planned to talk Idelson into take the Big Texan Challenge, a chance to eat a 72-ounce steak dinner free—a $72 value—by eating it all within an hour.

“It comes with salad and a roll,” Idelson said. “I’ll eat the salad,” Fruth said.

The trip home also gave them a chance to savor all that had happened on the trip out west, and how connected they felt to baseball-loving people they met through Grassroots, people, Idelson said, who felt “like kindred spirits.”

What I’m finding really heartwarming is the outpouring of gratitude that Jean and I have when we roll up in this RV to a Little League field, an American Legion field, Pony League, you name it, even a 19th century recreation…” Idelson said during the tour. “And just the desire to talk about what’s going on with youth sports and youth baseball. No matter where we go, whether it’s umpires, groundskeepers, parents, coaches—all of them are very grateful for our promotion of the game and the give-back part as well. They don’t want us to leave, and they want to know when we’re coming back.

The answer is next summer, when Fruth and Idelson will be traveling across the country again—this time without the RV—to shoot the remainder of the book. Grassroots Baseball: Route 66 is due out in the spring of 2021.

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