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Dayton Little Leaguers to take trip of a lifetime

Photos: Little Leaguers making trip

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First Dayton Little League team Penn Station's third baseman Brandon Denby, left, and shortstop Kadaby Ramson, right, run for the ball at Pinewood Park in Dayton on Thursday, May 21.

Staff photo by Teesha McClam First Dayton Little League team Penn Station's third baseman Brandon Denby, left, and shortstop Kadaby Ramson, right, run for the ball at Pinewood Park in Dayton on Thursday, May 21.

14-player squad to attend a two-day jamboree

By Tom Archdeacon, Staff Writer Updated 1:58 AM Friday, May 22, 2009

DAYTON — “An experience of a lifetime.”

That’s what Ron Johnson, president of the First Dayton Little League, calls the trip 14 young baseball players from his long-standing West Dayton program will be making this weekend to Williamsport, Pa., home of the Little League World Series.

The First Dayton team — along with seven other clubs from across the country — will participate in the Little League Urban Initiative Jamboree, which begins today, May 22, with a parade. The team also will play four games and take part in education programs over the next two days.

“I don’t think the kids even know where they’re headed,” coach Ray “Chip” Gardner said. “They just think it’s a baseball trip.”

The team planned to leave at about midnight and arrive in Williamsport this morning on a chartered bus provided by Little League Baseball. The First Dayton Stealers team of players 12 and younger will stay in the dormitories at the Little League complex.

The Ray Brown Memorial Fund — named for the late Negro League pitcher who’s in the Baseball Hall of Fame and is buried in Dayton — has provided the players with some spending money.

The Little League Urban Initiative tries to provide kids in metropolitan areas with the chance to play baseball. It has brought teams to Williamsport for six years.

The First Dayton program has been in existence almost 60 years, said Gardner. Its four-field complex is off Crowne Avenue just north of West Second Street.

Gardner said First Dayton’s alumni include former NFL players Keith Byars, Martin Bayless and Jeff Graham and Ohio State basketball standout Jamie Skelton.

None made his name in baseball and Gardner said just a few kids he has coached in 14 years have gone on to high school baseball.

“These days kids are more apt to cross dribble than try to pitch fast,” he said. “We’re losing them to other sports. I bet if I asked my guys for their favorite black player in the major leagues, most couldn’t name me one.”

According to the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sports, just 10 percent of major-league players are black.

“That’s why this trip is a real big deal to us,” Gardner said. “It will be fun and maybe it will open our kids’ eyes to some of the good things baseball has to offer.”

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