Local Babe Ruth baseball skips all-star tournaments

A first set of calls, texts and emails began to flood into Babe Ruth District 4 Commissioner Ralph Tapia’s cellphone on the evening of July 11.

For the next few days, Tapia said he received dozens of correspondences, many from friends and acquaintances, but others from long-forgotten connections and one-time buddies.

What had driven people to contact Tapia was the Major League All-Star Home Run Derby, which took place at San Diego’s Petco Park and was televised nationally on ESPN.

That Monday’s highest-rated cable show had a local interest as Miami Marlins masher Giancarlo Stanton won the slugfest.

Around the Southland, several communities claim Stanton as their own as the 26-year-old was born in Panorama City, played briefly at Tujunga Verdugo Hills High before beginning to turn heads at Sherman Oaks Notre Dame.

Tapia knows Stanton by another name and from another era as the youngster once crushed for Tapia’s Glendale/La Crescenta Babe Ruth teams over a decade ago.

“I knew him when everybody called him Mike,” Tapia said. “He stood out, oh yeah. Even at 15, the kid was like 6-foot-5 and he would just tower over everybody.”

Stanton played alongside Tapia’s son, Jason, and routinely put nearby vehicles in peril.

“He’s hit the longest balls I’ve ever seen out of Dunsmore Park, Stengel and Scholl,” Tapia said. “I called a local [Seattle] Mariners scout to take a look at him when he was 15 because he was the real deal.”

So, when the real deal clinched the home run derby, old memories came back to life.

“I got so many calls,” Tapia said. “People were asking if Giancarlo was the same kid, Mike, that we coached over 10 years ago. While I spoke to people that I normally do, I couldn’t tell you how many calls and messages I got from people who I hadn’t talked to in 30 years. They were all asking for pictures, which I have.”

That mix of pride and validation Tapia felt upon Stanton’s victory was tempered by a cold reality. Tapia’s cherished Babe Ruth program that not only produced extraordinary athletes like Stanton, but served many more regular joes, is in danger.

“It’s no secret that over the years, youth baseball in Glendale has had diminishing numbers,” Tapia said. “This is not news. We’ve all experienced drops in participation, whether you’re talking about Little League or Babe Ruth or PONY or CSA. We’ve all experienced dramatic drops in our participation.”

What is news is that Babe Ruth District 4, which includes Glendale, La Crescenta, La Cañada Flintridge and Burbank, did not send an all-star team to the state tournament for the first time in over a decade.

Tapia overseas one 12-15-year-old Babe Ruth Division that normally branches out into two playoffs teams during the summer.

Last season, Glendale/La Crescenta Babe Ruth fielded a 14-year-old squad, coached by Juan Pablo Valdez, that finished 2-2 in the state tournament in El Segundo.

In terms of participation, 2014 may have been the area’s last great year as Tapia had two squads: a 15-and-under team coached by Eric Mahoney and a 13-and-under club managed by Valdez.

That season was also the last that Crescenta Valley High Coach Phil Torres put together a San Gabriel Valley 18-and-under Babe Ruth squad, led by then-Falcons ace Brian Gadsby. The team also included players from Crescenta Valley, St. Francis and Glendale Community College.

Torres’ District 1 squad marched all the way to the semifinals of the Babe Ruth World Series in Ephrate, Wash.

That victorious run turned out to be San Gabriel Valley Babe Ruth’s last stand as Torres said an early start to the 2016-17 school year ended any plans of a squad this summer.

“It’s hard to have a team when school starts so early,” Torres said. “I have to be back at school on Aug. 4. I’m hoping if we can get the start of school pushed back a week next year we can do it, but it’s a lot to ask kids to miss five days of school. It’s hard to ask my staff to give up nine days of work.”

Much to Tapia’s disappointment, there will be no memorable postseason run in 2016 and perhaps beyond.

“This year, we just didn’t have the numbers to field an all-star team,” Tapia said. “It’s the first time in my 12-year tenure that we couldn’t make it happen for lots of reasons. It was a sad day for me when I made a phone call and sent a message to the state commissioner [Melvin] Rader that I was not going to send an all-star team. It was not an easy task for me to do.”

While 11 Pacific Southwest Regional Tournaments got underway from July 17 to the 30 across four states, not one squad was local.

“We had physically enough people, but people make commitments for summer,” Tapia said. “School is now starting so early in August that people were not willing to commit to a program that plays into the middle of July and that goes into a regional that might go into late July and early August.”

Perhaps what’s most troubling is Glendale/La Crescenta’s struggles come during a time of expansion. As the longtime league president for Glendale/La Crescenta, Tapia and his teams had narrower boundaries in the past than they had this year.

Tapia’s appointment as the District 4 commissioner means his area now spans large portions of the San Gabriel Valley, San Fernando Valley, Santa Clarita Valley and even some of the Antelope Valley.

Yet, he’s shied away from going out into areas such as Santa Clarita and the Antelope Valley when interest in his own backyard seems fickle.

“Under the banner of Babe Ruth, I can go out there, although I normally don’t,” Tapia said. “Now also, La Cañada is under my district. They had two teams (13 and 14) and they opted - if you can believe it - not to go participate in the state tournament. They opted for some kind of tournament in Capistrano, which wasn’t nationally sanctioned. It’s like travel ball.”

A request for a comment from La Cañada Baseball/Softball Association President George Chumo was not immediately returned.

As far as lower turnout goes, Antelope Valley (District 6) and Imperial Valley (District 7) have gone defunct. While those districts had long-standing issues, Tapia also points to the decline of the powerhouse San Gabriel Valley squad.

“Talk to my buddy Doug Belcher, the commissioner of District 1,” Tapia said. “He has the same lament - not enough people participating. He’s my counterpart over in Arcadia.

“He’s had a wonderful 16-18 Babe Ruth team under the leadership of Phil Torres that isn’t playing again. I think only one district, District 5 Heartwell of Long Beach, they put their team directly into the regionals. They’re the only Southern California team, so they’re off to regionals.”

Of course, an argument could be made that Tapia could have done the same and cobbled together one all-star squad.

“Actually, it’s kind of a one-area deal with Ralph,” Rader said. “Ralph had the opportunity to send teams and it was his choice not to. They were available to him. As to why, I’m not really sure.

“There’s a trend of that because there’s a lot travel ball teams, there’s more incentives for kids to play with them than Babe Ruth. A lot of kids playing in youth organizations also aren’t able to do so because their high school teams have summer programs and now they have to stick with them. Maybe that’s behind Ralph’s decision.”

When asked why he simply didn’t put together a squad with whoever was available, Tapia said his reasons were practical.

“I couldn’t field a roster of 15 kids for any age group, whether it be a 13- or 14- or 15-year-old team,” Tapia said. “I’m not going to put uniforms on 15 players, call them an all-star team and send them to get humiliated against powerhouses that have been so dominant in El Segundo, Westchester and Torrance.”

So, when asked if his Glendale/La Crescenta Babe Ruth division will be able to field an all-star team next postseason, Tapia said he’s unsure. However, he contends that the impact of Babe Ruth baseball can’t be undersold.

“Our task is to prepare kids for high school,” Tapia said. “The little leaguers have to transition from 60-foot bases to 90-foot bases and they do it in this division. Our kids go on to high school.”