Balmy Day, Smell of Grass, Spring Ritual Comes at Last : Baseball: Pint-size Orioles, Mets, Expos and their parents crowd the field as Encino’s Little League season opens with star-studded pageantry.

If there is a place that craves a sense of normalcy, Los Angeles is it.

After earthquakes, fires, floods, riots, high unemployment and reports of approaching killer bees, how better to celebrate order and renewal than with the spring ritual of youth baseball?

As if to proclaim that life goes on, Mayor Richard Riordan on Saturday morning joined hundreds of parents and children for opening day ceremonies of the Encino Little League.

Other community Little Leagues will hold opening day events this weekend and next, but few will be as elaborate or star-studded as the one staged on Encino’s manicured fields.

About 400 miniature Orioles and Mets, Angels and Yankees, Expos and Twins--along with at least as many parents--welcomed Riordan, Los Angeles Raiders defensive end Anthony Smith and other guests, including strolling cartoon characters Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and Sylvester the cat.

It was “a great example of people getting together--of not being depressed, of being optimistic,” Riordan said.

“This is amazing,” said Smith, adding that he was taking notes to bring the experience to disadvantaged neighborhoods.

The event was a well-orchestrated pageant that included a Cub Scout color guard and recital of the Little League pledge: “I will play fair and strive to win. But win or lose, I will always do my best.”

As the 34 teams of brightly uniformed youngsters, ages 5 to 12, paraded into the outfield about 8:30 a.m., Riordan snipped the tag from his new “Encino Baseball” sweat shirt and prepared to throw out the first ball. He did so by warming up for several minutes in foul territory, creating an extended photo opportunity.

“Hey, Dave, high five for the mayor,” said a man to the small boy he held in his arms. But Dave would have none of it and squirmed deeper into his father’s embrace.

The master of ceremonies was radio personality Charlie Tuna, a former Encino Little League coach known to many here by his real name, Art Ferguson. He called Riordan to the microphone as strains of Randy Newman’s “I Love L.A.” blared from the speakers.

Riordan threw out the first ball twice--because television missed it the first time. Positioned behind home plate, Jackie Tatum, director of the city’s Department of Recreation and Parks, snagged both throws.

“That’s the first time in the history of Encino Little League that anyone has caught the first ball,” quipped league President Gary Lazar.

As hundreds of helium-filled balloons rose into the sky, parents, children and well-wishers poured onto the field to pose for pictures with the mayor. Officials shooed the throng from the diamond to make room for the opening contest between the Yankees and Cardinals.

Carl Samrock, one of the organizers, seemed pleased with the day and recalled the days he was a boy. “I was sort of smelling the grass and thinking . . . 40 years ago the grass smelled the same,” he said.

“It smelled like that . . . when you played as a kid. . . . It smelled like that when Ty Cobb played.”