Damage to Ballpark Truly Foul

Some things, like pushing old women out of line or snatching candy from babies, are bad form even for crooks. Somebody ought to tell that to the vandals who trashed a San Fernando Valley Little League ballpark.

Less than two weeks from opening day on March 9, the West Valley Little League is facing an empty “field of dreams.”

Vandals broke into the team equipment shed, ransacked a snack bar and spray-painted their juvenile gang tag all over the team’s facilities at Oxnard and Louise avenues.

The taggers were relentless in their mission. Not only did the gang plaster yellow spray paint on stove burners, rip doors off hinges and steal bats and balls, but they taped down the handles on soda dispenser spigots to flood the floors with sticky Coca-Cola.

Choosing the lesser of two evils, Giants coach Joe Bua figures it would have been better if the vandals had just plundered the equipment shed. Instead they damaged everything in sight and left the league scrambling to find the $2,500 or so needed for repairs. If no other solutions appear, Bua said the league could function without a snack bar.

But not for long.

“We can’t just cancel the opening day,” Bua said, surveying the damage to the snack bar. “We have 350 kids waiting for March 9th.”

Other than sign-up fees, donations and money fromsmall fund-raising events, the only source of income for the league is from the snack stand.

Even with a pancake breakfast planned, West Valley Little League President Brian Anson said the nonprofit league will struggle to make ends meet. “Paying for this [damage] means we will likely have to buy a little cheaper uniforms, cheaper hats and eliminate yearbooks.”

Compared to the more affluent Little League teams in Encino and Woodland Hills, Anson said the West Valley League takes in children who can’t afford the fees but still want to play baseball. For Bua, the incident is more than just professional; his two sons, Joey and Andy, also play in the league.

Los Angeles Police Det. Jerry Beck, of the Van Nuys Division Community Tagger Task Force, said the vandals’ choice of the field was probably intentional for the attention they would gain by damaging it.

“That’s their whole point,” Beck said of teenage taggers. “They want to make sure the tagger community and other kids see their tag. It’s how they gain fame and notoriety.”

Beck said officers are not treating the incident as just harmless graffiti. The vandals may face felony burglary charges if caught, especially with the premeditation that was involved.

But typical of a good coach, Bua used the crime to teach his players. The day after the incident, he walked them through the shed and reminded them of sandlot dreams that give them an alternative to gangs.

“We need to get these kids off the street and in our league so we give them a positive experience,” Bua said. “Then things like this wouldn’t happen.”