Hit or Error?

Dusty Destler wanted to know why there weren’t any baseball magazines for kids.

Like so many 11-year-olds, Destler lives for Little League. Unlike other young players, his parents are in the publishing business.

So when Dusty started bugging them, his father Dave and mother Dayna searched through newsstands and bookstores. They consulted microfiche records in university libraries. And when their search came up empty, they took matters into their own hands.

Junior League Baseball, now on magazine racks nationwide, covers the gamut from T-ball to American Legion with profiles, interviews and instructional articles. It is purportedly the first monthly to target an estimated 20 million American boys and girls who play organized baseball.

At the most recent Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa., players clamored for copies of the magazine. Dusty, who got his picture on the cover of the premier issue, became something of a celebrity.

“I must have signed 50 autographs,” he said. “The magazines ran out so quickly.”

Still, Junior League Baseball faces what industry experts characterize as an uphill battle. Working from a converted residence in a nondescript suburban neighborhood, the Destlers must convince all of those youngsters to nag their parents for a subscription.

The magazine goes for a newsstand price of $2.95 and subscriptions are $19.95 for 12 issues.

“Kids are very picky,” said Samir Husni, a University of Mississippi professor who authors the annual Guide to New Consumer Magazines. “Just because they play baseball doesn’t mean they want to read about it.”

The first installment of Junior League Baseball has attempted to woo those youngsters with a lineup of stories that appeal to a range of ages.

The “Rookie Club” feature on fielding is written at a second-grade reading level with large type, small words and short sentences. “Coach Don,” writing for a fifth-grade audience, offers advice on gripping the bat. The “All Star Clinic” addresses pitching strategy for slightly older players.

On other pages, Tom Lasorda espouses his philosophy on baseball and life: “If the coach tells you to bunt, you’ve got to bunt . . . the same thing applies when you’re out in our world--there’s going to be somebody who is your boss.”

Todd Hollandsworth reminisces about youth baseball in an interview accompanied by snapshots that chronicle his career from Little League to Babe Ruth to the Dodger’s A team in Yakima, Wash.

There are also articles for parents on subjects such as safety equipment and appropriate behavior in the stands.

“Visually, it’s very well presented,” said Lance Van Auken, a Little League spokesman. “They certainly have a nice product out there.”

But Van Auken echoed the concern that young ballplayers may not think in terms of subscribing to a magazine. He and others wonder if the new publication can sustain interest year-round.

“Next month, the kids are going to play basketball,” Husni said. “The next two months, they are going to play soccer.”

Junior League Baseball also must fight to get noticed among a horde of newcomers. Last year alone, 838 magazines were launched. Half of them died within 12 months. The Destlers were nevertheless undaunted.

“We felt we know the audience so well,” Dave Destler said. “We were publishing a magazine that we would have happily subscribed to if it had existed.”

For 10 years, he and his wife published British Car magazine, a bimonthly that built a respectable circulation of 15,000. The struggle of launching another magazine appealed to them only because it would be a labor of love.

Just as Dusty caught the fever when he began playing T-ball at age 4, the Destlers were equally swept up in the game. Dave has coached. Dayna has volunteered as a team mom and scorekeeper.

So they quietly set about researching the viability of a youth baseball publication. Over the course of four years, they studied the market and drew up a detailed business plan.

Ultimately, they made the decision to sell British Car and put all of the resources of their Canoga Park office into the new project. During the final months before the premier issue, the Destlers would hold their breath as they visited newsstands, worried that another publisher might have seized upon the same idea. And they never spoke a word of it to Dusty.

“My parents didn’t tell me because I might tell my friends,” Dusty said. “They were afraid word might get out.”

The subsequent debut of the magazine has been warmly received. The Destlers say they have “a couple thousand” subscribers. USA Today’s Baseball Weekly wrote: “Junior League Baseball is about kids--no matter what page you turn to.” George Doig, a USA Baseball spokesman, expressed surprise that no one has published such a magazine before.

Even Van Auken, his reservations notwithstanding, said that Little League is considering a similar publication of its own that would be distributed among its players nationwide.

Meanwhile, the Destlers are busy preparing their second issue, which will feature a cover story on the Little League World Series and an interview with Brett Saberhagen of the Colorado Rockies. Dusty, who has been enlisted as an official “equipment tester,” will write a review of a new Louisville Slugger glove.

Like so many 11-year-old boys, he hopes to make it as a Major League ballplayer some day. But, so far, the magazine business doesn’t seem so bad either.

“I guess it’s my plan B,” Dusty said. “I’m starting to like it a lot.”