Play Ball: Life Lessons Learned on the Diamond
The Hendricks Avenue Baseball League (HABL) kicked off its new season on Saturday, Feb. 24.
For more than 75 years, the community baseball league has introduced generations of children to the sport and instilled the love of the game.
This season will host 351 kids, divided among 32 teams in four different age groups: T-ball for ages four through six; Instructional for seven- and eight-year-olds; Minors for nine- and 10-year-olds; and Majors for 11- and 12-year-olds.
HABL Board Member Jason Eliopulos has been part of the league since fall 2020 and is now watching his youngest son age out of the league this season. He said being part of the league and introducing the sport to little ones “means everything.”
“Baseball’s a special game,” he said. “San Marco and the surrounding communities are special communities. You can teach a lot of life’s lessons through the game of baseball.”
In the final days leading up to Opening Day, Eliopulos said most of the hard work had been completed. Evaluations were held for all age groups – except for T-ball – back in January and Eliopulos said the league holds drafts to avoid stacked teams or “behind-the-eight-ball” teams. Practices began on Feb. 3 and the first round of games were held the morning of Feb. 24, before the Opening Day Ceremony.
San Marco resident Zach Mitchell is another parent who will be watching his youngest son go through the league this year. Between his 13-year-old, 12-year-old and 9-year-old, by his math, his family has been a part of HABL for 16 seasons and played on more than 35 teams between regular and all-star teams. This last season is a bittersweet experience as HABL has given more to Mitchell himself than he had ever anticipated.
“I wasn’t expecting to fall back in love with baseball,” he said. “I fell back in love with my childhood sport. I wasn’t expecting to make so many friends, I’ve made a ton of friends. I wasn’t expecting to coach, I wasn’t expecting to be a commissioner. I wasn’t expecting to drag the field and do a lot of field maintenance. I just didn’t expect what a big part of my life it would become.”
Since joining in 2015, Mitchell said his children have “learned a ton” from HABL and it’s where they want to be, even when they’re not playing.
“We’ve spent a bunch of nights and days up there even when they don’t play because they want to go watch their friends and play with their friends,” he said.
Looking beyond HABL, Mitchell said his oldest one has joined a travel league, which his 12-year-old plans to do in the fall. Most youngsters move on to travel leagues after ageing out of HABL, Eliopulos explained, as “there’s organizations all over town that offer that.”
“Ultimately we’d like to have a third team – a 14/15 league – but it’s just a matter of practice time and field constraints,” he said.
HABL serves the communities of San Marco, St. Nicholas, the Southbank, Lakewood and San Jose. Its park is located on the Hendricks Avenue Baptist Church premises at 4001 Hendricks Ave.
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