Excerpt from talk with Mayor Doug Palmer

On the day of new Trenton mayor Tony Mack’s inauguration, we were able to reach outgoing mayor Doug Palmer, the first African-American to hold that position in Trenton and a lifelong fan of baseball. Palmer was a star in Trenton’s West End Little League, in American Legion ball, and was a draft choice of the Pittsburgh Pirates coming out of high school. Here are a few snippets of our conversation with Palmer. For the full transcript, pick up a copy of the Ben Franklin Project edition of The Trentonian on July 4th or go to trentonian.com.

(As told to Andy Edwards)

My involvement with baseball goes back forever. I grew up in the era of the 50s and 60s when baseball was king, when it was truly America’s pastime. Every kid had a glove and a bat and a torn up ball. We used to play pickup games in school lots, on baseball fields, with any kind of ball we could find, so I grew up with baseball as a part of my life. Baseball has always been a part of my life, and a part of my culture, especially after Jackie Robinson. My baseball roots go back to the cradle, basically.

It’s sad, but I think that programs like RBI (Reviving Baseball in Inner cities) and what the Trenton Thunder are doing with the leagues is a step. I also believe that you need better coaches that are trained. The coaches need to be well-trained, and we need better-trained coaches that can work with these youngsters. First and foremost, training coaches in every aspect of the game, but also getting coaches that played in the game, that are interested in the game, and it’s not an ego thing for them.

Some of these coaches act like they played in the Major Leagues or something. It’s not all about winning. It’s about teaching these kids the basic fundamentals: how to hit the cutoff man, how to steal, how to slide. That has to come from hard work, but that’s what has to happen because you can get enough kids interested in baseball. If they continue to work and succeed, you’ll get more and more. There needs to be real focus and a plan, and I would involve all four little leagues. We need a true school of baseball in the inner city.

Conversation with Jim Ramm

As part of our Trenton Baseball Revival project, we spoke with Jim Ramm, who has a lifelong relationship with baseball in Trenton. He played in  the West End Little League in the 1960s, became the youngest manager in the league in 1966 and formed the District 12 Umpires Association. With all of this experience, we thought he would be a perfect person to talk to and gain some valuable insight about what it will take to improve baseball in the city.

(As told to Andy Edwards)

-I played in the West End Little League back in the 60s, and in 1966 I became the youngest manager in the league. I was a coach for 32 years, having won three titles as playoff champs as well. From there I went on to become involved in administration and formed the District 12 Umpires Association, and in that role I was in charge of all the umpires in all of the city leagues.

Baseball was very popular(a few decades ago). Besides having four leagues in the city of Trenton, there were also two Babe Ruth leagues. But even when I was umpiring, the city didn’t maintain the fields well, and it’s a shame to see all the numbers(of players) go down. Even when the numbers were going down years ago, they should have had one entire league for the city of Trenton instead of four leagues.

Baseball has declined in Trenton because you are not getting the kids that want to come out and play the game. There are kids that decide to move out of the city and into the townships, where feeder systems and little leagues take them up to the Babe Ruth leagues and then on to high school. At Trenton High, there is no feeder system. Now that the two teams (North Trenton and Chambersburg) are combined as one, I hope it does help, but we need a feeder system in the city. Over the course of the years, when the All Star breaks came, the kids decided they didn’t want to play ball anymore.

When I coached Little League, we had a 27-game regular season schedule. When the All Star breaks came in July, we didn’t stop. We continued out league right through August. That’s how strong of a schedule we had. In the 70s, I happened to have the honor of being the pitching coach on the 1976 All Star team. We had a girl named Kelly Williams who was the first girl to ever pitch in an All Star game in Little League baseball in Trenton. Before she came along, I was the only manager in the West End league to have a female shortstop on my team.

As an umpire, when Doug Palmer was coaching in the championship game, I called a balk on his pitcher that cost him the game. Doug to this day remembers that with me, and he still tells me I made a great call.

When I started the District 12 Umpires Association, I got a hold of some guys, told them I was starting an organization and asked if they would like to be a part of it. I contacted the individual leagues and asked if they were interested in our services. Back then, we only got $10 a game to umpire the bases or the plate. I had a whole group of people, and we did not only North Trenton but also West End, Chambersburg, South Trenton, Nottingham, and Lawrence. I was also the assigner of umpires. When somebody called and said they couldn’t make their game, who do you think had to fill in?

To bring baseball back in Trenton, I believe that all the leagues should get together and form a new league called Trenton Little League, especially with the way the economy is today and the numbers in all of Trenton’s leagues being as they are. This way they can use all the fields in the city and draw from all over instead of the league boundaries they currently have. We also need help from the city. They do not help out the leagues, especially with things like maintaining fields. In 1976, when I was involved with the bicentennial, we requested to put lights up at West End. We had to fight the city to get them. The city used to give all the leagues equipment, but we had to fight them to get lights up.

Starting to come together

Thanks to your help, we’re making some real progress with the TBR project.

The flow of e-mails and Twitter messages from people who want to help is picking up, and we still have a week left before our first deadline — the July 4, Ben Franklin Project edition of The Trentonian.

As a refresher, the best of your ideas on how to revive Trenton baseball will be featured in the print edition on July 4, when we’ll compile a full list of the suggestions we’ve gotten and, hopefully, announce some concrete steps that we’ll take as part of the initiative.

July 4, when we’ll publish a paper and web product using only free, web-based tools is a big day for our paper and our company. But in terms of the Trenton Baseball Revival, it’s only the first of many steps in our mission to bring the community together and get something done.

We’ve also gotten several e-mails from people remembering the glory days of Trenton baseball, such as the great Scroths legion teams of the 30s, 40s and 50s.

In the meantime, here’s a rundown of what you can expect on the blog and at trentonian.com over the next few days:

* Jeremy Schneider visited Six-Eleven Little League yesterday and put together this video piece with players, coaches and parents chiming in on the state of Trenton baseball.

* Jeremy also visited the West End Little League, and we’ll have that video up on the home page later today.

* Andy Edwards is headed back to Martin Luther King Park, where the North-Burg Little League team is practicing tonight at 6. After talking with North Trenton LL president Rob White last week, Andy is going to gather some feedback from some of the Burg’s players, coaches and fans.

* Billy Tharp, a three-sport varsity athlete at Robbinsville High who contributes regularly to The Teentonian, is gathering feedback from players at every school in the Colonial Valley Conference. We’ll have snippets of his findings on the blog as they come in.

* Luke Pasch is emerging as our Trenton legion beat writer. He’ll be at the game tonight against Hopewell, where Trenton will be looking for its fourth win in five games.

* George Case, whose father grew up in Trenton and went on to play for the Washington Senators and Cleveland Indians, is compiling a group of photos of his dad from the glory days of Trenton. Those kind of memories will continue to serve as the backdrop for what we’re doing going forward.

Any and all ideas and suggestions are welcome. Leave them now in the comments section here or at trentonian.com; e-mail them to me at bdoody@trentonian.com; leave them on the Trentonian.com fan page on Facebook; or send me a message on Twitter.

Looking forward to hearing from you. Let’s keep this thing going!

- Ben

Two out of three for Trenton

The Trenton legion team lost Sunday, but not that didn’t diminish a weekend in which the team went 2-1.

Trenton won twice Saturday before falling Sunday to Bordentown.

Below are recaps from Sunday’s loss and Saturday night’s win. The recap of Saturday afternoon’s win is also on the blog.

Bordentown 3, Trenton 2

TRENTON — Posts 93/182 continued to play well, but Post 26 came up with just enough runs to elude the upset at Wetzel Field.

Chris Pula went 3-for-3 and drove in a run before coming on in relief of starting pitcher Peter Pulhac to get his third save for Bordentown.

Rangel Betances and Benito Gonzalez were 2-for-3 for Trenton (2-12), which won its first two games Saturday.

Saturday
Trenton 5, Hightstown 4
WEST WINDSOR — Posts 93/182 made it two in a row as Benito Gonzalez came on in relief and picked up his second win of the night at Mercer County Park as Trenton swept Post 148.

Trenton Legion team gets first win

As you can read in today’s Trentonian, the Trenton legion team is on the board with a 5-4 win over Hightstown — the team’s first victory of the year.

WEST WINDSOR — James Pugliese’s perfect game stole the headlines from Trenton Posts 93/182, which won its first game of the season by coming up with a run in the eighth inning as it completed a suspended game with Hightstown Post 148 at Mercer County Park.

Rangel Betances doubled to open the bottom of the eighth, then moved to third base on Shaquan Washington’s sacrifice bunt.

Eli Garcia followed with an RBI single to center field to give Trenton its first victory in 12 tries this season.

Benito Gonzalez went the distance to get the win by only allowing one earned run.

He had also homered in the game, a two-run shot in the fifth inning.

Kevin Carlisi drove in two runs for Post 148.

VIDEO: North Trenton Little League president Rob White

What kind of problems is the North Trenton Little League facing? Here’s part 1 of our video chat with president Rob White, who’s been involved with Little League in the city for more than 25 years.

Meeting with North Trenton Little League president Rob White

As part of our Trenton Baseball Revival project, we took a trip to Martin Luther King Park to watch the tryouts for the North Trenton Little League All-Star team and meet with Rob White, the president of the North Trenton Little League. White was kind enough to give us a few minutes of his time, as well as some valuable insights on the state of baseball in the city. Some of the key talking points from our meeting:

1. Baseball is experiencing a dearth of participation in Trenton, and not just because of the concurrent rise of basketball and football in the city. According to White, much of Trenton’s youth spends their day riding bikes or playing videogames. Baseball, unlike just a few decades ago, is not the “cool” thing to do these days. Basketball certainly plays a role, though. White pointed to the widespread presence of basketball leagues around the city as a major reason for the absence of similar baseball leagues.

2. Funding is, not surprisingly, a major problem for baseball in Trenton. The Trenton Elite Giants, the city’s under-12 travel team, is funded by Baseball Tomorrow, but the participation fee of $100 is often too steep for inner-city families to afford. Factor in a lack of knowledgeable coaches, and travel ball doesn’t exactly have kids lining the streets to be a part of it. The fee for White’s North Trenton teams, which will merge with the Chambersburg team in order to field a full team, is $55. This amount goes toward paying for umpires, uniforms and trophies among other benefits, but nonetheless it remains a steep price for many families.

3. Speaking of families, parental issues play a huge role in whether or not a Trentonian child is able to lace up their cleats. Many inner-city families are headed by single parents, who may not have the time or the resources to put their child on a baseball team. White values discipline more than most coaches, and he sees a lot of parents who allow their kids to give up baseball without giving it a fair shake. In any case, the challenges facing families in the inner city certainly are a major reason for the steady decline of baseball in Trenton.

4. Many youngsters who want to play, and who have the support of their parents, are still unable to do so because of transportation difficulties. Lots of families simply don’t have the time or a vehicle to take their kids to a field that isn’t within walking distance.

5. White mentioned several times that the Trentonian isn’t the first organization to come by hoping to help, nor will it be the last. He pointed out past promises from the Trenton Thunder to provide funding for his league that went unfulfilled, and noted that the Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities (RBI) program has been largely ineffective in the city. When White started 27 years ago, there were anywhere from 15 to 20 teams in the in-house league. Now, there are only 3. If baseball stands any chance of making a comeback in Trenton, it will take concerted efforts from organizations across the city to provide consistent and generous funding for its little league and other programs.

-Andy Edwards