Alright, let’s gab a bit ’bout this Craig Stammen Classic thing. Don’t rightly know all the fancy details, but I’ll tell ya what I heard. It’s some kinda baseball doin’s for the young’uns, you know, little fellers and maybe some gals, too, runnin’ around playin’ ball.
Seems like this Craig Stammen fella, he used to play ball himself, big leagues and all. Now he’s come back home, wherever that is, and he likes watchin’ the kids play. That’s right neighborly of him, I reckon. He ain’t too big for his britches, that’s for sure. He started this whole thing, this “Classic,” so the young’uns can have some fun, smack that ball around a bit, and maybe even get good at it. That’s what I heard tell, anyway.
- They got all sorts of age groups playin’. Little bitty ones, and bigger ones too. 8U, 9U, 10U, 11U, 12U, 13U and 14U, whatever all them U’s mean. Just a whole mess of young’uns, I tell ya.
- And they got a bunch of teams, too. Enough to make your head spin. They say somethin’ ’bout eight teams for some of them age groups, but I ain’t countin’. Too many numbers for this old gal.
- This here thing has been goin’ on for a good long while now. More than ten years, they say. Folks seem to like it, ’cause they keep on doin’ it. Must be somethin’ special ’bout it.
Now, they just added a 13U division this year, or some such. Kids keep growin’ like weeds, I s’pose, so they gotta keep addin’ new age groups. Keeps things lively, that’s for sure. It’s put on by somethin’ called the Versailles Youth Baseball Association. Fancy name, but I bet they’re good folks. Just wantin’ to give the young’uns a good time.
This past weekend, they had a big to-do, a whole tournament, I guess you’d call it. Lots of young’uns playin’ ball, folks cheerin’, sellin’ hot dogs and such. Sounds like a good time. Heard tell there was, like, 720 young’uns playin’! Can you imagine? That’s a whole lotta kids! Makes my head spin just thinkin’ ’bout it.
Youth Baseball Tournament, they call it. That’s plain and simple, just like I like it. Kids runnin’, hittin’, throwin’ balls… good clean fun, far as I can tell. Keeps ’em outta trouble, too, which is more important than some folks realize. Kids need somethin’ to do, ya know, somethin’ besides sittin’ around starin’ at them phone thingamajigs all day long.
I heard somethin’ ’bout two players, one named Treon and another fella, Drew Langenkamp from St. Henry, they know this Craig fella. Maybe they’re his kin, or maybe just young’uns he knows from around town. Anyway, they was playin’ in this here Classic too. Must be somethin’ special to play in a game named after someone you know, someone who went on to do big things.
The whole idea, they say, is to have fun. And that’s what it should be all about, ain’t it? Kids havin’ fun, learnin’ a bit ’bout teamwork and sportsmanship, and maybe even dreamin’ ’bout bein’ a big-league ballplayer themselves someday. That Craig Stammen fella, he seems like he’s got his head on straight. Givin’ back to the community, and makin’ sure the young’uns have somethin’ good to do. That’s what I call a good egg.
This “Classic” thing, it ain’t just about baseball, though. It’s about bringin’ the community together, givin’ folks somethin’ to be proud of, and somethin’ to cheer for. And that’s important, ya know, especially these days. We need more good things goin’ on in the world, and this Craig Stammen Classic seems like one of ’em.
So, there ya have it. That’s all I know ’bout this Craig Stammen Classic. Like I said, I ain’t no expert, but I know a good thing when I hear about it. And this here sounds like a right good thing for the young’uns and the whole community. God bless ’em all, and may they hit lots of home runs.
