New Team Means Opportunity
for Left-Out Players
Alameda Journal
July 10, 2008
by Mike McGreehan
Imagine yourself as a college or junior
college baseball player, a young person who has played the game for most
of his life. Now imagine yourself as the same person wanting to play in
a summer league, but without a team to play on.
Such was the case this year for some
19-years-and-older residents of Alameda and surrounding communities. In
past years, the Alameda Babe Ruth League organized the Senior League
Merchants and Mariners teams for players up to age 19. Due to changes in
National Babe Ruth League policy, Alameda Babe Ruth is only allowed to
support teams with a maximum age limit of 18.
Longtime friends Jeff Croft and Devin Grigg,
veterans of Alameda Little League, Babe Ruth and seniors on Alameda High
School's 2006 North Coast Section 3A East Bay championship team, took
matters into their own hands. Thus, were formed the Alameda Dirt Dogs, a
19- older team that plays its home games at Lincoln Park and College of
Alameda.
"There are guys on the team that are 20,
21 and some who are 18," says center fielder/closer Grigg, who has
played the past two seasons at Chabot College and plans to continue his
career at Cal State-Monterey Bay. "Mainly, it was me and Jeff
(Croft) deciding that there really wasn't anything for 19-year-olds in
Alameda. We wanted to play a couple more years at least. And we wanted
to stay local."
"Devin and I didn't want to separate and
go far away," adds third baseman Croft, who played at Laney College
the past two years and plans to continue at Cal State-East Bay.
"We've got guys from Chabot, guys we knew from playing with before.
This was our way of staying here, having fun, and playing the game we
love to play together."
Croft and Grigg also were fortunate to find a
league that needed another team. The Dirt Dogs compete in the Stan
Musial Division of the Western Baseball Association. Other teams in the
division come from El Cerrito, Palo Alto, San Jose, Morgan Hill and
Seaside.
"We didn't know anything about this
league," Croft says. "I was looking to find games when I got
e-mails from coaches recommending (the league). When we heard that they
had another spot in the league, I talked to Devin, my mom (Maria Croft)
and Dennis DiFabio, our coach. (By being in a league), we get a set
schedule rather than having to try to find our own games week after
week."
The Dirt Dogs came together in a relatively
short time. An announcement regarding the formation of a "21-under
traveling team" first ran in the Alameda Journal and its sister
publications in April. But it didn't take long for players to sign on.
In addition to Grigg and Croft, the roster also includes former Alameda
High teammate Devin Hobbs, former Encinal players Brandon Beal, Jamie
Bahr and Mike Senter. Ex-Bishop O'Dowd catcher Trevor Sampson started
with the team, but moved out of state as he prepares to enter Missouri
Baptist College in St. Louis this fall. But ex- Alameda High standout
Kenny Arnerich and former Bishop O'Dowd ace Graham Rodriguez are late
add-ons who give the team a big boost.
Of course, any sports team needs more than
just players and coaches. There must be adequate funding.
"We had everybody pay $350 to
play," Grigg says. "We had a big fundraiser -- a spaghetti
feed. We've got sponsors. We've had enough funding so far."
Having gotten everything in place, the Dirt
Dogs also have performed better on the field than many in their league
might have expected. The team is 8-5, including a 7-3 mark in league
play after a doubleheader split with the El Cerrito A's at Lincoln Park
on July 6.
The Dirt Dogs commenced their inaugural
season by going 1-2 in the June 4-7 San Leandro Tournament. League play
started June 8 with the first in a series of Sunday doubleheaders. The
Dirt Dogs split that opening doubleheader against another Alameda-based
team -- the East Bay White Sox -- at Washington Park.
Perhaps some of the Dirt Dogs players could
have opted to join the White Sox. But they didn't.
"They're a bunch of older guys -- not
old-old -- but a couple years older than me," Croft says.
"They have a lot of guys from Oakland and San Leandro."
Playing on teams like the Dirt Dogs also
involves travel. The team didn't have to go far to face the San Leandro
Braves for a practice game at San Leandro Ball Park on Wednesday. But on
Sunday, the Dirt Dogs travel to Live Oak High School in Morgan Hill for
a doubleheader against the Morgan Hill Mudcats.
Given their early success, the Dirt Dogs'
hopes remain high.
DawgWear
