A slice of baseball heaven in Libby

By Zach Urness

From the Bleachers

Baseball will take our people out-of-doors, fill them with oxygen, give them a larger physical stoicism. Tend to relieve us from being a nervous, dyspeptic set. Repair these losses, and be a blessing to us.

-Walt Whitman

Much has changed in the world since Walt Whitman wrote that immortal ode to baseball over 100 years ago, including baseball itself.

The game Whitman knew was a very simple brand of ball played in cornfields and street corners. There was lots of bunting and stealing, gloves were quite literally mitts and the home run was something that happened when you hit the ball far enough to make it around the bases in time.

The character of the game has changed even more. The Money/Juiced Ball era of MLB has created a massive economic power full of players who seem to value corporate endorsement and lucrative contracts above all else.

And yet the spirit of baseball inherent in Whitman's quotation does still exist. While the idea is sentimental and at the professional level nearly extinct, it still permeates the core of the game. It's the idea of playing with selfless joy, for exercise and comradeship, and for the simple pleasure of competition. It's the reason we play catch with our dads and Little League with our friends. It is, for lack of a better term, playing for the love of the game.

And that spirit of baseball was on display last weekend in Libby at Lee Gerhing Memorial Field during the American Legion state tournament.

Surrounded by rolling green hills in the rural logging town, Lee Gerhing Memorial Field is a tiny slice of baseball heaven.

As a spectator, the first things you notice about the stadium are the tight dimensions. There is very little foul territory behind the plate and the wooden stands behind home plate make it seem like you're right on top of the action.

You can hear the POP of a good fastball exploding in the catcher's mitt and see the looping break of a nasty curve ball.

You can hear advice shouted from the dugout to the batter and the metallic TING when he makes contact.

During games, the scratchy voice of an old play-by-play announcer fills your senses with the players' names, scores from around the state and some of the most randomly mixed music I've ever heard — everything from John Fogerty and Boston to Irish bagpipe music and the theme from Seinfeld were played over the loud-speakers.

The atmosphere in the stands was loud and tense all weekend. There were calls of encouragement for great plays and failure alike, and more than a few demands for the umpires' heads on a platter.

The field itself was strikingly beautiful, thanks in large part to the grounds crew. Perfectly mowed lines in the grass gave a liquid consistency to an outfield that could have been mistaken for a fairway on a golf course. The infield dirt was a rich brown color and was saturated and raked before every game.

But of course the real attraction was the players. Our Mission Valley Mariners played inspired baseball all week, even after being forced to sleep on the bus and in a gymnasium. They made elegant plays on defense and hit towering home runs on offense.

Perhaps the most striking thing about the Mariners is the kind of loose joy that exudes from the dugout.

Even after getting their butts whipped in the tournament's second game by a bunch of Canadians, they came to the field the next day with the same joking, happy attitude, almost like it never happened, and then proceeded to win four straight for the state title.

In hanging out in and around the Mariners' dugout for nearly 30 games this season I never once heard the players get on each other in a negative way.

Even those who ride the pine every game come to the field with a smile, play games like "pepper" and "flip" with teammates and cheer from the dugout.

Maybe the best representation of this team-first attitude could be seen in Charlo native Rocky Reynolds. Reynolds rarely saw the field and was primarily the team's bullpen catcher. He never had his picture in the paper. He made only 24 appearances at the plate. And yet there he was, coming out of the dugout to congratulate players after every single inning as they ran off the field.

While it was players like Brandon Thompson, Eric Locke, Tim Rausch and Will Gordon that drove the Mariners to the state championship, selfless players like Reynolds, Spencer Trawick, Kyle Bagnell, Joe McCarthy, Chris Alfiero and Austin Moran were just as important to the team's success.

Yes, the spirit of baseball is nearly extinct in the greedy and steroid injected major leagues. But far far from the cameras of ESPN, in places like Lee Gehring Field and in teams like the Mission Valley Mariners, it does still exist.

And had the spirit of Walt Whitman been in attendance, I think he would have agreed.

"I see great things in baseball," he said. "It's our game — the American game."