The showcase event of Babe Ruth Cal Ripken League 46-60 baseball that Hammond residents have looked forward to for the last several years has finally arrived. Thursday night at the Jean Shepherd Community Center, eight communities from all over the Unites States plus Northern Indiana state champion Crown Point and the host team Hammond Optimist to celebrate not only baseball, but friendship and camaraderie. The teams gathered in the staging area prior to being introduced at the banquet and had an opportunity to meet and greet each other.
Prior to the dinner, all 10 teams representing the eight respective regions as well as local teams Crown Point and Hammond Optimist were introduced. The loudest introduction came when Hammond and Mayor Tom McDermott’s team was introduced.
Along with Crown Point, Hammond Optimist will be able to sleep in its own bed at home rather than a hotel. Another big plus for Hammond is it will be playing on its home field at Hammond Optimist Park.
“We have an advantage. The boys and I have talked about this,” McDermott said. “The advantage that we have is that for the last two years we have known that we were going to be in this World Series. So we put a team together knowing that we were going to be in the World Series. I told the boys at the beginning of the season that there are only 13 kids in the United States of America that know that they are going to be in a World Series.”
Hammond’s season began on February 8th with an indoor tournament in West Lafayette. Since then, Hammond has participated in tournaments all over the Midwest with the goal to repeat was Viscala, California did two years ago as the host team – win the World Series.
“We’ve played 52 games this year,” McDermott said. “These boys are great, they’re good kids and they are going to play great. We’re the host team and we are going to go out there and play hard. We built a great complex. We got great parent volunteers and we got great players and coaches. And to be chosen for the Cal Ripken World Series is an honor.”
As mayor, McDermott said Hammond hosting the World Series has been a big boost to the city.
“I can tell you all the hotels are full and all the restaurants are full,” he said. “People are telling us that are local league is doing well. This is a huge positive for our city. People didn’t know where Hammond was a week ago. Now they are standing here telling us what a great time that they are having. For me as Mayor, that is a huge thing.”
The keynote speaker was Hammond Morton High School graduate Darrel Chaney. A second-round draft choice by the Cincinnati Reds in 1966, Chaney played for the Reds from 1969-75 and was on the 1975 World Series Championship team. Chaney played for the Atlanta Braves from 1976-79.
“When you are growing up you want to be a Major League Baseball player,” Chaney said. “You want to be in the Hall of Fame and you want to play in a World Series. I got to play in three of them with those guys. You are living a dream when that happens to you. And arguably (the ’75 Reds) in the ‘70s was the greatest team ever put together. I argue it was because I was on it. They were All-Stars, Gold Gloves or Hall of Famers. Even the broadcaster Marty Brennaman is in the Hall of Fame.”
“Having a chance to come back home and relive a banquet like this when I was a kid,” Chaney, who now lives in Georgia, said. “When I was a kid, Ernie Banks spoke at our banquet and it inspired me to be a Major League Baseball player and I choose him as a role model. I didn’t know what kind of a man he was off the field, but I have gotten to know him a lot since then. He is a great baseball ambassador.”
Chaney said today’s facilities are a far cry from when he played youth baseball.
“I think it is wonderful,” he said. “I came here early to see the venue because when I go out and speak I like to check everything out. We had one Little League field and it is a parking lot now over there at Caldwell. (The Hammond Optimist Park) is a beautiful ball field (as well as) the Jean Shepherd Center and Hessville Park – they put a fence up. None of that up when I was here. It is all nice and pretty and clean. It’s a great place for the kids to come and play and it is a great day for Hammond, no doubt.”
With the recent scandals involving several Major League players including New York Yankees star Alex Rodriguez, Chaney’s message focused on making the right choices.
”I am going to impress on the kids and on their moms and dads that I believe everyone needs to be a role model,” he said. “Everybody needs a role model and everyone needs to be a good role model. We have to be careful for whom we choose today for our children and for who are children choose to want to grow up and be like. Especially in professional sports. Because lately, we don’t know what we are getting.”
Click here to find out more about the Cal Ripken World Series.