Baseball: the American pastime. Fans wait all winter for it. It comes in fresh and new with the spring flowers and goes out worn and tattered with the fall leaves.
One can say the same about baseball equipment. Players, mostly young ones, get very excited when they get a new glove or bat. They play with it for hours every day. Then, when it is worn out, they toss it aside and wait gleefully for the next new one.
What happens to that worn out glove or bat? Is it really too old for use? There are some kids in LaRomana, Dominican Republic that think not.
While on a cruise of the Caribbean in July 2023, Brother James “Rusty” Shope of Lucasville Lodge #465 saw a group of kids playing baseball. Being a coach and lover of the game, Rusty went over to the field to watch the kids play. The kids were playing hard, giving it their all just like any other group of young baseball players, but Rusty began to notice some things.
He noticed that their equipment was extremely worn and tattered. The bases were pieces of cardboard, the ball was brown and torn, their equipment was well beyond use. This concerned Rusty. Nevertheless, the kids were having the time of their lives.
Rusty began to talk to some of the locals and eventually was able to speak with the man in charge of the kids. They talked about the game and the condition of the equipment. Rusty asked the man for his contact information and told him that he would see if he could obtain some equipment and send it to him.
When he returned home, Rusty began thinking about how he could get equipment donated to send to the kids. Well, it didn’t take long before donations began to come in. I mean, Lucasville was home to Branch Rickey (raised in Lucasville Lodge) and southern Ohio loves its baseball. Rusty reached out to some other coaches and in a short time they amassed enough gear to fill a cargo van. Over 400 pounds of gear in all. Bats, gloves, balls, bases, catchers gear, and more. All donated from local lovers of the game.
Well, that was the easy part. The hard part was getting the equipment to LaRomana. Rusty and one of his coaching friends began reaching out to local shippers and one thing led to another. A local business that ships its products all over the world agreed to ship the gear to the kids.
The gear made it to LaRomana and we’ll just let the photo of
the kids tell you the rest.
