Sunday, April 18, 1999
Kid Glove Games provide equipment
BY JOHN ERARDI
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Fifty years ago, Reds general manager Gabe Paul and some other Cincinnatians brain-stormed an idea that would prove to be a boon to the baseball-playing youth of the area:
Schedule an exhibition game between the Reds and an American League team during the season, with the proceeds going toward the purchase of equipment for kids' baseball teams.
“Up until 1949, the (youth coaches) would go down to Crosley Field and get the old broken bats and scuffed-up baseballs,” said Paul Kramer, executive secretary of the Powel Crosley Jr. Amateur Baseball Fund.
And, so, what is the value of a brilliant idea?
Would you believe $5.1 million?
That's a lot of equipment over the last 50 years.
And half of the $5.1 million total has been raised in the last 10 years. During that time, the Kid Glove Game went from being a once-a-year exhibition game to twice-a-year regular-season games.
Once again, it was necessity proving to be the mother of invention.
“We heard the players (Reds and the American League team) didn't want to play (the extra game) any more, so we had to come up with another idea,” Kramer said. “We went to the Reds, and it was one of their employees — Tony Harris — who thought up the idea of using regular-season games.”
Kramer said Cincinnati is the only major-league city that raises money for youth baseball in this way. Over the years, the Kid Glove games have helped foster a close relationship between youth and the Reds. Scouts marvel at the fertility of the cold-weather Cincinnati area as a producer of college and professional baseball talent; excellent youth programs are at the foundation of it.
The first of the two Kid Glove games this season will be Thursday against the Mets. For $5, you buy a voucher for a game ticket. You turn in the voucher at the ballpark and you get the best seat available. The worst seat you're going to get is a $7 red-reserve.
And the best?
“Well, there've been years when some (young fans) have wound up with Marge Schott's blue box seats,” Kramer said, smiling.
The vouchers cannot be purchased through the Reds, only through the Fund. If you don't know anyone selling vouchers, call Kramer at 426-1633 or 341-1619.
Kramer processes the orders for equipment. The youth coaches fill out an order form, and the total dollar value of the vouchers they and their players have sold is the amount the coaches get to spend on equipment. The order form includes a variety of selections: everything from bats to balls, home plate to bases, helmets to batting tees, batting-swing devices to radar baseballs.
“The whole idea is for us to get the kids the best quality equipment for the best price,” Kramer said.
Since 1988, the Fund has been generating an average of about $226,000 a year. The top year was 1997 ($274,000), a year that marked another milestone for the Fund: expanding its horizons to include girls' softball. Last year the Fund expanded to include an adapted league that provides handicapped children with the opportunity to play ball.
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