Randy Smith: Perfect Game Baseball Takes Global Flavor

Hoover, Al., was the site of a huge youth baseball tournament this past week...actually it covered portions of two weeks, beginning last Friday and continuing through this coming weekend. There were teams from not only the United States but from around the world and the longest trek by any team was from Australia where the Aussies sent a pair of teams that spent 48 hours flying from Sydney to Atlanta due to delays, where they bussed the final few miles. When they got here, they realized they were in over their heads losing their pool play games by run totals of, 40-9 and 44-6. But they appeared to be so happy to be there it didn't matter whether they won or lost.

They were perhaps the most friendly group of parents you'll ever see at a ball tournament because unlike parents of American kids, they have no unreal expectations that their kid will ever make it to pro baseball. I never heard them get on the umpires and they took our suggestion of making sure they visit Dreamland while they were in the Birmingham area. When we paid a visit to the iconic rib place, with one of our large groups, they were already there, drinking beer and enjoying a delicacy they had obviously never experienced before. And if you've never been there yourself, don't be appalled when they bring you a stack of Sunbeam light bread and a big cup of Dreamland BBQ sauce to sop it in as an appetizer.

There were also teams there representing Puerto Rico and other Caribbean countries in a tournament that featured more than 200 teams in the 14 and under category alone. Look at what this event is doing for the local economy. It's estimated it's bringing in between $4.5 and $5 million in one week alone. While most games are being played in the fabulous Hoover Met Stadium complex on artificial turf, the Perfect Game organization also uses high school fields and other smaller parks in the area to handle the overflow. Chattanooga could be bringing in the same amount of money on a weekly basis during the spring and summer months if the city and county had the facilities...which they don't. I've written about this subject several times before and while most people agree with me, nobody has stepped up.

I am a member of the Chattanooga and Hamilton County Sports Authority Board which is overseeing the building of a new Lookouts Stadium at the old Wheland Foundry site on the south side of town. In addition to a sparkling new stadium for the Lookouts to play in, which is desperately needed, there are plans for restaurants and hotels and housing to be built around it. My contention all along is to also build a fabulous youth baseball and softball complex in the same area...a complex that would pay for itself a lot sooner than what is currently planned for the area. Of course we need Dreamland to expand to Chattanooga so the Aussies may want to come here instead of Birmingham.