WORLD SERIES

[Outlaw85]

On Monday evening at 6:00pm a meeting will be held at the Crossett Economic Development Building 125 Main Street in Crossett. This is a public open forum meeting to discuss Crossett’s possible hosting of the 13 Year Old Babe Ruth Baseball World Series in 2010. Sponsored by Crossett Parks and Recreation, the Crossett Economic Development Foundation and the Crossett Area Chamber of Commerce all citizens of Crossett are asked to attend.

An undertaking of this magnitude cannot be entered into lightly. Given the 2 plus years that the community of Crossett would have to make all the necessary arrangements to successfully host an event of this magnitude and prestige, this is a golden opportunity for Crossett.

A successful World Series can bring as much as 2 million or more dollars in economic impact to this area over the 8 to 10 days that the 9 teams from various parts of the United States are actually in Crossett! The Crossett 13 Year Old Babe Ruth All-Stars would be the host team and round out the 10 teams participating in this tournament.

Topics of discussion during the meeting will be of course financing the project and using the Babe Ruth “HOST FAMILY” plan to provide homes for players during their stay in Crossett. Other odds and ends of event planning will also be discussed. Representatives of area Business’s, Church’s and Civic Organizations are encouraged to attend this meeting.

More information may be obtained by calling the Sports Complex Directors office at 304 –2014, Crossett Economic Development at 364-8745 or the Crossett Area Chamber of Commerce at 364-6591.

Folks the above messege is from Parks and Recreation director Larry Cantley. As a parent and board memeber of Crossett Babe Ruth I urge you attend this meeting . Especially those with kids that are currently 11 years old. These are the kids that would be representing Crossett in the World Series. Crossett has hosted several tournaments since the opening of the complex, with each one being better than the one before. This is a great opportunity for the people of Crossett to to showcase our town and our facilities to the rest of the country. Let's all do our part to make this happen!

[complexed]

Thanks Randall
Lots a Pro's & lot's of Con's all need to be discussed publicly.
Appreciate it if you would all be there! Something this big offering a chance at a $2million dollar (PLUS) economic impact on Crossett & surrounding areas? Please come, listen, and please ASK QUESTIONS!
Thanks
LC

[Outlaw85]

After reading last weeks article by Todd Bergman in the ANO I felt compelled to write this message.

I grew up playing baseball at Maple Street, Tex Moore and E.C. Crossett. I have many fond memories of that time in my life. I was away from local baseball for many years until my kids were old enough to play. At that time I became actively involved in baseball again, this time as a parent, a coach and eventually as a member of the Crossett Babe Ruth Board of directors. For the past 11years I have been a coach in the local summer leagues. In that time I have been fortunate to either coach in or watch one of my boys participate in 10 Arkansas state tournaments and 4 Southwest regional Tournaments. I've been witness to Crossett baseball being perched atop the mountain as king and plunge to the bottom as a nobody only to slowly rise again. We haven't returned the top of the mountain yet but we are well on our way. Once again, cities across Arkansas know that the road to the state title often involves a team from Crossett.

In last week's ANO article it was stated that the World Series would not bring in a large contingent of fans supporting these teams.It was stated that extended families would not travel to support family members. From my experiences I cannot agree with those statements. having been to 4 regionals in recent year I have seen first hand the number of grandparents ,uncles and aunts, cousins, and even friends travel long distances to support a child in his quest for a championship. Take Crossett for example, We routinely book 15+ rooms at a hotel and stay 5-7 days supporting our kids. We have parents ,siblings ,aunt, uncles, cousins, grandparents and friends following us. In 2005, in addition to 12 players and 3 coaches, we had a contingent of around 70 family and friends follow the Crossett 10's to regionals in Springdale. On average we spent around $1,200 per family in the city of Springdale and surrounding areas. I've seen other towns roll in for a tournament in charter buses full of people. The people will come!!!!!

These people will shop our stores, eat at our restaurants, and stay in our hotels.Some will even attend our churches, and visit our zoo. This series may not pump in millions of dollars but it our hospitality and our first class sports facility can lead to more tournaments and other good things. Who knows if one of these kids has a parent looking for a place to locate a new business or nice small town for his family to live in. This tournament means more than money to Crossett.It could be a chance to lay a foundation and make a lasting impression on alot of people. This a chance to welcome the country into our small town. A chance to showcase our complex, our hospitality and our city. I urge the people of Crossett support this series and the people working hard to make it happen. This is our chance to make people want to come back to Crossett in the future.

Crossett has hosted a district, a state and 2 regional tournaments since the complex opened. all were successful with each better than the previous. How many times has the ANO been to the complex to see what is going on out there? How many have seen the improvements from year one until now? Get behind this series and not against it!

[Outlaw85]

Whats the status? I'm hearing we are turning it down. Complexed I haven't talked to you about it in awhile. Whats the word?

[complexed]

Several difficult issues pending, us (Crossett) having the 13's at the same time as Monticello having the 15's is a big issue. The dates 8/21 thru 8/28 2010 is a BIGGER problem, I checked with the School & in 2010 Crossett will start school on Monday 8/23. I'm in Van Buren at the 15's now & school started here Monday (games started last Friday & end this Friday (tomorrow as I type this)) and this created some huge problems for Big Al Swaim & his volunteers not just the host families but every thing from ticket (gate workers), field crew and others as well. also cost them some gate as Van Buren could not play the 8:pm game Sunday Monday or Tuesday because the had school the next morning. The ump crew hasn't left the field before 11pm except for Monday night and then it was still after 10pm. But yes we are working on some things (slide show to show what our facility needs to look like) and other planning stage stuff. Catch you when I get home to tell more when I have more time. Headed to the Field of Dreams now for a 5:30 & then a 8PM Semi final, championship Friday night at 6:30pm. Listen on the web at
www.fortsmithradiogroup.com and click on the Babe Ruth link for the live streaming broadcast.

Later Dudes

[complexed]

Let me clarify & make 1 thing perfectly clear we have not withdrawn from consideration or from the task of hosting the 2010 - 13 - Y.O. - Babe Ruth WS at the Crossett Sports Complex. Plans are still being made, work is still being done toward that goal! WE will host a WORLD SERIES in Crossett and hopefully it will be in 2010. But several hurdles that I mentioned must be addressed before we move completely into bringing the entire COUNTY and all it's great volunteers into this endeavor. I still believe this event has the potential to have 2 million dollars (or up-wards) in economic impact on SOUTH ARKANSAS mainly Ashley County & Crossett. Serving to speed up (& thusly pay for) needed additions and improvements, not just to the baseball fields at the complex but to the softball fields and soccer (& soon to be pee-wee football) fields to get us where we need to be facility wise in order to provide a complete and whole site that fits not only the needs of our local patrons. This also allows us to continue to host and bring in out of town visitors who will spend money in many of our local businesses. We will need all of you to chip in and support this since we all benefit! Be patient & stay tuned!