A Softer, Littler League Catches On in O.C.

LAGUNA NIGUEL —  A group of renegade parents who failed in their efforts to have a local Little League chapter adopt the use of a “safety” baseball say the rival league they formed is drawing members from throughout Orange County--and away from Little League.

The local version of the Youth Baseball Athletic League begins play March 2 in San Juan Capistrano, where more than 250 children from age 4 to 14 have signed up, having abandoned their traditional Little League chapters.

“We want to eliminate as much negativity as possible,” said Erik Peterson, whose 9-year-old son and 4-year-old daughter intend to play in the new league. “We want kids to come to the park and play--have a great time, feel that they’ve learned something. Leave with a positive feeling.”

Peterson’s remarks are symptomatic of the hard feelings of “Ballgate,” a controversy that grew like a weed last spring, dividing this largely upscale community and putting children in the middle of a nasty dispute that, as Peterson says, “was real hardball.”

At the heart of the conflict was baseball--not the game, but the ball itself.

Peterson, 38, his wife, Jeanne, 36, and scores of other parents had hoped to introduce on all levels of Little League play a softer version of the traditional baseball--one that looks, smells and feels like the white leather sphere that forms the centerpiece of the national pastime. Its only difference: It isn’t as hard.

What ensued was a heated debate that one parent said threatened to raise the ghost of Babe Ruth, but in the end, merely drew the attention of “Good Morning, America” and the “CBS Evening News.”

The group of renegades grew to more than 80 but were voted down anyway by the board of Rancho Niguel Little League, which said the traditional hardball signifies the proper values of the grand old game. In other words, case closed.

But in a dispute that continues to have repercussions, the upstart parents hadn’t struck out. Rather, they had gotten past second and were rounding third.

They soon formed the local chapter of the Palo Alto-based YBAL, which, since 1988, has grown to 10 leagues in 16 cities in Northern California. In addition to South County--its only chapter in the Southland--it plans inaugural leagues this season in Tempe, Ariz.; Roanoke, Va.; Omaha, Neb.; and Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

As for the Rancho Niguel Little League, which last year numbered 600 children from ages 6 to 12 playing in six divisions, life goes on as usual, albeit with fresh competition from a rival league. They may be without a few of last year’s players, but they still have the hardball.

“Our position is that any organization that offers a program that serves the youth of the community is an asset to that community,” said Lance Van Auken, the national spokesman for Little League Baseball Inc., which is based in Williamsport, Pa., where it was founded in 1939.

Officials for Rancho Niguel Little League declined comment on the upstart league, which is playing on private church fields in San Juan Capistrano, having been rejected in their efforts to play on municipal fields here. Those are used by Little League.

“Healthy competition is what Little League itself is all about,” Van Auken said, “so, no, we don’t mind at all. We welcome it.”

He also noted that Little League Baseball Inc., leaves entirely to its local chapters the potentially volatile decisions about the types of balls used in game competition--whether “safety” balls or hardballs.

Little League officials say they use 100 types of baseballs made by 19 manufacturers and that the traditional hardball, like its softer counterparts, meets their minimum safety requirements.

But in all levels of play, YBAL uses the so-called RIF, or reduced injury factor ball, whose center is made of polyurethane foam. As a point of contrast, the core of a hardball is made of natural wool yarn or coarse, synthetic fiber, which gives it its harder feel. It also gives it a resonant “thwack” off the bat--a missing ingredient in safety balls that accounts for much of its opposition from baseball purists.

However, a recent study by Michigan State University showed that there were 73% fewer injuries among children who use RIF balls, especially in lower-age divisions.

Advocates say safety measures are part of a nationwide trend sweeping youth-league play. State legislatures in New York, Georgia, Texas, Michigan and Tennessee recently passed resolutions urging children’s baseball organizations to adopt stronger safety measures.

In 1991, the National Summit for Safety in Youth Baseball and Softball--a symposium endorsed by then-President Bush--advocated the use of softer balls as “a minimum requirement . . . for reducing the incidence and severity of head injuries and soft-tissue injuries in youth baseball and softball.”

The symposium featured statistics from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, which notes that since 1973, more than 250 baseball-related deaths to people of all ages have been reported to the agency, representing an average of 10 to 12 a year. Children ages 5 to 14 were the victims in about one-third of the total reported deaths, the agency said.

But critics of the safety-ball movement say that conflicting studies prove the RIF ball is no safer than the traditional hardball and may even be more dangerous.

In a study conducted by Dr. David H. Janda of the Institute for Preventive Sports Medicine, researchers used crash-test dummies supplied by the General Motors Corp. Based on the finding that the RIF ball maintains contact with the body for a longer period, they concluded that it poses a greater chance of injury.

But one Orange County researcher disagreed, contending that despite Janda’s findings, the 1991 symposium--in which Janda participated--overwhelmingly endorsed the softer ball.

“I guess I’d rather be hit with a balloon than a rock,” said Stephan Walk, an assistant professor of kinesiology and health promotion at Cal State Fullerton, who participated in the Michigan State study, which involved videotaping 176 Little League games in Lansing, Mich., in 1991.

But Chuck Alley, 41, a San Francisco Bay Area filmmaker who founded YBAL, said the psychological reasons for using a softer ball outweigh even 100 volumes of scientific data.

“Little League talks tradition all the time, but what about teaching kids how to play and building skills?” Alley said. “In Little League, you see a hot ground ball, and the kid goes one way and the ball another. That’s teaching tradition? All it teaches is how to get out of the way of a rock going 60 miles per hour.”