June 26, 2020 at 11:16 a.m.
Back to the sandlot
Longing to play baseball, local kids take the initiative
Back to the sandlot
With all the formal, organized options out the window, a number of Rhinelander teens have taken matters into their own hands.
That's why, on Wednesday nights this month, there has been an oddly familiar feel around Stafford Field. There has been the sound of the baseball hitting the bat or the glove, the sound of cleats on the infield dirt. There has been chatter in the dugout. When it gets dark enough, even the lights come on at the home of Rhinelander baseball.
What started small, with only a handful of players organizing their own practices, has turned into enough players to have scrimmages.
Those around the park credit Rhinelander High School senior-to-be Isaac Bixby and junior-to-be Joe Schneider for getting the ball rolling - literally and figuratively.
"I thought it would be a nice thing to do to start these Wednesday practices, get everybody back on the field again," Bixby said. "The Safer at Home order was lifted. So we got people together and people started having a blast. It kind of stuck."
Bixby admits that baseball is his passion and that he and Schneider started preparing for this season as far back as last September with open fields and open gyms.
Momentum was building for the start of spring practice, but the start never came. Instead, COVID kept the young athletes indoors.
"I can't even explain it in words. Being locked down at home. It was very depressing at times," Bixby said. "Baseball helped me get through that."
"I know Bix(by) really wants to play college baseball, and so do I," Schneider said. "It really sucks for him that he didn't get his junior season, because I know a lot of scouts would be looking. Hopefully he'll just be in the best shape next year and, hopefully, me and him can perform really well. We hope to take this team and do really well next year."
As soon as Bixby and Schneider could get on a field, they did - even if it was only for a simple game of catch.
By sheer happenstance, their activity caught the attention of longtime volunteer coach Todd Johnson.
"It was like a rainy Sunday night and I'm driving home and I see the lights are on at the park, and it's like quarter to 10. I'm like, 'What the heck's going on,'" Johnson said. "I thought, 'Did the lights go on by accident?' I didn't know what was going on. So I drive in there and there's Bixby and Joe Schneider out in the outfield long tossing in the rain."
Bixby and Schneider knew they needed some adult help to get more of their teammates involved. They could not turn to RHS baseball coach Joe Waksmonski, who is not permitted to help out due to WIAA restrictions put in place regarding coach having in-person contact with their players during the pandemic. The same restrictions also preclude Rhinelander Post 7 legion baseball manager Dan Huhnstock, who serves as a JV coach on the RHS staff, from offering assistance.
Johnson does not have any formal ties to the RHS program, and was willing and able to lend a hand.
"We were looking for something to do like that," Johnson said.
"We were telling him we were going to start up the Wednesday practices and he's like, 'All right, I'll be there,'" Bixby said. "We've been basically running it like last year's fall practices. He'll hit us ground balls. We'll bring out the fly ball machine. It works perfectly."
Johnson and fellow longtime volunteer coach Ken Zuiker are helping the participants and providing some semblance of structure.
"It was great just to be on the field - the hustle, the excitement, just that environment," Zuiker said.
As the Wednesday sessions progressed, the number of participants slowly increased. RHS alumni Martin Hoger and Josh Randolph, both of whom are playing collegiately, popped in, as did a few others. Word even got to Eagle River and Three Lakes, with a couple of players from each community coming down to take part.
Schneider said it has been a pretty easy sell to get his friends down to the park.
"Everyone just wants to play some baseball and have some fun this summer," he said.
Finally, a couple of weeks ago, there were enough players present to put on a six-inning scrimmage.
Straight out of the playground playbook, the players picked their own teams. If there happened to be an adult watching from outside the fence, the kids tried to get that person to volunteer to call balls and strikes. Otherwise, the catcher was making the call.
"We separated some pitchers and catchers and that's how they began to pick their teams. From there, it's all them." Zuiker said. "They played hard, had a lot of fun. Obviously, we're worried about the arms. Kids are pitching an inning or two at the most, as long as pitch counts were manageable. But it was a lot of fun and it was really amazing to see the lights being flipped on."
And, when the lights came on, curious onlookers stopped by, just as Johnson did when Bixby and Schneider were playing catch.
"I think people are so starved to watch something, all of a sudden people were gathering on the hill like a normal night," Johnson said.
After several tumultuous months, there was a little sense of normalcy - even if for a few hours at the park.
"It felt like a game tonight," Schneider said after last Wednesday's outing, "It was pretty good. At least we're getting live at-bats and getting game-like reps. That's nice."
Johnson said the group is doing what it can to remain socially distant while getting out to play some ball.
"The kids aren't congregating upstairs," he said, referencing the RHS team clubhouse located in the second level of the indoor pavilion located just behind home plate. "There's no real access to the locker rooms. We're just running up there to put equipment back. I think everyone's sort of conscious of it, but it's not something that we're saying, 'OK, you've got to stay six feet part in the dugout.' We're letting them sort of self-manage that."
The status of the Wednesday night gatherings is up in the air, at least temporarily. Though the School District of Rhinelander's pandemic response team last week quashed the idea of spring sports teams playing any formal games during the summer contact period that begins tomorrow, Waksmonski said the team is still hoping to have practices in compliance with social distancing guidance that, as of deadline for this publication, were still being finalized by the district.
"We're going to get some guidance from our administration yet, and the medical team about how we can move forward," Waksmonski said. "It sounds like we might be able to do some things in groups of 10 or less. We'll still, hopefully, be able to get together and work with some guys."
Should those practices be canceled for whatever reason Bixby said he and Schneider still plan to get their teammates together as they have been, otherwise the Wednesday night gatherings would likely resume in late July.
Bixby said he recognizes how important this season would have been for the development of the numerous underclassmen on the RHS squad, like himself. He got his first taste of varsity baseball last spring, turning into the team's fourth pitching option in a rotation full of seniors. He went 2-2 with a 6.33 ERA in five appearances, before splitting his summer play between the Rhinelander Babe Ruth and Legion programs.
"I was thinking back to my sophomore year, due to all the snow we had all those doubleheaders and I was able to step up," he said. "It really allowed me to develop over my sophomore year. This was going to be kind of my final growing year to project for senior year. We lost that one, unfortunately."
A lost season does not necessarily mean a lost opportunity though.
"It's a little disheartening knowing there's not going to be (formal) games for a long time, but it's just fortunate that we get any games at all," Schneider said. "Just being able to play baseball is a great thing. Having these scrimmages are really fun. This is a pretty good (alternative)."
There may be no formal games this year, but there's a will by kids to play baseball, and they have found a way.
"There's a lot of kids that live and breathe summer baseball," Zuiker said. "That's very apparent."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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