Gallant Tournament ready for 30th anniversary this year

SALEM – The 30th anniversary of the Raymond Gallant Invitational Baseball Tournament is turning out to be both memorable and controversial.And director Ray Cruddas isn?t sure why there should be any.The tournament started in 1984 as a way to unite various factions of youth baseball for a season-ending tournament that gives kids of Little League age a small taste of what they?re in store for at the next level. The games are played at O?Grady Field at Forest River Park (home of Salem Little League) and they?re seven — not six — innings long.Teams have historically been culled from much larger geographic regions than the territories of various Little Leagues in cities and towns with more than one (Lynn, for example, will field one team comprised of players from several organizations).?It?s not a Little League tournament,” says Cruddas, who has run the tournament for the last 15 years, having taken over for Bill Mignault. “There?s no Cal Ripken, no Little League … and we have our own insurance.”Thus, Marblehead — which has a Ripken program — can compete with the likes of Lynn, Swampscott, Peabody, Salem, Wakefield and Amesbury. Cruddas says the tournament is still one team short, “and we may have to talk about byes if we don?t get the eighth team.”And that?s a shame, as far as Cruddas is concerned.?We think this is the best of the best (in terms of post-season tournaments),” he said. “It was aimed at bringing all the cities together, and its objective is to just provide kids with one last tournament on the small diamond before they graduate to a regulation-sized field when they?re 13.”Gone from the tournament this year are Beverly, Danvers and Gloucester, all of which have been stalwarts in the past. Beverly Little League has set up its own tournament, which will be run around the same time (the Gallant starts Aug. 15).What?s complicated things, Cruddas says, is the decision to switch to wood bats as opposed to composite bats.?That, unfortunately, has put some people off,” he said.Cruddas said there are several reasons for the switch, but safety is the most important one.?We just weren?t fans of composite bats,” he says. “Those composite bats just allow balls to fly off it.?I wouldn?t want to take a home run away from anyone,” says Cruddas, “But with those bats, four-foot second basemen were cranking home runs.”O?Grady, even by Little League standards, is a short field (185 feet down the lines; 200 to straightaway center), and Cruddas feels it?s still very possible for someone to get a hold of one and crank it out of the park.?They don?t have to be monster shots, though,” he said. “You can hit a 200-foot homer just as much as a 400-foot homer. We had a couple hit a few years ago that probably haven?t landed yet.”But, says Cruddas, “what we?re looking at is a couple of kids have been hurt … we?ve seen instances where a couple of kids have almost had their heads taken off by balls hit off composite bats.”He also said that when you take into consideration the shorter distance between the plate and the mound on a Little League field, and factor in the younger age of the competitors, wood bats are the way to go.The Salem Little League, which helps run the tournament, is providing each team with seven wood bats: One 31-ounce, and two 28s, 29s and 30s.?I?ve been coaching since before I had kids in the league,” said Cruddas, “and kids today are bigger, faster and stronger. And some of the guys playing in this tournament are the best of the best. They can really generate a lot of torque. Putting a wood bat in their hands might slow all that down.”