It looks like there’s going to be baseball after all.
After receiving permission from the town Health Department, Peabody Babe Ruth is moving ahead with plans to host a six-week season for two different age groups along with teams from Lynn, Danvers and Wakefield once the go-ahead is given for Phase 3 of Massachusetts’ reopening plan amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The tentative date for Phase 3 to take effect is July 6.
“It’s very exciting that we’ll be able to bring baseball to the kids this summer,” said Jarrod Hochman, president of Peabody Babe Ruth. “This is all about the kids and being able to keep them involved with the game they’ve been playing since they were four or five years old.”
The plan for Babe Ruth is to start with two age divisions — 13’s and 14-15’s — and then bring in the older age division — 16-18’s — roughly a week later.
For the 13’s division, Peabody is planning to field two teams, Lynn is planning to field three teams and Danvers plans to field one team. The 14-15’s division is set to be the biggest of the three divisions, with Lynn aiming to field five teams, Peabody planning to field two teams and Danvers planning to field one team.
“No one would have any fun playing the same team over and over again, so being able to combine our town leagues and have a few different matchups is a good thing,” said Hochman.
For the older 16-18’s division, the plan is to field one team each from Peabody, Lynn and Danvers along with two teams from Wakefield. Hochman is especially happy that the leagues will be able to bring baseball to the older players, some of whom missed their final season of high school due to the pandemic.
“We really wanted the high school kids to be able to play together, especially if they’re seniors who missed their final season of ball,” Hochman said. “It really all started with the high school kids and wanting to do something for them, and then it kind of trickled down to the younger kids once we realized that we could actually have some semblance of a season.
“Once we started seeing all the guidance coming out about what we were and weren’t allowed to do, we realized that we were able to safely put together a plan to give baseball to all of these kids,” Hochman continued.
The teams began practicing about two and a half weeks ago once Phase 2 was put into effect, which allowed for small groups to start gathering and using outdoor athletic facilities. During that time, each league has had to put together a health safety plan for the season that was required to be approved by that town’s health department. Peabody and Danvers have been given the go-ahead for July 6 provided Phase 3 begins that day, while Lynn will wait one extra week and begin play on July 13.
“For the first week it will just be games between Danvers and Peabody, but we’re excited for Lynn to be able to join the group and take part in the league,” Hochman said.
A schedule for the new season is set to be completed by this weekend.
