The smell of fresh-cut grass and leather gloves. The crack of a bat. The arc of a brand-new ball across a sky so blue, it aches just to look at. Nothing says Spring—or baseball—like opening day.

Why does baseball have such an enduring tradition? For me, it’s the sense of renewal and being a part of something special. That sense is etched in our memories from long ago. And do we love to share those memories: Remember when we were nine years old and almost had that perfect season? Feeling butterflies when pitching against the dreaded “home run king” with the game on the line? Watching a ball hit so high that you lost sight of it, yet somehow it miraculously landed in your glove? Chasing down foul balls and trading them back to the snack shack for the best ice cream you’d ever tasted—or have since?

Baseball is a sport of indelible, extraordinary moments.

Here we are now, for most of us twenty or thirty years later, the memories similar but the characters new. Now it’s our kids who are experiencing and marveling at this incredible game. Now it’s our chance to help build those experiences and memories of a lifetime by creating a nurturing and positive environment within our baseball community.

I am looking forward to helping you make the most of this time and season. Our first chance to get together as a community will be on Saturday, March 6th for our Grand Opening Day at Pine Field. We will also be having another get together on April 10th when we have the entire league out for a tailgating extravaganza at Anaheim Stadium for the Angels’ first Saturday home game of the season. I hope you all have the opportunity to participate in these first upcoming events.

In the meantime, I’ll see you around the fields. If you have any special moments that you would like to share as the season goes along or have any questions at all drop me a note at pinto@carlsbadyouthbaseball.org.

Play ball!

Jake Knight
2010 Pinto Commissioner