On Sunday April 14 at Scalzi Park in Stamford, Connecticut, the Fairfield County Connecticut Jewish Baseball League (FCCJBL) celebrated its opening day. FCCJBL is a Jewish community youth baseball league open to boys and girls pre-k through grade six living in lower Fairfield and Westchester Counties. All games are played on Sundays at fields in Stamford. According to their website, “We play on Sundays to allow our league’s players and families to enjoy Shabbat.” The league has a long history as a synagogue youth baseball league in Fairfield County. Beldotti Bakery in Stamford provides weekly refreshments.
For this year’s opening day, the participants arrived early, received their uniforms, met their coaches, sang Hatikvah and played ball. Due to a scheduling conflict, Stamford Mayor Caroline Simmons was on hand for the following Sunday, April 21 games to throw out the ceremonial ‘first pitch.’
This year, the league has 110 players registered between the ages of 3-12. This year, the league expanded to add a fourth division for three- and four-year olds. The other three divisions are: Pre-K for the four and five year olds; T-Ball/minor division for kindergarteners and first graders, and the Majors for the second-sixth graders. In each of the divisions, the coaches stress the basics of the game and the spirit of being on a team. This season, there will be two teams in the new three/four-year-old division (the Knishes and the Sufganyot), two teams in the T-ball division (the Matzah Balls and the Falafels). The biblically named T-Ball division teams includes the Angels, the Kings the Maccabees, and the Tribes. The geographically named teams in the Majors division are Judea and Samaria. Also new for this season, the sixth graders from the Majors will help coach the Pre-K division.
On Father’s Day, June 16, after the season’s final game, the league will celebrate with an award ceremony and a dairy brunch where each participant will be presented with a trophy. In addition, each participant can purchase a pack of their own baseball cards.
“The league teaches basic skills, developing each kid’s knowledge of the game and ability to hit and field,” explained League Commissioner Ari Goldstein. “You have a whole range of kids from 4-12 years old. You may have a 10 year old who has never picked up a bat before or have a 7-year-old who is really good; it’s a big mix. You’re teaching kids the basic skills, how to catch the ball, base running, how to swing and hit the ball. Our main thing is sportsmanship. That’s really what we want to see. By end of the season, the goal for our players is to be comfortable hitting the ball and having a basic knowledge of the game. Some kids really develop and some kids kind of stay the same, but we just want them to have a basic understanding of the game. We are a recreational league; it’s just about having fun as opposed to being competitive.”
Special for the 2024 season, the league will be partnering with the New York Mets. On Sunday, July 14, when the Mets take on the Colorado Rockies, the FCCJBL will be having a league outing to Citi Field. Prior to the game, the FCCJBL players and coaches will be allowed on the field to take a picture and run the bases. During the game, the Jumbotron will welcome the Fairfield County Connecticut Jewish Baseball League. Goldstein noted, “It’s really cool, we got a lot more signups this year due to the scheduled outing. One parent noted, my kid didn’t want to play baseball but he is a huge Mets fan, so we signed him up.”
To learn more about the FCCJBL visit their website at https://fccjbl.org
