{"id":348625,"date":"2021-07-26T06:04:22","date_gmt":"2021-07-25T20:04:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=348625"},"modified":"2021-07-26T06:04:22","modified_gmt":"2021-07-25T20:04:22","slug":"sbl-wants-to-emulate-soccers-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/sbl-wants-to-emulate-soccers-success\/","title":{"rendered":"SBL wants to emulate soccer\u2019s success"},"content":{"rendered":"
Saipan Baseball League president Jay Santos, left, and his son and fellow Los Angeles Dodgers fan Mark Toves celebrate the team\u2019s 2020 World Series win at Surf Club in Chalan Kanoa. (Mark Rabago)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Saipan Baseball League president Jay Santos admitted that the popularity of America\u2019s favorite pastime in the CNMI has waned the past two years, but through no fault of their own.<\/p>\n

Aside from the current COVID-19 pandemic that essentially cancelled the 2020 season, Super Typhoon Yutu way back in 2018 and current repairs to the Francisco \u201cTan Ko\u201d M. Palacios Baseball Field have robbed local baseball players parts of two seasons.<\/p>\n

Now, Santos is looking at the Northern Mariana Islands Football Association for inspiration on how to run a professional and first-class sports federation. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou look at the success of soccer. Props to them and props to [NMIFA president] Jerry Tan and everyone that\u2019s been involved in organizing youth soccer. We\u2019ve seen how it\u2019s developed with the great field that they have at Koblerville and there\u2019s no reason we can\u2019t do that same thing for baseball. I\u2019m hoping that Patrick Guerrero and the Governor\u2019s Authorized Representative Office would come through with the field renovations. Obviously, that old adage \u2018build it and they will come\u2019 is still relevant and I\u2019m very optimistic if we have the facilities for baseball there will be a lot of interest in playing the national pastime,\u201d he said in an interview with Saipan Tribune.<\/p>\n

Born and raised in the U.S. mainland, Santos\u2019 passion for the sport is undeniable. The Triple J executive played baseball from when he was 8 years old until high school. <\/p>\n

\u201cI love the game. I was a huge Dodgers fan. Dusty Baker, Ron Cey, Steve Garvey, and all the Dodgers from the \u201880s,\u201d he said when asked about his favorite team and players growing up by the Bay.<\/p>\n

And Santos hopes not only to resuscitate the men\u2019s league through his baseball passion but also to have a hand in bringing back youth baseball to its former glory<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the hope going forward for the Saipan Baseball League not only to field a national team next year [for the 2022 Northern Marianas Pacific Mini Games] but also help assist Saipan Little League Baseball in getting the youth programs going because that\u2019s where the foundation begins. We need to get youth baseball back up and going,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

SBL\u2019s membership with the World Baseball Organization will allow Santos and the new SBL board to do just that. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe have plans in putting together a U15, U16, and U18 baseball teams and it\u2019s that foundation that we need baseball to get going again. It\u2019s not that we\u2019re going against the Little League, it\u2019s more like supplementing and augmenting Little League Baseball. It\u2019s just to provide more baseball opportunities for our youth here in the CNMI.\u201d<\/p>\n

Santos said SBL working with the CNMI\u2019s youth already got rolling last year when the islands sent a U15 team to a World Baseball Organization tournament in Guam.<\/p>\n

\u201cThanks to the work of former SBL board members Tony Rogolifoi and Rose Igitol, last year in January we were able to send a team to a World Baseball Organization tournament in Guam, where our U15 players competed against Guam and New Zealand for a chance to go to the tournament in Tijuana, Mexico,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Again, Santos emphasized that they\u2019re not usurping the authority of the SLLB but are working through WBO to develop the islands\u2019 up-and-coming baseball players.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s that body that we want to piggyback on and try to get more baseball activities going on as well. Again, this is not to go against Saipan Little League Baseball.\u201d<\/p>\n

Santos admitted for SBL to survive and thrive it needs to tap into the next generation of baseball players and that\u2019s why he\u2019s all in developing the organization\u2019s youth program.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to get our ducks on order and quite frankly some of the board members we have now were surprised to hear my proposal to get active on youth baseball as well. It\u2019s something that they\u2019re not used to. It\u2019s nothing against them it\u2019s just the Saipan Baseball League is historically just about organizing the men\u2019s league. But at this point in time right now, if we keep going to the direction we\u2019re going there won\u2019t be any more men\u2019s league until we get a really strong foundation on youth baseball. Baseball was the No. 1 sport on island as recent as 8 and 10 years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n

The SBL official said it\u2019s about time to put the sport back to its proper place after a couple of years of inactivity brought about by natural disasters and the pandemic.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou look at the history of baseball and the tournaments we competed in the past, specially the men\u2019s team. We\u2019ve won in the Pacific Games and the Micronesian Games in the past. We also have a number of players that have gone on and played Division I and Division II baseball in the States. We need to grow on that. It\u2019s exactly what the CNMI needs to put baseball back on the map.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another item in Santos\u2019 bucket list is to promote the islands\u2019 baseball facilities as an ideal spring training ground for professional teams in Japan and South Korea. That would be in line with the Marianas Visitors Authority\u2019s much-touted sports tourism program.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we don\u2019 take the route of trying to sell the facilities to whether it\u2019s Korean professional baseball or Japanese professional baseball teams then we\u2019re not doing our job. These facilities, if the plans all go through, will be topnotch facilities and there\u2019s no question and my belief that a number of these teams have stopped coming to the CNMI because the facilities weren\u2019t kept up to standards. It\u2019s not anybody\u2019s fault, no need to point fingers on anybody. But if we have the facilities I think they\u2019re gonna build there\u2019s no question there\u2019s gonna be a lot of interest from these professional teams to come down here and do their spring training and preparation for their leagues.\u201d<\/p>\n

And Santos believes that the sports tourism aspect will not only bring much-needed dollars to the CNMI\u2019s coffers, but also facilitate an exchange of baseball knowledge from the professional baseball teams down to the local teams.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to invite these guys to come not only to use our facilities and pay for the facilities to make revenue from it but also to hopefully provide clinics for our youth and our men\u2019s teams so they improve their skills as well.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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