Baseball in Fort Wayne

Dennis Nartker of the The News-Sun recently reflected on his memories of playing Wildcat Baseball and its mid-1960′s introduction to the Kendallville area by North Side Elementary School physical education teacher Chris Stavreti, who had become East Noble High School’s varsity baseball coach.

As a Wildcatter I can recall the high school-age instructors teaching the fundamentals with demonstrations and drills every morning during the summer season for one to two hours at a time. Repetition and proper technique was the norm — throwing a baseball around the infield and from the outfield, catching grounders, line-drives and flyballs, hitting, bunting, pitching and running the bases.

Unlike the youth leagues today, where teams only practice one or two hours at a time twice a week, and often don’t practice when league games begin, the Wildcat philosophy was practice makes perfect, fundamentals taught throughout the season.

A great read. Check it out.