The play-by-play on baseball in and around the capital city

Not a full year after the first organized baseball game was played in New Jersey’s Elysian Fields, in 1846, poet Walt Whitman is said to have written of the fledgling sport, “I see great things in baseball. It’s our game, the American game.” In the years since Whitman penned that line, baseball would indeed become recognized as our nation’s greatest pastime, used often as metaphor for life, love and America itself.

Baseball would eventually take firm root in the Midwest, particularly in St. Louis and Chicago, which became home to some of professional baseball’s most storied powerhouses — and remain on everybody’s list of the USA’s best baseball cities.

Could Springfield be added to that roster? It’s not uncommon for fans to take a day trip to Chi-town or the STL to take in the old ball game. But traveling great distances for great baseball action is no longer necessary thanks to the addition last year of our championship collegiate league team, the Springfield Sliders.

So take yourself out to a ball game this summer. If you don’t it’s a shame.

Exciting baseball is only as far as the north end and Lanphier’s Robin Roberts Stadium, home to the Springfield Sliders.

In their inaugural season in the 45-yearold Central Illinois Collegiate League, the Springfield Sliders had the league’s best record of 30-17 and went on to capture the league crown by defeating the Danville (Illinois) Dans in a best-of-three series.

Not bad for the first time out, but look at what’s in store for 2009. In October 2008, the team announced the signing of Jack Clark — a four-time allstar with the San Francisco Giants and, later, the Cardinals — as coach through the 2011 season. The Sliders, whose mascot is a turtle named Speedy, were quick to add even more firepower in February by bringing aboard Danny Cox as the team’s pitching coach.

Clark, who helped the Cardinals to two pennant wins, and Cox, who won a World Series with Toronto in 1993 and coached the New Athens High School boys baseball team, played together in St. Louis from 1985 to 1988. Even though just four players are returning from last year’s championship team, expectations are high for the Sliders going into the season, which begins June 4. General manager Darren Feller sees it this way: “We look to generate more excitement than last year,” he says, noting the Sliders’ impressive per-game attendance of 1,600 fans. “We really want to be here for the fans and the community of Springfield.”

In addition to the “action-packed” promotions (Feller isn’t divulging details just yet), the CICL, which boasts alumni including Ryan Howard, Joe Girardi, Kirby