Baseball at the Cove

Back in 1988 the Chicago White Sox built a stadium here in South Bend for their single A feeder baseball team. When the boys were little they loved to go to the Cove to watch the games and try to get autographs from the players. We'd get there early and they would hang around the fence behind the dugout with their baseballs and sharpie pens. After the game you could stay and the kids could run the bases.

When the boys got a little older they went to baseball camp there. For a small fee, and membership into Swoops Fan Club, they got to spend the mornings for one week each summer learning the game from the players themselves. This is where Ben first developed his love for baseball.

Last year Ben got his first job working at the Cove. He was the popcorn boy on the 3rd baseline concourse. Although it didn't pay much it was free admission into the home games and free popcorn refills for his buddies!

Well baseball at the Cove has come full circle. Who would have ever thought when Ben was just a little boy that someday he would be playing an actual game on that field. As starting 3rd baseman on the high school varsity team Ben took the field last week for a game. And as I watched him run those bases as a 17 year old I could still picture him running those same bases as a 7 year old. I felt many emotions but most of all I felt.......proud.



"And in today already walks tomorrow"