The Oriole Bird and former Baltimore player participated in the event
Barcroft Park was a busy place the afternoon of April 7, filled with young baseball players on hand for Arlington Little League’s annual opening-day ceremonies.
The event began with a parade of multiple teams and players onto the park’s main field, where games, announcements, recognitions and first pitches were thrown.
First-year Wakefield High School head baseball coach Adam Balutis and Arlington Little League’s president led the ceremony.
Main guests were the Oriole Bird, mascot of the Baltimore Orioles, former Orioles’ shortstop Mike Bordick and Roz Ridgway, the wife of the former and late longtime Arlington Little League umpire Ted Deming.
Arlington County Board member Matt de Ferranti attended, along with Del. Alfonso Lopez (D-Arlington-Alexandria).
Members of Arlington’s three varsity public high-school baseball teams – Wakefield, Washington-Liberty and Yorktown – welcomed the Little Leaguers onto the main field, as the young players walked between a tunnel of those high schoolers at a corner entrance.
The Bird participated in the hula hoop contest. Bordick, a member of the Orioles’ Hall of Fame, spoke to the Little Leaguers and threw out a first pitch. Bordick’s primary message to the players was to enjoy their time playing Little League because “it will be over in a flash.”
Bordick played six seasons for the Orioles. He still holds a Major League record for the most consecutive games without making an error at shortstop.
There also was a mini-cycle competition, and there were multiple sponsor tables with baseball gear, other paraphernalia and a moon bounce.
The Wakefield baseball team oversaw the Arlington Food Assistance Center’s food donation drive next to the batting cages. The drive collected 1,400 pounds of food in two hours.
Ridgway was recognized because she and Deming set up an endowment fund for the Little League to grow baseball in underserved areas of Arlington.
As the ceremony ended, Ridgway announced that it was time to “play ball.” There were three games of different age levels played on the Barcroft fields following the ceremonies.
