During autumn, when baseball is a more casual sport at the local level, Arlington hosts what has become a popular youth tournament celebrating a local legend.
On the second weekend of October, the 10th Coach Sam Fox Fall Classic tourney, hosted by Arlington Travel Baseball, featured 48 teams from the 9-under to 14-under age levels.
The tournament has become a marquee fall event for youth baseball in Northern Virginia.
Fox, who grew up in Arlington, has been a youth baseball coach on various levels in the county for 60 years. He continues as an assistant coach for an 11-under squad.
Fox also has coached youth football and basketball in Arlington, and estimates that he has coached some 10,000 different youth players in those 60 years.
On Oct. 9, Fox was present during the tournament’s opening ceremonies at Barcroft Park field No. 1. That’s when he was presented with a bat signed by all Arlington Travel players to commemorate the event’s decade of existence and his 60th anniversary of coaching baseball.
Fox himself played baseball as a youngster on the Barcroft Park diamonds.
Richie Pacheco, the tournament’s founder and interim president of Arlington Travel Baseball, made the presentation to Fox. Pacheco also coached a team in the classic.
“Sam is still an assistant coach and talks with the players and motivates them,” said Pacheco, who was coached by Fox in Arlington from ages 8 to 12.
In all, 19 teams were from Arlington. The rest came from Northern Virginia and across the metro area. In past years, teams from Pennsylvania, Delaware, D.C. and West Virginia played.
Participating Arlington teams and players were from Arlington Travel Arsenal and Storm organizations, Arlington United, Arlington Little League and Arlington Babe Ruth.
Fox Classic games began that Columbus Day weekend on Friday evening, with some contests spilling over until Monday evening because of postponements from wet weather. Action began as early as 9 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
“We had a lot of parent volunteers raking fields early Monday to get ready for the games after the rain on Sunday. That was a big help,” Pacheco told ARLnow. “It was a good time of the fall to hold the tournament.”
The Arlington fields used were at Barcroft Park, Jennie Dean Park, Stafford Park, Wakefield High School and the turf field at Gunston Middle School.
As far as team champions, tournament director Mollie Moday said there were nine overall, with two each at the 10-under, 11-under and 12-under age groups:
- Winning the youngest 9-under Division was the Loudoun South Eagles, with the Arlington Arsenal Blue second
- In the 10-under White Division, the Alexandria Reds were champs, with the Arlington Storm Red as the runner-up
- The 10-under Blue Division champion was the Stars Rodriguez squad, with the Mount Vernon Mavericks second
- The Arlington Storm Blue won the 11-under Blue Division, with Stars Cutler second
- The Stars Ritter team was first in the 11-under White Division, with the Arlington Storm Red the runner-up
- At the 12-under age group, the Arlington Storm Red won the White Division, with the Arlington Arsenal White second, and the Loudoun Aces Ritchie were champs of the Blue Division, with the Arlington Arsenal Blue second
- At the 13-under Division, Stars Moss won and Stars D’Antonio was second
- The 14-under title was won by the Arlington United, with the Alexandria Reds Black second
“We get a lot of support for this tournament, and we plan to keep having it every year in Arlington,” Pacheco said.
