Little League finds backup

The Newport Harbor Baseball Assn. is taking a less fortunate league under its wing.

Thousands of dollars in equipment was stolen Feb. 5 from the Baldwin Park Little League’s storage facility. The San Gabriel Valley area club cannot afford to replace its bats, gloves, balls and helmets.

To help, the Newport Harbor league volunteered to host a fundraiser at Mariners Park, 1300 Irvine Ave., Newport Beach, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.

Lupe Galaviz, Baldwin Park American Little League president, said her league’s players were left with nothing — an estimated $7,000 loss.

Thieves stole 14 baseball equipment bags, which each included five helmets, two bats, catcher’s gear and gloves, and six baseballs.

Along with baseball inventory, the league is also out T-ball and softball equipment and a gasoline-powered generator valued at $4,000. Whatever was not stolen was tagged in spray paint, including a $5,000 tractor-style lawn mower.

“The whole room had graffiti all over and was trashed,” Galaviz said.

She would like a new lawn mower for the league, but Galaviz noted that the most important thing is for the kids to have equipment so they can resume play.

Marilyn Horsley, board secretary for Newport Harbor Baseball Assn., heard the story about Baldwin Park on the radio and said she thought, “‘That sucks! Our association has a lot of money, and we should get something together.’”

Horsley called Galaviz and said she wanted to help, and she would propose the idea at the next NHBA board meeting.

“Here we have people reaching out to us from outside our area,” Galaviz said. “That is so cool.”

On the NHBA’s opening day, Saturday, Horsley plans to sit at a table accepting equipment donations. If it rains, she’ll be out there the next weekend.

“I thought we might just write a check to them, but then we decided what they really need right now is equipment,” Horsley said.

They need helmets, batting tees, catcher gear sets, catcher gloves, regular gloves, baseballs, bats or any other equipment.

The NHBA is working with a nonprofit organization, Colby’s Double Play, which will donate 12 bags of equipment this weekend.

“They [NHBA] sent out an e-mail to the community saying, ‘Please, donate equipment,’” said Dave Bock, father of the founder of Colby’s Double Play. “I called up and said, ‘What do you need? Go to my son’s website and see our inventory. We can donate today. We have more than enough!’”

Colby Bock, 14, began his organization two years ago when his dad encouraged him to start a community service project.

“I have been playing baseball for nine or 10 years with the Newport Harbor Baseball Assn., and I was doing community service and gathering equipment after the games and saw how much was going to waste,” Colby said. “I thought, ‘Wow, someone can really use this.’”

Colby’s Double Play has about 300 helmets and 50 sets of catching gear ready to donate. It’s a busy time right now, and Colby is spending two to three hours each Saturday sorting through equipment, taking inventory and sending out bags.

“I think it’s great; it has really opened my eyes to the under-privileged areas,” he said. “I don’t know when I’d stop, maybe if I went to college back East or far away, but then it’d probably go to my brother who is a couple grades behind me.”