Behind Closed Doors; Babe Ruth International Continues to Have Great Faith in Jamestown and its People

The 2015 Babe Ruth Baseball 13-Year-Old World Series kicked off Saturday afternoon down at Russell E. Diethrick Jr. Park. Just moments beforehand, Russ Diethrick, Jamestown’s own “Mr. Baseball,” received some rather interesting news: he had to “pinch-hit” for the league president.

“She [a committee member] whispered in my ear, ‘you’re going to have to throw out the first pitch because the president of Babe Ruth Baseball had to leave town early this morning,’” said Diethrick, reflecting on a conversation he had earlier in the day.

Bearing that in mind, the longtime Chautauqua Sports Hall of Fame inductee made his way down to the pitcher’s mound where he was greeted by warm applause and ovation. “It’s a real honor to go out there and be a part of the program and the ceremony,” said Diethrick.

While the players made their way to the field, Diethrick made his way towards the back of the stadium, literally behind closed doors.

The reason? Simple. For Russ Diethrick, it’s all about team.

“I always said I was lucky to love baseball, and I was lucky to be born left-handed,” said Diethrick, after receiving two pins from a fellow committee member that were to be handed out following the first game. “I soon found out that I couldn’t do it all; I realized that you had to have a team… You had to have some right-handers around the neighborhood to play.”

From his perspective, the aforementioned “right-handers” and the members of the Babe Ruth World Series Committee are synonymous. “We have all these people that have individual expertise and individual talents, but they mold together as a beautiful team,” said Diethrick. “I’ve always been thrilled and excited to be a part of that.”

Needless to say, the continued success of the World Series event is in large part due to the efforts of those behind closed doors. To this day, Mr. Diethrick will be among the first to acknowledge that.

“I tell the committee, ‘if you need anything, just call me.’… Well, my telephone never rings,” said Diethrick.

He continued:

“They’re so involved in it, and so talented at it, and so skillful and willing to give hours and hours and hours of time… The World Series Committee is the easiest group to be president of that there is.”

And it’s been that way for 35 years.

During that time, Babe Ruth Baseball has drawn upon some of the successes of Jamestown to do a lot of new things. For example, the expansion and the magnitude of the host family program started here in Jamestown. The parade, which took place Saturday morning, was also developed close to home. The extravagant banquet that took place Friday night with almost 1,000 people in attendance, the state-of-the-art World Series Training Center — all of those things are the result of hard work and a supportive community. In a sense, Jamestown truly is the model city.

Attempting to describe the situation, Diethrick glanced down at the floor.

“I love to watch good baseball. I love to watch these young people coming in and having fun. I love to see the smiles on everybody’s faces and I know the inward feeling all the committee members have as it (the Babe Ruth World Series) goes on. The satisfaction they have that they were able to be a part of the program that unfolded here in Jamestown is unmatched.”

According to Mr. Baseball, “The hits, runs and errors – anything that happens out on the diamond, is just a very small part of the Babe Ruth World Series.” The relationships you form with your peers, that’s what lasts a lifetime.

After the final pitch has been thrown, when there’s no longer any spectators left in the stands, when all the players are back home in their respective states… Diethrick has only one wish.

“I hope they (the kids) had a chance to meet some wonderful people, I hope they had a wonderful time here, and I hope they remember ‘oh, by the way – we played baseball at the stadium.’”