03/30/04 — Children register for city baseball league

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Children register for city baseball league

By Barbara Arntsen
Published in News on March 30, 2004 2:01 PM

More than 80 children showed up Saturday to register for a baseball league aimed at improving baseball skills for inner-city youth.

On Saturday the newly formed Jackie Robinson League will give young people another chance to sign up for the league. Any girl or boy between the ages of 6 and 9 can register to play at one of two locations.

Registration will take place at the Fairview Community Center from 10 a.m. to noon and at the West Haven Community Center from 1 to 3 p.m.

A hot dog lunch will be provided for free by Southco Distributing Co.

"Though we formed this to provide baseball to inner-city kids, it's open to anyone in the county that wants to join," said Garry Phifer, president of the league.

The organization gained two additional coaches during Saturday's registration, but Phifer said they could still use more volunteers.

"We had more kids come out that were too old," he said. "Some were 10 years old, and we even had some that were 5, so we know that there are children that want to play."

Phifer said they would try to find a way for those children to have the opportunity to play.