Season of change: Manchester East makes the switch to Cal Ripken

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From left, Zac Courchesne, Brayden Bond and Jacob Burke are ready for baseball season.
From left, Zac Courchesne, Brayden Bond and Jacob Burke are ready for baseball season.

MANCHESTER, NH – Baseball has been a lifelong joy for Jeff Stavenger. He played Little League baseball in Manchester from the time he was a kid all the way up through the major division, high school and Henry J Sweeney Post.

“My connection to Manchester East is 25 years deep. I got my jacket in 1995 when I graduated. East is near and dear to my heart, for all the experiences and memories, like bumming around the field on Saturdays with my best friends from spring through summer. There’s a real emotional connection for me to the League,” says Stavenger, who even returned to his Little League roots to coach after college.

That’s why his decision to explore changing affiliation to Cal Ripken youth baseball last year as an alternative to Little League was grounded in his love for the game, and the best interest of the kids.

After the all-star games were finished Stavenger as part of a small committee researched the differences between Little League and Cal Ripken, which eventually led to the announcement in January 2016 that Manchester East Little League going forward would be Manchester Cal Ripken.

“We wanted to know more about it, and what I found out was kind of astounding. Not only was Cal Ripken here in New Hampshire, but we learned Cal Ripken leagues outnumber Little League in New Hampshire by about 2-to-1, and it’s growing,” says Stavenger. “Little Leagues have been migrating over at a rate of one to two a year.”

According to the NH Cal Ripken league website, at last count there were 52 leagues across 216 communities – or 1,450 teams with 21,750 players, growing annually.

Counter to some internal rumblings from within the local baseball community, Stavenger says the reality is that the exodus was not based on frustration or ill will. Rather, it had everything to do with trying to fix what is broken when it comes to getting kids involved in youth sports. He was interested statistically in Cal Ripken’s success as a program for retaining players at a time when, nationally, the struggle to engage and retain young players is real.

A 2015 Wall Street Journal article reported the nationwide decline in youth baseball participation was pushing some local youth leagues to a breaking point. Reasons cited for the decline included rigid boundary requirements for players, and the appeal of other team sports with more “action” and shorter on-field game time, like lacrosse and soccer.

The logic for changing affiliation really has to do with what Stavenger sees as the competitive advantage of Cal Ripken, which proponents say more closely mirrors the rules and regulations of AAU and travel ball, and best prepares young players to develop skills  required at the higher levels of competition.

“The only real change occurs in the major division, for 11-12 year olds. What we found was the base path moved to 70 feet and the pitching rubber moved to 50 feet. Plus, children can lead, which is more like  upper level baseball. What’s appealing about that is we found, despite how strong a league we were at the Little League level, less than half of our 12-year-old graduates were going on to play at the next level,” Stavenger says. “A lot of them said when the field expanded to the 50-70 level there they felt intimidated.”

At that age, it’s a stiff learning curve. The hope is that by exposing players at a younger age to the more advanced regulations, they will gain a competitive edge and keep playing.

It’s logic that’s not lost on Little League, which in 2012 launched its Intermediate (50/70) Division after piloting the program to create more flexible rules for players and field parameters.

Decline in youth sports enrollment.
Decline in youth sports enrollment.

“And not just that. Baseball is competing with year-round soccer, lacrosse, video games and apathy,” Stavenger says. “We wanted to expose them to a more realistic baseball game, maybe one that moves quicker with less down time. Stealing brings more excitement, for example, so kids might look up at the majors and decide they really want to play at that level. Our hope is that baseball in general can grow from this, and kids will fall in love with the game all over again.”

The result for Manchester’s Little League organization was re-defining boundaries and welcoming Manchester Youngsville into the fold, which allows Youngsville to participate  in inter-league play between the other Manchester divisions and city tournaments.

Sally Dreckmann, Little League District One Administrator for New Hampshire, says she is looking forward to a strong season despite the changes – which will include interleague play this season.

Allowing for interleague play will add a new level of excitement and competition to Manchester Little League, something that is a high priority on Dreckmann’s agenda, now that she is at the helm.

Screen Shot 2016-04-13 at 9.54.38 PM“Change is good, and we will be changing the way extended play is done for this season. Youngsville is now a Little League and will be offering the same division as years past, but with more structure than the Cal Ripken program,” Dreckmann says.

Stavenger says ultimately the hope is that by creating more options for families, more kids will be playing ball, regardless of whether it’s Little League or Cal Ripken.

“One advantage to going to Cal Ripken was that it offers players and families the option to choose. To play in Little League, residency/school is the determining factor. With Cal Ripken you can play with us as long as you live within the City of Manchester. By moving to Cal Ripken, our boundaries are the entire city. That means if you live on the East Side and your cousin lives on the West Side, you can play together,” Stavenger says.

The twist here is that Youngsville used to be affiliated with Cal Ripken, but because they were drawing most of their players from surrounding smaller towns, and only had about 30 percent of their players from Manchester, Manchester East was given preference.

So far so good for the newly formed Cal Ripken League, says Stavenger. They have 48 players signed up for the majors, which equals four full teams, with six teams fielded in the minor division, each with 11 players and room to grow.

“The Rookie division is full, with six teams of 10 kids per team. And our T-ball division, which I’m director of, has 11 teams of and 91 players so far,” Stavenger says.

Perhaps the easiest way to understand what it’s all about is this familiar analogy, he says.

“Coke and Pepsi. Little League is Coke, and Cal Ripken is Pepsi.  Anyone who wants to play Little League can do so. The question becomes do you prefer Coke or Pepsi? As a whole, what it means is Manchester is covered twice, and the decision about where to play is up to families. It just depends on which experience they feel best meets the needs of their kids,” Stavenger says.

“Do we want to put Little League out of business, or steal from other leagues? No,not at all,” says Stavenger. “We just wanted to expose players to a style of baseball that mirrors the games they see on TV or at the upper levels of baseball, and hope that they continue to play after they leave our league, and extend the season. Frankly, it’s sad to see empty ball fields in summer.”

Increasing participation in youth baseball in Manchester is the main thing, period, he says.

“Whether a kid is playing with us, or with Little League, the point is that they are out there, and not sitting at home in front of the X-Box,” Stavenger says.


Click here for more information on Cal Ripken Manchester, or contact Jeff Stavenger at jstaveng@hotmail.com. Opening Day is April 19.


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Below, some food for thought from the Sports Business Research Network:

  • How much can the decline in sport and recreation participation be attributed the increase in the cost of sports equipment, products, and services?
  • To what extent is it the reduction of local government and school sponsored sport and recreational activities the result of reduced local budgets? Do you think that it is appropriate for youth sport and recreation participants to be required to pay for their sport and recreation programs?
  • To what extent can the decline in sport and recreation activity be attributed to young people spending significantly more time playing video games and fantasy sports?
  • If the decline continues, what does it mean, if anything, for the future of the sports fan market?

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About this Author

Carol Robidoux

PublisherManchester Ink Link

Longtime NH journalist and publisher of ManchesterInkLink.com. Loves R&B, German beer, and the Queen City!