This is our third installment of “The Little Things,” where we spotlight quiet, often unnoticed yet important acts of consideration, kindness and community in New Canaan that may otherwise be taken for granted.
These are things that make a major difference in our lives and today we’re recognizing two longstanding organizations that each year come together to benefit the community through a cherished youth program: New Canaan Baseball/Softball Inc. and Elm Street mainstay Karl Chevrolet.
Steve Karl of Karl Chevrolet looks over some of the New Canaan Baseball/Softball teams that the dealer has sponsored in recent years. Credit: Michael Dinan
“New Canaan baseball has been in our world now for a long, long time,” Steve Karl—formerly of the Bantam league Hurons—said on a recent afternoon from his office at the dealership. “I played in the league myself, my brother played in the league. I’ve had four boys who have all played in New Canaan Baseball.”
Karl Chevrolet—through Chevrolet, “the big company,” as Karl puts it—runs a national program that distributes funds to specific youth baseball and softball leagues through local Chevy dealers. Here in New Canaan, Karl Chevrolet for years has sponsored donations of equipment as needed (including but not limited to town teams—for example, the dealer has “adopted” a Stamford soccer league, too).
Last week, as the snow finally started to melt (or at least break up) and as New Canaan Baseball tryouts approach (April 12 is Opening Day, the organization’s website says), representatives from the youth sports league collected safety equipment such as first aid kits, as well as bags and helmets, from Karl Chevrolet.
Karl himself is quick to credit New Canaan Baseball/Softball for its active role in upkeep and infrastructure for teams here.
“People don’t realize how much the organization has contributed to the upkeep of the fields,” he said. “The amount of money they have put in. The town does support the field and keeps them maintained. New Canaan Baseball has paid for a lot of backstop upgrades, dugout upgrades, the fields, the drainage. Mead Park Lodge and that whole project down there would not have happened without New Canaan Baseball.”
Of course, part of what makes the league special in New Canaan are the memories formed and sense of community—and continuity—that youth baseball fuels.
Karl (a 1980 New Canaan High School graduate) said his wife served on the organization’s board for years, and has fond memories of playing on the same Mead Park and New Canaan Country School fields that many of us also remember—and cheer from today.
Here we're looking at a recent New Canaan Baseball team, sponsored by Karl Chevrolet. Kids' names provided by Michael Chen (thanks very much). Question mark where we're not totally sure. Back Row: Tucker Radecki?, Steven Valente, George Wells, Trey Baur, Willie Burger, and Tommy Worcester. Front Row: Jeffrey Chen, Steven Valente, Dan Rajkowski, Casey Ouellette, Grady Amrhein?, Andrew Casali. Missing (Ned Galluzzo) from 2008 team that came in 2nd in the country after winning the Cal Ripken New England Regional Championships.
The youth program feeds those at New Canaan High School, and Karl’s son Will was a first baseman on a varsity team that a few years ago went to the state semifinals—a big step for the program toward the ultimate prize: Last year, many will remember, the Rams won their first state title since 1950.
“It’s fun because when you look back and you say, ‘I coached the Seminoles,’ for instance, you go full circle,” Karl said. “You come back and your kids starting playing, and you coach the Seminoles—and my son Will and my other son Brian both played on that same team—and my son at five years old is playing on that Seminoles Bantam league team and then you watch him along his career, and the next thing you know he’s in the high school. It’s a lot of fun.”
It’s also iconic New Canaan—as a youth, to play in, and as a grownup, to coach or watch—those games at Gamble and Mellick, for instance.
“That’s what New Canaan baseball is all about,” Karl said. “It’s about families. It’s about community. You’re down at Mead Park on a summer night or a spring night. You’ve got the lodge down there that New Canaan Baseball built and I mean, it doesn’t get any better than that.”