-John Wooden
BELTON - It’s somewhat of an odd sight.
In the daily trek from their dressing room to Tiger Field, Belton baseball players amble across the fieldhouse parking lot and through a grassy area behind the outfield wall.
Then every day at the exact same place - a spot even with the right-field foul pole between the visitor’s bullpen and the batting cages - every player begins running with his bat bag in tow.
It’s a scene that plays out hundreds of times each spring: walking, walking, then all of the sudden running. What is it about that magical spot?
As it turns out, that’s the spot where Tiger Field officially begins on that side. And as every Belton baseball player in the last 20 years knows: “You never walk on a baseball field,” Belton coach David Tidwell said. “You run everywhere you go on the field.”
It’s just one example of what Tidwell calls “the small things that we do.”
And it’s all of those small things and the accompanying success that has transformed Belton baseball from a simply a sport played at the high school into an entity unto itself.
So even though they might not always know why they do the small things, Belton players understand that a few quirky rules are a small price to pay to be part of a growing legacy.
Just ask a few of the seniors, some of whom grew up understanding what Belton baseball is and others who moved in and bought into the system.
“Belton baseball is about tradition,” said slick-hitting senior right fielder Cameron Arnett, who has lived in Belton since age 7. “This is what I love. I have a true passion for baseball and I love coming out here every day.”
Fellow senior Buck Lopez, a speedy outfielder and valuable weapon on the base paths, also grew up with the Tigers and wouldn’t have things any other way.
“I’ve grown up playing baseball with a bunch of these guys,” Lopez said. “So to come out here and play catch with your buddies, you can’t beat that.”
It’s not just the running. It’s the shirttails (always tucked in), the caps (always on except when eating), matching colors for practice jerseys and pants (everybody the same), the restaurants (no flip-flops, bus your own table, thank your server) - “When we leave, I want someone to say, ‘This was the best bunch of kids we’ve ever had in this restaurant,’” Tidwell said. “And I have people say that a lot.” - and other things too numerous to mention.
But why?
“I want them to be disciplined in what they do,” said Tidwell, whose 578 career victories are tough to argue with. “I’m hoping those things will help them be disciplined at the plate and in the field.
“Baseball is probably the most disciplined sport there is. When I force them to do all of those things, that’s just a small part of the discipline they need to have to play the game. Is that part of our success? Yes, I think it is.”
The caps, colors and shirttails are probably pretty easy things to master compared to what takes place when any given workout actually begins.
“Baseball workouts here are more like football workouts where I came from,” said hard-throwing senior pitcher Jacob Phillipe, who moved from Keller Fossil Ridge prior to his junior season. “Baseball workouts there were just get out there, play some catch, take a few ground balls and a couple of pop flies, and you’re done.
“Here, you work out for close to three hours. It’s a good, intense workout.”
Rugged senior left fielder Paul Wilson, another transfer who has been in the program a couple of years, also has no complaints with the high-impact practice sessions.
“Here, I even love practicing baseball,” he said. “The workouts are hard. But we know if we want to keep playing when the playoffs begin, we have to prove it during practice.”
Evidently the Tigers have proved their desire to keep playing. When they square off with Klein tonight in the opener of a best-of-three Class 5A area playoff series, it will be the Tigers’ 51st postseason game and counting in the last 10 years.
“What we try to do is put pressure on them during in workouts, so they don’t feel it during games,” Tidwell explained. “We do all of our training during practice because if they don’t know how to play by the time the game comes around, then it’s too late. We teach them, then we let them go play.
“Most of these kids have seen Belton baseball since they were small, so they get used to it. They understand, ‘Hey, you’re going to win when you get here.’”
Tidwell also credits Belton’s youth baseball program and the individual work ethic that his players develop.
“We sell the kids that besides the 2½ hours we work every day, we need you to work more than that,” he said. “They need to work more in the afternoons, more on the weekends.
“And once they see what we do out here, they buy into it.”
Apparently it all ties together like this: details beget success, which begets work ethic, which begets more success. And each year another layer is added on.
“It’s a tradition,” Tidwell said. “The guys that played in this program years ago started building a tradition, then the next guys added on to that tradition, and now the kids that come into the program try to live up to that.”
It’s a lofty and sometimes weighty bar to uphold, especially with an untucked shirttail.
edrennan@temple-telegram.com
