It is a perfect Spring day at the concession stand affectionately known as “The Farmers Market” at Chuck Griffith Jr. Field, home of the Wheat Ridge High School Farmers baseball team. It is April 16th, and Wheat Ridge is at bat. It is the bottom of the second inning, and the Farmers have the lead, 5-3, against the Lincoln Lancers. If they win today, it will be the third victory in as many weeks, a feat that has not been accomplished since the 2021-22 season (that team went 5-18). The crowd is small but passionate. Parents, siblings, former players, friends and boosters are in attendance and more seem to show up each game. This is because Farmers baseball is working to become competitive and relevant, again.
Some history. Wheat Ridge has experienced a lot of success playing the game that is our nation’s pastime. They won the league championship as recently as 2019, with players like senior Anthony Tate, who incidentally is now on the coaching staff. Over the last few years though, the baseball program felt the effects of reduced interest and decreased player participation, due in no small part to the shuttering of the local Junior Baseball League during the COVID-19 pandemic and changes in coaching and recruitment efforts in years since. The booster club reduced to a few parents. Sponsor banners disappeared. The program was in danger of sliding into that most dreaded place in sport, irrelevance. Last season the team posted only twelve players on the roster, barely enough to field a team. They did not win a single game.
This spring season saw the team increase to twenty on the roster, with many younger players showing up for tryouts. This was due in no small part to a program that took place in late summer of 2024. The coaching staff began working with existing and new players, including incoming freshmen and anyone interested in baseball but potentially lacking in extensive training, and concentrated practices on fundamental skills. They also added participation in a shortened version of an actual season with arranged exhibition games against other school and club teams, commonly referred to as “Fall Ball”. This laid the groundwork for the team that would be. They all worked hard, they all got better.
Which brings us back to this season. 2024-25 started off with a few losses. As is often the case with beginnings, it takes time to see the fruits of hard work, and these are teenage boys. There were Seniors and Juniors playing alongside Sophomores and Freshmen, a mix not often seen in varsity sports. They worked, they practiced, they grinded; and then, on a cold, windy Saturday afternoon in southwest Denver, with only a few parents in attendance wrapped in blankets, they won. It was not easy. The opposition fought hard, there were shots through the gap at second and fiery plays at home. There were errors, but not that many. There was drama (I may have mentioned teenage boys before), but in the end, they tagged the last out and emerged victorious against Kennedy Highschool, 9-7. After that everything changed; a few more close games went by and they did it again, surprising everyone, not the least themselves, at home this time, against a very good Standley Lake team, 5-3.
April 16th, the Wheat Ridge Farmers once again record the final out. They have won their third and very historic baseball game this season, convincingly defeating the Lancers 16-3. There are hugs, there is applause, there is fist pumping and some watery eyes. It is happening.
There are needs though. The booster club is still very small. Concessions are mostly whatever the parents can afford to donate from a run to Costco. Attendance to games is growing but the outfield fences are still blank, no sponsor banners, no fanfare. The signage on the Farmers dugout is fading, the bleachers are repaired but aging. This team needs its community. They need local businesses for engagement and support. They need more player interest from up-and-coming little league clubs to develop and maintain a Junior Varsity team again, one that would prepare younger players for the physical and mental requirements of varsity level play. This all takes time, planning and people. The team, for now, is young and hungry. They want to play, to be competitive, to be relevant. And today there is joy at Chuck Griffith Jr. Field. The Farmers are at bat again.
Home games left for 2024-25 are:
• Thurs., May 1: 4pm vs Pomona HS.
• Sat., May 10: 11am vs Green Mountain HS.
