BANGOR, Maine — The crowd was riled up for the fourth annual Bangor Alternative Baseball Celebrity Game on Sunday.
The team began as a way to teach teens and adults with autism or other disabilities skills, such as teamwork or leadership, they could use, both, on and off the field.
However, players like Jack Williams said the team is about much more.
“That's what it's all about, it's fun, you know, and the two hours that I'm here, you know, out of the adult world is like my favorite. My happy place,” Williams said.
Starting around mid-August, the team started meeting every Sunday for six to eight weeks. When the ritual began, the team had less than a dozen players, but this year more than 30 players filled the dugout with excitement.
For Coach Tyler Parke, there is only one way to describe it: “by all definitions of the word fun. This is all of them.”
Four years ago, Parke was asked to volunteer his Sunday afternoons while he was playing baseball for Husson University. He said it's a sport that has shaped him into the man he is today.
“[To] show them even an ounce of how much fun I had playing the sport for two hours on Sunday is something that's well worth my time,” Parke said.
Parke estimates at least 10 baseball players from Husson help coach every week. On Sunday, more than 30 showed up to support the athletes they help coach each Sunday.
Amongst the group was Alex Smith who said after four years helping Bangor Alternative, this year's Celebrity Game is bittersweet knowing it's his last.
“It's the community. I think it's the kids here. The kids and the adults here are absolutely great,” Smith said. “We love working with them.”
Up in the stands cheering for her grandson is Brenda St. Amand.
“He looks forward to it every Sunday,” St. Amand said. “He looks forward to meeting his friends, seeing his friends.”
