WASHINGTON — Opening Day was cold and windy, but kids and parents affiliated with the Capitol Hill Little League seemed giddy for the new season on Saturday. The young ball players were happy with new threads—a gift from the Washington Nationals baseball team.
“Every single Capitol Hill Little League baseball player will have a Washington Nationals-inspired uniform, provided by the team,” said Gregory McCarthy, the Nats’ Park vice president of community engagement.
Players from all Little League organizations in the District are sporting new uniforms, thanks to the Nationals. The ball club donated about 4,500 uniforms to nine youth leagues in the city.
Older players, such as 14-year-old Jack Snyder, love the new game threads.
“I can’t believe they paid for all of this,” Snyder said; “just the fact that they donated it so easily, almost without question, amazes me.”
Xavier Grimaldi and Luca Christiansen both held cups of hot chocolate. They were stoked about the new shirts and caps.
“It’s pretty nice that they would do something like that for us,” said Grimaldi, 11.
“Most of the kids in this league are Nats fans, and when they see one of the racing presidents it makes them feel awesome,” 12-year-old Christiansen added.
He’s referring to Nats Racing President “Big Chief Bill,” or the Nationals’ representation of President William Howard Taft, the 27th President of the United States.
Turns out Taft’s descendants are playing ball with the Capitol Hill Little League.
National Capitol League President Don Montori says the Nationals reached out to Little League organizations from around the city, and met with them to pitch an idea. When he learned they’d buy shirts and caps for every Little League member, it didn’t take long for him to say yes.
“It’s expensive to buy 500 shirts,” Montori said.
With the money they’re saving, the Capitol Hill Little League plans to reinvest in the team with coaches’ clinics and equipment.
“We really want to invest in batting cages and maybe work with the city to build new fields,” Montori said.
The girls’ division of Capitol Hill Little League also benefits from the partnership with the Nationals.
“First off, I think it’s great that they’re supporting softball, because baseball’s been traditionally a man’s sport,” softball coach Alison Cernich said. “And so it’s great that they’ve done the outreach to the women’s sports and have included softball in the uniform giveaway for Little League.”
“Softball is expanding in D.C.,” she continued. “We’ve gone from having one team in our league to having three; some of the other leagues have expanded, and so we now have a pretty robust program, which is gaining more attention and more players, which is fantastic.”
Mayor Muriel Bowser was also on hand to address the crowd, and threw the first pitch of the evening game at Payne Elementary in Southeast.
“I want to let you know your city is behind you,” Bowser said. “We want to make sure we’re doing all we can to have great facilities, great fields all over Washington D.C.” She also encouraged the kids to relish childhood. “The most important thing to remember when you’re little kids is that your entire job is to go to school and to have fun,” Bowser said. “So have fun with Little League this year.”
The following Little Leagues are also sporting the Nats-inspired uniforms: Banneker City Little League, Capitol City Little league, Joint Base Anacostia—Bolling Little League, Mamie Johnson Little League, Northwest Little League, Senators Satchel Paige Little League, Southern District Little League, and D.C. Department of Parks and Recreation Rookie League.
