Titans Baseball Club - Philippines

Not long ago, we embarked on a journey to create an environment where adults from different walks of life could come together, take the field, step up to the plate, take a hack, and run the bases. We envisioned a brand of baseball catering to a spectrum of recreational and aspiring players alike that would endure through popular involvement, eventually spurring a breeding ground for future talent deserving of international cognizance by virtue of the program's own merit.

It took all of nine weekends over 58 days as seven teams played more than a combined 45 games over three separate venues to stage the greatest baseball show of its kind in the nation. Truly a magical summer indeed. Pure unadulterated fun entrenched in a competitive atmostphere.

Nevermind if we had patterned ourselves after the amateur ranks of the United States. We needed a model for success to emulate. But such a model lies not within the number of people who play the game, but rather the consolidated efforts of visionaries and baseball gurus who put a premium on organization. Like a phoenix rising from the ashes.

It is quite common for one to say that something of this magnitude can be done, but unless people actually put some action into it, then naysayers remain just that.

Several storylines are worth mentioning.

Of the seven teams representing different districts within the National Capital Region, a concept that emphasizes community-based programs, the Antipolo City ACG emerged the maiden league's champion and no doubt will be tasked to defend their crown in 2004. Led by Tony Olayvar, Joseph Orillana, and Mel Palacol, the ACG won 13 of 14 games en route, pacing the league in batting (.383 BA, 151 runs scored), pitching (2.65 ERA), and fielding (.943 FA) as they led wire to wire from the gate.

Diliman's Fighting Maroons, the league's pre-season favorite, came in third, after losing the second game of their play-off to the eventual runner-up Marikina Golden Bears, who had the twice-to-beat advantage by virtue of having the league's second- best record at the close of the regular season.

But it was the battle for the fourth play-off spot that provided for pennant fever as the Loyola Heights Blue Eagles squeezed by the Alabang Titans on the last weekend of the regular season after the Taguig Gems succumbed to the endurance factor as well as a league violation that knocked them out of the running.

The Makati Titans brought up the rear with a porous defense (league low .825 FA) that became synonymous to rally-killer. Nevertheless, they did avoid going winless on the season with a convincing victory over rival Alabang.

From an Opening Day barbecue, a mid-season launch, to All-Star Sunday, adult baseball in the Philippine setting revelled with the excitement and drama once relegated to the past. A major milestone achieved.

"It is something that should go on and move on..." notes Alabang's Nesty Leyson, himself a witness to the continuing popularity of our grassroots baseball programs. Someday, the kids will grow up and what have you - a league to fluorish and shine, to experience the competition and bask in the camaraderie, to relive one's childhood, and to make their dreams a reality.

"Nostalgic to what baseball used to be and optimistic to what baseball can be..." adds Diliman's Rajah Singh, also an assistant coach of the University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons, who embodied on the diamond what is preached in the dugout. With the Titans experience, coaches do deserve to be on the playing field as well.

And so as we come to close yet another chapter in Philippine sports, we open a new frontier for growth. And as 40-year old Ricky Gumaru expressed his sentiment, "Boy that was fun... Let's have more of that...", there is some truth in the saying "baseball is a way of life".

You're in the game!

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