Taking flight to Bangor

BANGOR – For the next seven days, a group of 10 baseball teams from the United States and across the globe will discover Maine is “The Way Life Should Be” – on the baseball diamond.

No, those players were not enticed by the tourism slogan seen on the signs at the southern end of the Maine Turnpike. They’re coming to town from places such as Manila, Philippines; Moscow, Russia; and South Vineland, N.J., to compete in the 2002 Senior League Baseball World Series, which begins Sunday at Mansfield Stadium.

While the members of Bangor’s team of 15- and 16-year-old baseball standouts has been blessed with the luxury of sleeping in their own beds and eating home-cooked meals, other players have endured trips across the continent and around the world to participate in the annual Senior League World Series.

The magnitude of the trips has varied greatly, depending upon the timing of the respective tournaments and the distance traveled.

The team from Curacao, an island of the Netherlands Antilles located off the northern coast of Venezuela in South America, wrapped up its Latin American Regional Tournament back on July 14. Curacao had flown to the island of St. Maarten for that event, then returned home to make plans for its trip to Bangor.

The team arrived in Boston at 8 p.m. Thursday, then bused to Bangor.

On the other extreme, the winners at the United States’ Southwest Regional held in Grand Junction, Colo., and the Canadian Regional played at St. Jerome Quebec, weren’t determined until Friday night. That means they had to pack up their equipment and jump on an airplane Saturday, without the luxury of going home first.

Mike Brooker of Bangor, the Senior League World Series tournament director, explained that Little League Baseball made travel plans in advance for the eventual winners.

“Little League already has the travel arranged from those tournament sites to Bangor,” Brooker said Thursday. “U.S. Air and Delta give them open-ended tickets.”

Brooker explained that once a team’s stay in Bangor is over, they are able to schedule flights directly back to their home areas.

“The Southwest tournament’s in Grand Junction, Colo., but the winner could be Little Rock, Arkansas,” he said. “They would fly from Grand Junction to here, but then they would fly back to Little Rock after the tournament.”

At least six of the 10 tournament participants will be traveling in excess of 2,000 miles on their way to Bangor. Asia-Pacific champion Manila, Philippines, had by far the longest trek – approximately 8,300 miles.

The Philippine contingent arrived in Bangor Thursday evening at about 6:30 via Concord Trailways, that after flying into Boston earlier in the day.

European champ Moscow, Russia, covered about 4,300 miles on its journey to Bangor, also via Boston, while Latin America and West Regional winner San Pedro, Calif., each traveled approximately 2,700 miles to play in the World Series.

San Pedro was able to fly directly to Bangor International Airport for a 7:45 p.m. arrival Friday, while Moscow was scheduled to reach the Queen City at about midnight after busing up from Boston.

Logistically, East Regional champion South Vineland, N.J., had the shortest trip to Bangor, about 500 miles. However, that regional didn’t wrap up until Thursday night.

Tournament play begins Sunday at 1 p.m., with Europe and Latin America idle. During each of the four days of round-robin play, two teams are given a day off.