Series Notebook

BANGOR – The generosity of Maine authors Stephen and Tabitha King made Mansfield Stadium a reality in 1992.

Ten years later, both were the guests of honor for the opening ceremony of the Senior League Baseball World Series, which this week is being played at the ballpark.

Stephen King threw out the ceremonial first pitch Sunday afternoon as the international 10-team tournament began on a hot, sunny August day.

The Kings built Mansfield Stadium to provide the youth of Greater Bangor with a first-rate baseball facility. This week, Bangor shares its stadium and its Down East hospitality with the six American teams and four international squads gathered for the Senior League World Series, whose participants are ages 15-16.

A handful of local dignitaries, including Maine Gov. Angus King, Little League Baseball President and CEO Steve Keener, Bangor mayor Michael Crowley, U.S. Army Sgt. 1st class Kevin Tillman and former “Survivor” contestant Zoe Zanidakis, appeared during the pregame festivities.

There was plenty of pageantry as a local bagpipe band provided an escort for the players and coaches, who paraded onto the field and stood around the perimeter of the infield in their brightly colored uniforms.

A jazz band provided pregame music outside the grandstand, while a group of clowns and Jeff Garrity, dressed in a chicken suit, provided more color and entertainment.

Several hundred fans and local baseball supporters looked on as, after the Kings were introduced, Gov. King and Zanidakis arrived on the field astride motorcycles.

Stephen King got the first pitch to the plate where Joe Wilcox, a member of King’s 1989 Little League state championship baseball team, was waiting.

David Mansfield and field director Ron St. Pierre then made a presentation to the Kings, unveiling a stone monument in the shape of home plate. It read, in part, “Thank you for this beautiful ballpark and your continued generosity.”

The stone, which will be placed somewhere in the main entrance way to Mansfield Stadium, caught Stephen King’s eye right away.

“It looks kind of like a grave stone,” King quipped.

“We just want to say thank you. This is wonderful,” he added, simply.

The Star Spangled Banner was performed on the tenor saxophone by Tillman. He was quickly adopted by the community in 1991 when, on his way home from the Gulf War with his unit, borrowed a sax from a John Bapst High School student and played an emotional rendition of the national anthem.

As Tillman’s smooth rendition of the national anthem ended Sunday, a national guard refueling plane did a fly-by over the stadium. Its entire crew was made up of former Little League players.

Gov. King, clad in a black leather jacket and matching chaps, paused briefly to wave to the gathering alongside Zanadakis. Moments later, the pair rode off.

Keener welcomed the players, coaches and fans, giving a special thanks to the parents and coaches for their sacrifice and commitment to the young athletes’ pursuit of baseball excellence.

Crowley proclaimed this, “Senior Little League Week” in the City of Bangor. Maine Distirict 3 Little League commissioner Bob Stevenson of Bangor also was recognized.

What jet lag?

It’s been a whirlwind, three-day period for the United States West region Senior League baseball champions from San Pedro, Calif.

“We finished our last game Thursday and flew up here Friday morning,” said head coach Mike Sindicich. “We were at the airport at 4 [a.m.] and got here at 8:30 after flying out of San Jose.”

Evidently, jet lag wasn’t a factor for San Pedro as Sindrich’s team opened the tourney with a convincing 7-1 win over South champ Boynton Beach, Fla.

“It doesn’t look like it,” he said with a laugh, noting his team’s 10-hit effort.

Team members haven’t had time yet to familiarize themselves with a state they’ve never visited before. And they have little to complain about.

“Flies, bugs and fleas. That’s all our guys are complaining about,” Sindicich said. “Me? I’m looking forward to a lobster dinner one of these days.”