Russians adapt quickly to baseball

Series Notebook

BANGOR – In Russia, they’ve only been playing baseball in earnest for about 10 years.

It has been a difficult transition for aspiring ballplayers, as equipment, fields and baseball expertise are hard to come by.

That’s what makes the appearance by the Moscow, Russia, team in this week’s Senior League World Series so special. The squad, coached by Alexander Volkov and Andrew Selivanov, claimed the European championship to earn the right to play in Bangor.

Now that they’re here in the United States, birthplace of baseball, they want to experience the game and its history to the utmost.

The Moscow contingent paid a visit Sunday to the Bangor Mall. They weren’t nearly as interested in clothing and footwear as they were in baseball paraphernalia.

“They was asking about some baseball books to read, anything,” said coach Andre Selivanov. “Everything about baseball – cards, T-shirts, old pictures of famous guys – because in Russia we don’t have nothing. Right here, it’s like a museum.”

The Moscow players are wide-eyed to be immersed in such a rich baseball setting. Unfortunately, they’re not able to watch any major league games because there are no televisions in their dormitory rooms at Husson College.

In 1989, Moscow head coach Volkov, who never played the game, helped start the youth baseball movement in Russia, according to Selivanov.

“He bring the kids to the soccer field from school with hockey gloves and he start to work with the kids,” Selivanov said of Volkov, who knew the first time he saw baseball that he had to learn the game.

Instead of baseballs, Volkov used the next best thing that was available: field hockey balls.

Now, Selivanov explained, there are approximately 300 kids playing in three Little League baseball divisions in Moscow. He was fortunate enough to take his game to the next level.

In 1995, Selivanov signed a contract with the Atlanta Braves. He played for West Palm Beach of the Gulf Coast League and played one season.

“It was really good experience for me,” said Selivanov, who played with the likes of Andruw Jones and Odales Perez. He has been coaching with Volkov for three years.

The pair also have worked in Russia with Moscow’s ages 11-12 team, which will compete in the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa. Yet even with the recent success, baseball is pretty much an afterthought in Russia.

“We have really good kids, good athletes, and they really like baseball, but most of the people [in Russia] don’t know what baseball is,” Selivanov said.

One of the major hurdles for Russia is a lack of equipment. Most of the gloves, bats and helmets Moscow is using are five or six years old.

“We have a terrible situation,” said Selivanov, who was appreciative of some donations from the Bangor contingent, but would appreciate any other help people in the community might offer.

“It doesn’t matter what [people might have to offer],” Selivanov said. “We have kids from 5 or 6 years old until [Senior League] age.”

Fan drive cools off players

While several of the teams in Bangor for the Senior League World Series are undoubtedly accustomed to the balmy weather they’ve encountered here, the players may not be adapting as well as you think.

Fans making their way into Mansfield Stadium on Monday may have noticed a large group of fans (the kind that keep you cool, not the kind that lose their cool) just inside the gates.

According to tournament director Mike Brooker, dorm life at Husson College hasn’t agreed with some players during the current hot spell.

“Evidently some of the more kind-hearted mothers had heard that some of the boys over at Husson were being troubled by the heat,” Brooker said. “Especially the kids from places where they’re used to air conditioning.”

The solution the mothers came up with?

“They went out and started a fan drive,” Brooker said. “So far I guess we’ve had around 55 [donated], and we’re hoping to get up to around 70 or 75, so we can put one in every room over there at Husson for them.”

Brooker said anyone wishing to temporarily donate a fan to the cause can drop one off at Mansfield Stadium on Tuesday. Fan-toting fans should make sure to put their name and phone number on their appliance, so it can be returned after the tournament.