A major-league star born in Tampa and baseball-bred at Belmont Heights Little League, Sheffield says he is out of answers.
He has watched his once-proud Little League erode. To keep kids, particularly African-Americans, interested in the sport he loves, he has given money and time, but nothing seems to work. He once was a supporter of Major League Baseball's RBI program, designed to increase interest in urban areas.
"I didn't like it," Sheffield said. "If I'm going to help, I'm going to go do something on my own ... Going through an organization, the money never sees the people it's supposed to be helping."
He wants baseball to market the sport better. He wants community leaders to take a more active role. He wants parents and Little League directors to create recreation that excites children.
"You don't say, "I'm going to target black kids'," Sheffield said. "You say, "I'm going to target people. I'm going to target a community.' This doesn't frustrate me, because I'm going to keep helping. People were there to help me, so I'm going to be there for kids today."
Doug Waechter
Though he plays baseball for a living, Waechter thinks about football every day.
He pitches for the Devil Rays, but if his mood was different just a few years ago, he would be more worried about third-and-7 these days than a 3-2 pitch.
Waechter played football and baseball at St. Petersburg's Northeast High and passed up a scholarship to be a quarterback at the University of South Florida. Football is in his past, but always on his mind.
"Every weekend, I turn on the TV and see football and, yeah to be honest, I still think about it," Waechter said. "I think about what might have happened if I stuck with football, where I would be right now. But I don't regret my decision. Not at all."
Why would he? He has already pitched in the majors and is expected to be in the starting rotation next season. His decision to stick with baseball was based on the belief that he can get a college degree in the future, but that baseball couldn't wait.
"I never worried if people thought it was cool to play baseball or not," Waechter said. "I liked all sports growing up. Whatever season it was, that was my favorite sport. Whether it was soccer or football or baseball. I liked them all. To me, baseball is great."
Bob Costas
For the record, the broadcaster, a passionate fan, doesn't believe baseball has lost its coolness.
"Sometimes a notion takes hold and the notion is repeated over and over so that people start to believe it as fact," Costas said. "The notion here is baseball is in trouble, but there is some evidence to refute it."
Costas points to attendance figures, television ratings and team revenues, which are at an all-time high. But he also admits baseball does have problems, particularly when it comes to attracting a young audience. If he were commissioner (and that idea has been floated), he has one quick, easy idea to draw younger fans: play postseason games, especially World Series games, early enough in the day so kids can watch.
"Now you have games that aren't over until past midnight on school nights," Costas said. "The NFL's postseason is one game a week, on weekends and still end early enough for kids to watch. The NBA Finals are in June when kids are out of school and can stay up. Some of the biggest moments baseball has had in recent times have happened after midnight on the East Coast and a whole generation of kids hasn't seen them."
