A Plan to Convert a Baseball Field into a Cricket Pitch Kicked a Hornet’s Nest

Farmington — Mid-January would seem an unlikely time for baseball to be in the forefront of a small Midwest town’s agenda, but a seemingly innocuous proposal for community beautification brought out a swarm of concerned residents to defend their quaint town.

Caps and uniforms with the “South Farmington Baseball” logo spanned the room as worried residents voiced their concerns over a proposal to remove a baseball field in one of the local parks.

The Farmington town council, looking to be progressive and forward-looking, had kicked a hornet’s nest. It wasn’t an isolated incident either, as neighboring Farmington Hills had an even more aggressive proposal to remove four baseball fields.

The council members had no ill will toward youth sports. Their considerations were toward an increasing demographic that exploded in the last five years: South Asians. The proposal in both cities was to convert those large fields into cricket pitches to accommodate the newcomers.

A dozen Little League supporters, coaches, and players relayed their concerns in the comments section, written out in the most diplomatic way possible, ignoring the demographic elephant in the room. Most everyone spent their adult lives within the city or surrounding towns, many coming from multiple generations back. “Who here is in support of this proposal?” one of the coaches asked. No one raised their hands.

It wasn’t until the online comments came up that the assistant city manager relayed an anonymous poster’s short, caustic comment: “Why are we destroying baseball fields? Let the Indians play cricket somewhere else.” That the quiet part was spoken out loud.

Youth baseball has seen a decline over the last couple of decades, coinciding with the decline of communities that could maintain them. Worse, the rise of travel sports has sucked out local talent, along with a young child’s sense of place. Local travel teams often cost several thousand dollars in addition to the time commitment of constant road trips. Local dads volunteering their time for a local league where you got a mixed bag of talent together and had fun has been replaced with a Darwinian struggle for travel teams to get the best of the best.

In the last five years though, there’s been a miraculous revival. Through community involvement, advocacy, and thousands of hours of unpaid work, the Little League has increased from 615 kids to over 1,200. The seasons begin with a parade of young athletes marching through downtown. During the season, players gleefully go for ice cream or burgers at one of their many sponsors. The nostalgic Americana of an earlier era comes out in full force.

A victim of its own success, scheduling a field during both summer and fall season has become more difficult, with many games and practices needing lights to play as late as 10 p.m. The growth is not slowing, and its continued growth without the infrastructure available may force the organization to have a lottery or tryouts.

In the last couple of years, other communities have also used the space. While a baseball field is not ideal for cricket, East Asians are often on the fields, with coaches kicking them off for Little League practices. These newcomers, mostly young men, immigrated through the H1-B process and are employed by car manufacturers and tech firms in Detroit.

There’s been no trouble, but this might change. As their population increases, so will their demand for public use for their sports. The plan didn’t come out of the blue. Demographic change is real, as is the problem they were trying to solve.

Perhaps a reasonable compromise will be made. There were discussions of dual-use fields that can accommodate both. They would be rented by the cricket athletes, though with preferred use by the Little League during peak times, but otherwise will be allocated just like anything else. This sort of revision would likely be accepted by most parents, though with strong reservations. In its essence, the conflict points to an existential issue.

As the foreign-born population nationally has increased to 14% of the population, they have formed insular conclaves fundamentally different from the surrounding culture. Parents are stuck between sounding racist by voicing concerns or accepting the demographic transformation they neither asked nor voted for.

No one asked their city to be flooded with H1-B visa holders, and the harsh truth is this conflict would not exist if the South Asians weren’t imported in. The ideal of integration isn’t happening, and there’s almost a reverse integration demanded, where long-time residents have to change their public spaces to accommodate recent immigrants.

The Farmington battle is a microcosm of the clash of values happening across the nation. While eggheads worry about GDP and crime stats, parents are wondering what happened to Americana and why they have to plead their case to maintain an American Institution.

It’s my hope my grandchildren get to experience the satisfying crack as they hit a ball far into the outfield or slide onto home for the winning run, their pristine uniform caked in dust. It’s not a spreadsheet number, but it’s something to fight for all the same.