The Big 4 Baseball Conference

[Young Drachma]

BACKGROUND
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Lake County is a vast area that is both metropolitan and rural in its character. As the national economy continues to boom, the county is experience a variety of changes that are changing the character of the region in ways few might have ever imagined.



What anchors the community is the four towns that make up the county.

So let's take a moment to introduce to them now.

FARMINGTON SETTLEMENT



The Farmington Settlement was created when settlers from the east stopped here as a segue on their journey towards the west coast. Among them were a group of industrious merchants who decided that the beauty of the region, coupled with its proximity to a lake, would make a great waystation for weary travelers.

They named it "Settlement" but as time went on and more and more farmers came to plow the land, it became known as the Farmington Settlement.




In recent years, Farmington has paved its roads and has become a more integrated member of Lake County. Most who grow up there, stay there until college and then move closer to the cities where they can go to college and where there is more to do.

Still, Farmington is a lot more exciting now than it used to be and prides itself on being a great place to raise a family, while still giving you nice access to the city life if that's your thing.

HARRISBERG


Well known for its reputation as a seedy haven for low-income workers, Harrisberg is on the upswing of late. Still a far cry from its metropolitan brethen.

The mayor of Harrisberg, C. Dion Williams, says that his community is a "great working class community that prides itself on its traditional values and is continuing to emerge as a major industrial hub in west Lake County.



The city has spent the past few years rooting itself out of corrupt police, a downtown full of soup kitchens, missions and a flock of bars next to schools and a reputation for being a place that you didn't go during the day, much less at night.

While it's still not on anyone's list of "Best Places to Live in America", the community has managed in recent years to attract investment and is cleaning up its act.



METROPOLIS

The view from South Lake is unmistakable. It's the beautiful, majestic skyline of Metropolis, the centre city in Lake County and economic powerhouse of the entire region.



In recent years, weaned through a growing technology sector and Silcon Valley startups moving to the area, Metropolis is gaining a reputation as "the place to be" not just in the state, but around the nation.

Metropolis isn't just a great place to do business and work. It's also a fantastic place to play and live.



Most of the residents of Metropolis live downtown among the highrises that dot the city skyline. Young professionals, as well as experienced titans of industry live amongst each other, enjoying what the city has to offer yearround.



One of the coolest places in the city is the Cobble Street Mall, an outdoor mall that includes shoppes, restaurants and some of the best culture anywhere in the state.

Not too far from there includes the State Opera House and in view of the Lake View Bridge, is the Aquarium and Children's Museum.

MIDDLEBORO

"The Boro" as its known, is located between Metropolis and Harrisberg. It's a suburban area, that was once completely empty and is emerging as a satellite hub.


The main fuel for Middleboro's growth are suburban families and those who cannot afford the city, who choose to settle in the many condos, apartments and other residential living options that Middleboro offers.

Another draw in Middleboro is that of Forest Lake College, a liberal arts college located there. It's emerging as one of the finest schools in the country for B- students whose parents dread the thought of them attending ordinary public schools with the children of mere mortals.



Middleboro has the smallest population of the four communities in Lake County, but is also the fastest growing, so that won't last for long, with people fleeing Harrisberg and Metropolis for different reasons.

CONCLUSION
What combines these four communities is more than just their character and an accident of geography.

What unites them is baseball. For over sixty years, the Big 4 baseball conference -- originally the Big 3 -- has been home to the best baseball in the state, arguably. Kids prepare all winter to get ready for the Spring, when they can step out onto the field.

What was once an old country diversion has become the unofficial pasttime of life in Lake County.

Hence, this story isn't just about a region. It's about the passion that comes when you combine one's home with the game they love.

[Young Drachma]

THE BIG FOUR BASEBALL CONFERENCE


Founded in 1940, the Big 4 is comprised of the four high schools in Lake County.

They are:

Metropolis HS Braves
Lake County HS Cubs (Middleboro)
Settlement HS Giants (Farmington)
Harrisberg HS Cardinals

The schools play a 42 game regular season schedule, with the season culminating with the Lake County Championship Series, a best-of-nine game event that grips the entire region.

"When your team is in The Championship, nothing goes on that week and the entire world seems to revolve around it," said one former player.

In recent years, the game has taken on greater significance, as the areas near the city continue to grow and the rural areas continue to decline in population.

"People sometimes wonder if we'll be able to keep a team up here," said one resident of Farmington, lamenting the decrease in young families moving to the town, leaving them with a relatively small base of players to choose from.

The only saving grace is that students from the nearby Farmington Prep school will play on the Settlement team, since that school doesn't field a team and since they are technically located in Settlement.

"They're residents and so, the league rules let them play. It helps us a lot, but it's kinda unfair since a lot of those kids are from the city."

Each school plays at a field in their particular town. Let's go by and see where they play, shall we?

HARRISBERG


The team plays at Ruth Harris Park, located near the city centre. It was once a pretty blighted place and for a while, the players on the team would take the bus to Middleboro to play a park there for their home games, because of how much open-air drug selling and other issues occured at the park.



But in 1999, the city rededicated the park as Ruth Harris Park and poured a $1 million into making it a better place for the students and keeping a police substation nearby.

Since then, it's become a lot better and they even get a few fans to come out to games.

MIDDLEBORO
Last year, the borough christened three new fields at College Park.



FARMINGTON


Farmington -- since paving its roads -- is a really nice place to fly by. And these are their downtown baseball fields.

METROPOLIS

[Young Drachma]

PROGRAM HISTORIES
Since 1940, the programs have played the same set of games (with no designated hitter rule) and the season culminates with a best-of-nine game county championship.

Lake County has the most finals appearances with 38. Settlement has the most titles at 20.

First, we're going to visit Harrisberg, to discover a bit about their baseball history and then, a story about the present that is affecting the town and the entire county -- upstarts.

HARRISBERG HIGH SCHOOL
In 2005, Harrisberg won their first title since 1992, their 13th overall. The Harrisberg program has the fewest titles (13) and fewest finals (28) appearances of any school.

The best hitter in history was first baseman

Denzel Galloway, who ended his high school career as a career .556 hitter and is the all-time school leader in hits (523), stolen bases (122) and runs (328).

A GROWING COMMUNITY ON THE EDGE OF TOWN


If you wondered how close communities are, you can see Farmington Settlement beyond the haze there on the top of the hill, past the wind farm.

Between Farmington and Harrisberg, a new development has cropped up in recent years that is technically in unincorporated Lake County, but its growing collection of lawyers, doctors, stay-at-home moms and others are making it an area that seeks to throw its weight around.

Right now, the children who grow up there have three options. The first, is to attend Lake County High School in Middleboro, since that's the school designated for out-of-metro area students. The second is to get a reciprocation agreement to attend Settlement HS or Harrisberg HS.



Right now, the majority go to Lake County, but the people there are clamoring for their own school.

"We're the brightest star in this area. Without our money, the county would go to pot," said Daniel Sawyer, who is considering a run for County Executive next year, a lawyer who moved to South Hill last year.

"South Hill is a more cohesive community than any other in this county and we deserve to be heard."

This irritates both Farmington residents -- who view the South Hill people are carpetbaggers who are trying to turn the county into the areas they left -- and Harrisberg residents who view the South Hill insistence as discrimination, due to the low-income nature of Harrisberg.

"If they wanted to work with us, we could have the best school in the county. We've offered them to join Harrisberg and if you look at the 1975 map of the county, South Hill is considered part of Harrisberg. It was called Old Harris Hill," said Frank DiNardo, a member of the city council in Harrisberg.



South Hill is a growing community and with land developers scoping out the area daily, it won't be too long before there are commercial developments in the community, in addition to the residential areas already there.

[Young Drachma]

UNIVERSITY PARK
Adding to the confusion of the border of Harrisberg and the rest of the county, The State University (TSU) built a campus in Lake County, expanding in recent years from just a small branch campus to a full-fledged campus that's one of the fastest growing in the state.





As the campus and surrounding area continues to grow, screams of gentrification and razing of properties once confined to low-income people are being toppled for new campus properties which take that area off the tax rolls and cause more problems financially for the Harrisberg city council, where the land is still considered part of.

Despite this, the school uses the address of "University Park"



Here is a nightitme shot. You can see the Catherdal of St. Henry to the north, to the south, you see the main shot of the growing campus. The art museum is due south to the right of that, is the Fine Arts centre.



There is talk of buying up the properties on the east end of campus, all of which are tenements and slum dwellings, for new fraternity and student housing. This would turn this entire block, once a blighted area into a revived, resurgent area where properties values continue to soar. With its proximity to South Hill, where many professors and other professionals from other towns continue to relocate, it's a growing community unto its own.