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He's hoping they will come after he builds it

Posted September 06, 2007 11:00 pm

Kevin Sampier

For Mike Holcomb, life without baseball is boring.

Even more boring, Holcomb says, is the local baseball scene for children.

That's why the 33-year-old Tremont resident has purchased 10 acres of land and will turn it into a top-notch baseball field, complete with all the sights and sounds of the minor and major leagues for children between 4 and 12 years old.

"We want to take the minor and major league-level and bring it down to 11- and 12-year-olds," said Holcomb, who plans to build the baseball field on Towerline Road in Pekin behind Wal-Mart Supercenter.

Eight teams will be created from the best players in the 11- to 12-year-old range to form an elite group that will be called the Central Illinois All-Star League.

"We're just looking for the best kids in the area to compete in this league," said Holcomb, who played college baseball and also spent some time in the minor leagues.

"You just don't get better by playing weaker teams."

Holcomb's new organization, called Central Illinois Baseball Academy Inc., will provide clinics, camps and fundamental training for younger children as well.

The field itself will have lights for night games, an irrigation and drainage system, concession stand and other features usually associated with larger fields.

"You go to a (Peoria) Chiefs game and you hear music and you see fireworks and I want to be able to have that, too," he said. "It's going to be a first-class field."

The players will also be able to track their stats and box scores on the Internet.

Holcomb, who is the father of three young children, says the field will bring an important, missing element to the area for local youth.

"It's going to be like the Pekin field of dreams," he said of the acreage, which is currently a corn field. "It's just going to be a beautiful facility. I'm not going to do this wrong."

Back in 2001, Holcomb formed a not-for-profit organization called For the Glory Baseball and opened a baseball/softball practice center in the old Cohen's building, 1113 Broadway.

The Tazewell County Zoning Board of Appeals on Wednesday unanimously approved Holcomb's request to build the field in the A-2 zoning district, saying it would compliment the area and would not cause any negative affects.

The project is being funded primarily by Holcomb, who owns Parkside Auto Sales in Pekin.

On-site work will begin soon and the field could even be ready by the spring of 2008, he said.

The field is not affiliated with Little League, the official worldwide youth baseball organization, but Holcomb said he plans to form a partnership with the organization in the future and bring Little League to Pekin.

The project may be a large undertaking, but for Holcomb, it's all for the love of the game.

"I'm a baseball nut," he said. "A life without baseball is boring to me."

Kevin Sampier can be reached at (309) 346-5300 or ksampier@pjstar.com.

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