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Mid County Babe Ruth 18's Regional at Nederland

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Collins keeps Babe Ruth league going strong

By CHRISTOPHER DABE

July 30, 2009

Posted: July 30, 2009, 9:22 PM CDT   

Jimmy Collins arrives in early morning, stays until late evening and always tends to one thing or another.

Through it all, the goal remains the same: To give local children a place to play baseball.

Tonight, the diamond at Nederland High School - what many consider a Southeast Texas jewel - will be home to a top-level baseball tournament for 17- and 18-year-old players.

The Mid-County Babe Ruth senior league all-stars will play host to an eight-team, four-day tournament that draws teams from three states and will send the winner to the Babe Ruth World Series in Moses Lake, Wash.

"This is a big tournament," said Collins, the team's manager and league president.

The 18-player all-star team was formed from an eight-team league that included 136 Southeast Texas high school baseball players this summer. League play began soon after the high school playoffs ended, and league coaches picked all-stars at the end of a 12-game league season.

The league, however, would struggle without Collins.

"He's the heart and soul of this league," said former Babe Ruth all-star Ryan Brauninger, a former Nederland High and McNeese State University baseball standout.

Brauninger played on a Babe Ruth World Series championship team at the 13-year-old level in 2000 and played on another World Series qualifying team at the 16-year-old level in 2003.

Brauninger now serves as an assistant coach for Collins.

"Without Jimmy, this league would not be here," Brauninger said. "He does all the stuff nobody knows he does."

Among Collins' self-appointed duties for the 30-plus years in which he has helped oversee the league are to operate the concession stands, order uniforms, hire umpires and stamp bullpen pitching mounds. The 51-year-old spends Sunday afternoons mowing the field and most afternoons tending to other duties when he gets off work as an industrial salesman at Moton Industries in Groves.

"There's been a lot of baseball players from this area who have played for him," said assistant coach Mack McPhatter, a 29-year-old assistant coach on the all-stars team.

McPhatter played in the league while at Nederland High, from which he graduated in 1998. McPhatter also played on one of the 12 senior Babe Ruth league teams that have qualified for the World Series, all since 1995.

Florida Marlins reliever Brian Sanches (1996), Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Clay Buchholz (2000) also played on World Series-qualifying teams. Minor leaguers Collin DeLome and Allen Harrington played on the 16-year-old World Series champions in 2002.

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