By Kim J. Harmon

RUSSELLVILLE, Arkansas – Greg Standridge was born and raised in Russellville and still lives within a quarter mile of the old homestead. An independent insurance agent, an emergency rescue technician, and the owner of a mini-mart and a Laundromat, he is entwined in the fabric of this small town in the River Valley.

So when it came time to look for ambassadors and host families for the 2005 Cal Ripken World Series, Greg was more than happy to stand up and volunteer.

“We just love baseball,” said Greg, “and we want Russellville to look good.”

The Newtown Bombers had four host families looking out for them ever since they landed at Little Rock National Airport back on August 3. Besides showing them around, orientating them to Russellville, the host families also laundered the team uniforms.

Greg has been with the team since it touched down on the tarmac in Little Rock. He was with the team during the skills competition at MJ Hickey Field (No. 6) last Thursday afternoon and during the opening banquet at Russellville High School last Thursday night.

And on Friday, just hours before the Series opener against Jonesboro, Arkansas, Greg found a practice field (Shiloh Park, just up the road a piece) for the Bombers.

Some things have had to be put on hold, though. As an emergency rescue technician he – and the 11 or so others covering the county – are on call 24 hours a day. When the Bombers touched down, Greg was unable to attend to an emergency rescue call (vehicle rollover) and then had to miss a few other calls during the tournament.

It’s a sacrifice made for the love of baseball and the love of Russellville.

Baseball And Hay

When Greg was a kid, live was about baseball and farming.

“Playing baseball and cutting hay in the summertime is what we did,” he said. “All day long we would cut and bale bay and, for football, that built great strength.

Greg played football at Arkansas Tech (lineman, linebacker and deep snapper) and also played semi-pro baseball. Both of those athletic endeavors, however, came to an abrupt end when he sustained injuries.

With baseball, it was a 3-0 fastball (an at-bat after hitting a home run) that came in tight and busted his forearm. With football, it was an injury suffered in the weight room. But Greg is no stranger to injuries; when he was his son’s age, he was run over by a truck and broke both of his legs and still has the scars to prove it.

Now he coaches a Babe Ruth league team, a travel team, and just about any other team (outside of soccer) you can name. His son, Hunter, is a nine-year-old baseball player with pretty good size and a pretty good bat (he took batting practice with the Bombers at Shiloh Park). He also served as the Bombers’ bat boy for the World Series and will play at that level next summer … maybe even getting a chance to help represent Russellville in the 2006 Cal Ripken World Series (as host, Russellville got a bid to the ’05 Series and surprised a lot of people by winning its first three games).

Last Sunday, the Standridge family hosted a barbecue/pool party at their Russellville home for the Bombers and the other host families featuring the famous whattaburgers from the Whattaburger Restaurant across from Arkansas Tech. The Bombers spent hours in the pool, tooled around the property in a pair of golf carts, and had a chance to see a pond full of catfish chow down on a late dinner.

On Monday, it was a fishing trip prior to a game with Lynden, Washington.

“(The host families) have been just wonderful to us,” said assistant coach Ron Schmidt after handing out gifts to the families (autographed team pictures) and to the Diamond Girls and bat boys (baskets of goodies), “and treated us like family.”

Unspoken was the fervent hope that the Bombers could be enjoying the hospitality of their host families until the World Series wrapped up on Friday.