Indie baseball league brings professional talent to Dubois County

Covid-19 can’t take away the simple beauty of baseball played in front of fans at League Stadium even if they do have to social distance.

The crack of bats can be heard daily at the summer cathedral in Huntingburg as players from around the country looking to keep their skills sharp and their stats current are practicing in preparation to hit the field for games every evening Thursdays through Sundays.

Comprised of players from around the country, the Liberation Professional Baseball League began having games for the first time last week. The league was formed by Brian Williams, the owner of the California Dogecoin, who found himself with a team and no place to play when their hometown of Fairfield, California shut down all games.

Williams, a Hoosier from Marion County, began looking for a stadium, any stadium, to play baseball in as he formed the league on the fly in June. With stadiums across the country being shut down to baseball because of the pandemic, Williams returned to the Midwest. He was considering using the Louisville Slugger Stadium and was checking it out when he decided to come to League Stadium.

He remembered it was where “A League of Their Own” had been filmed and although he had seen a few photos of the stadium, it wasn’t until he stepped in and watched a game featuring the Jasper Reds that he decided this was the place he wanted to bring his fledgling league.

“I kinda knew about this stadium but had forgotten it was in the movie,” Williams said. “Then I rediscovered it a few years ago but I re-re-re-discovered it during the pandemic.”

Coming to the game, Williams realized it was a great place for baseball.

“Physically being here, you know, you just immediately fall in love with this whole set up,” he said. “This is really a very special place.”

He said that after seeing the stadium was available because of the cancellation of the Frontier League, he reached out to Huntingburg Parks Director Larry Altstadt who ran the idea through the mayor’s office and brought it to the park board. They approved Williams’s request to lease the stadium and bring the professional level baseball to Huntingburg.

The league featuring four teams — the California Dogecoin, the Baseball Resume Bandits, the Indiana Barn Owls, and the Indy Windstorm — is still being built as players show up.

“Yeah, I called a player I knew who was fly fishing in Idaho and he drove his camper here to play baseball,” Williams laughed.

Admittedly, these players are wanting to keep their edge as Covid-19 continues to impact professional sports. But some are also here to be seen and potentially recruited or even return to the MLB.

Opening night, Johnny Barbato pitched for the Indiana Barn Owls as they faced Williams’s team, the California Dogecoin. Barbato has pitched in the major leagues for three teams, his last appearance in 2018 for the Detroit Tigers and he is looking to get back.

Malcolm Cepeda, the grandson of Hall of Famer Orlando Cepeda, hit his first professional home run last week at League Stadium. Cepeda said he’s here to play baseball and hopefully get noticed. “There were a lot of expectations growing up as the grandson of a Hall of Famer and playing baseball in high school,” he said adding that playing baseball for college was different. “I wasn’t as well known and sometimes I wouldn’t even tell people my full name.”

Williams called Cepeda to come to play for his team in California before Covid-19 shut the season down. Bringing the league to Dubois County gave Cepeda a chance to begin his first season in a professional league.

“I come out here every day just blessed to be here,” the 27-year-old said about playing in Huntingburg. “I see my teammates all smiling and having fun so it is a great place to be.”

One of Williams’s partners in the league, Ray Ortega, is associated with the San Francisco Giants. Ortega started his career in an indie league and played for a few years before deciding that coaching might be a better opportunity for him. Two years ago he got a call from Kyle Hains, the farm director for the Giants, asking if he would be interested in coaching in a Major League organization. “Of course I said I did,” he said.

Since then he’s been working in the San Francisco Giants organization as a Bullpen Coach of the Sacramento River Cats.

With the Minor League season canceled, he decided to join Williams in the Liberation League. “I have a heart for independent guys because I used to be in their shoes,” Ortega said. “My goal here is to help develop guys who can get developed to get them to that next level.”

He’s looking to bring these guys into his organization as well. After Barbato pitched last week, Ortega signed him. “He’s trying to just show that he has the ability to still do it,” he said. “This is a platform for guys to show they are still ballplayers and essentially, sell themselves to the next level or to the Major League.”

For baseball fans in the area, this means they will see high-level baseball from former MLB players as well as guys trying to make their marks. “Independent professional baseball is like the backdoor to the Major Leagues basically,” Ortega said.

Williams wants fans to know they will get some great baseball when they come out. Also, putting people in the stands makes for a much better atmosphere for baseball.

The season is set to continue until October and plans for a championship series are potentially in the works. For now though, Williams is just hoping fans will come out in enough numbers that it can begin to feel like a real baseball season while maintaining social distancing guidelines and all the safety requirements for Covid-19.

Concessions are available from Old School Café and The Gaslight will provide beer. Tickets to the games are $5 and games are at 6:30 Thursdays through Sundays.