It’s been almost two years since St. Paul Midway Baseball, a historic youth nonprofit that gave Minnesota Twins star and recent National Baseball Hall of Fame inductee Joe Mauer his start, shut its doors in early 2023 due to declining enrollment and financial issues exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The closure came as a shock to many and left a void in baseball programming in the North End, Frogtown, Hamline-Midway, Como and St. Anthony Park neighborhoods. However, a new youth program stepped into its place: Como Ball.

Como Ball President Cory Klinge said the organization managed to field one team last fall, less than a year after Midway closed, as a test run.

“That was super fun in the fact that we were able to get some fun jerseys and just get a nice start in terms of figuring out what it would take to run programming,” Klinge said.

Now, Como Ball just wrapped up their first fall season at the end of September and is firmly in the offseason, according to board member Shaun McClary. With their first full season under their belt, organizers say Como Ball is just getting started.

The successes

One of Como Ball’s main goals is to provide an accessible baseball program to youth in and around the Como Park neighborhood, both through proximity and cost.

“Our closest associations are Highland Ball and Parkway Baseball, and they’re both great associations. But for some of our community, especially in this area where we have higher levels of poverty and we don’t have the resources that are typically available that you might find out in the suburbs or different spots, traveling… to Highland for regular games and practices can be challenging, especially if you’re a kid that uses the bus system or anything like that,” McClary said.According to McClary, Como Ball was able to keep costs low in their first season; in-house baseball cost $100 to participate, and travel teams were $300 in order to cover tournament entry fees.

“When you compare that to neighboring associations, it’s typically less than half of what to expect in most places,” McClary said.

Klinge said the organization will have to increase registration costs slightly as they continue to hash out logistics in their starting years, but once they are set, Como Ball intends to lock in those prices for the next five years. According to their website, once their regular registration window opens in the winter, in-house baseball will be $150 and travel team participation costs $400.

Como Ball also offered scholarships to kids who could not otherwise afford to play this past season, and they intend to offer them again this year, Klinge said.

Despite it being their first year of programming, Como Ball drew interest from the neighborhood with 120 participants, surpassing their initial goal of 100. These 120 members made up 10 teams, including two travel teams, three little league teams, four co-ed teams for youth 8 years old or younger and one girl’s softball team.

The teams were competitive, too. Como Ball’s younger travel team made it to the league championship game before losing to Mounds View, and the older team qualified for two state tournaments, according to Klinge.

The challenges

It hasn’t all been successful. McClary said Como Ball needs to pull in more board members and volunteers. Klinge specifically mentioned it was difficult getting coaches for their little league teams and they had to try recruiting high school students. It wasn’t until the organization’s board hired a volunteer coordinator during the season that they realized they needed more help.

“We’re all working jobs, raising families and things like that, so having more hands on deck makes it go a little more smoothly,” McClary said.

Another challenge was recruiting girls for softball within Como Ball. Rather than having one younger and one older team, the organization ended up combining their participants into one 12-and-under group, said Maddie Noll, the head coach of the team and current freshman at the University of Wisconsin—Madison.

Due to the lack of a 10-and-under team, there were 9-year-olds playing against girls up to three years older than them. Noll said this meant there was a wider gap in skill sets than there usually would be, but they still managed to have a successful year.

“I feel like everybody had a good time while we were playing,” Noll said. “Even though we weren’t always winning because we were up against teams who have been playing way longer than us and with our limited amount of practice time and with [cancellations] and everything, but everyone had such a positive attitude that it was like, unbelievable.”

Looking ahead

Despite the struggles, they have shifted to long-term planning with more goals and initiatives, and Klinge said he is confident about the future.

“With some of the challenges that we had that we have to work through, we feel like we’re in really solid footing,” Klinge said.

On top of growing their board and volunteer numbers, expanding facilities and incorporating more fundraisers, Klinge said Como Ball plans to continue marketing to girls. One key part of this is to organically grow its softball program from the bottom by keeping 8-and-under teams co-ed and steering girls to softball once they age out of that program.

Como Ball also hopes to implement baseball camps during the day next year to provide more opportunities to kids in the area while also alleviating the stress of finding child care for parents, Klinge said.

McClary added that the organization is currently working on building a regular communication plan to create consistency within their programming, which is something Midway Baseball struggled with.

“It was a challenge for (Midway Baseball), and I think it was frustrating for families,” McClary said. “We don’t want to follow that same path. We want to be sure that we are consistent and regular and something that the community can count on for being available.”

With their inaugural season done and planning for the upcoming one underway, Como Ball’s ultimate goal is to establish themselves as a known program in the neighborhood.

“What we hope to do is become kind of a regular fixture in the community, so families know that their kids can come and play Como Ball and enjoy the parks, enjoy everything we have going on in St. Paul,” McClary said.