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Cooperstown Tournament of Champions hopefuls Eli Bariteau (sitting, left to right) Howie Lyon and Bubba Rogers and Ben Braverman (standing, left to right), Alex Pruneau and Andrew Pagliaro, sell coffee on closing day of the youth baseball season to raise money for their forthcoming trip. Lucjan Szewczyk/Press-Banner

This summer, however, it has a different meaning locally — a group of kids, led by NorCal Sports Complex primary owner Russ Rogers, is raising money to compete in the National American Tournament of Champions (NATC) in Cooperstown, the place where Abner Doubleday supposedly invented the modern game of baseball in 1839.

The American Youth Baseball Hall of Fame’s NATC tournament has evolved into what’s arguably the pinnacle for traveling teams in the country. Playing amidst the 22 fenced diamonds of Cooperstown Dreams Park, each team is one of 1,152 from across the country that’s invited to participate.

Ninety-six teams will play each week June through August, with each team guaranteed at least eight games. And with the overwhelming demand to enter the tournament, getting the invitation to participate is at least as challenging as winning the championship.

The NorCal connection

One of Rogers’ co-owners at NorCal, Kenny Nakagawa, is friends with a youth baseball coach over the hill, Warren Casper, who had a coveted permanent slot to the tournament. And when Casper decided he wouldn’t take a team to Cooperstown this year, he asked Nakagawa if NorCal would be interested in fielding a 12-and-under team instead.

Nakagawa didn’t hesitate in his answer, and now NorCal has a "grandfathered" permit to play in this year’s and future years’ NATC tournaments.

"Traveling teams have really taken off in popularity," says Rogers, himself a former college third baseman for Cal Poly Pomona who was scouted to play professionally before an elbow injury ended his playing career. "You get All-Star caliber kids who are highly motivated, and the idea of playing in Cooperstown has them even more focused."

His Cooperstown traveling team complements the other NorCal Waves teams of all ages.

Helping youth baseball flourish locally is the culmination of years of work for Rogers, who spent seven years coaching girls softball at Bethany University and several years training young kids on the fundamentals of the game.

As he steadily built a clientele, he took his dreams to the next level when he and six other owners in 2007 opened the NorCal Sports Complex, a 12,000-square-foot facility with seven batting cages, netted pitching lanes, sports-oriented virtual reality machines and more.

With NorCal evolving into the hub of baseball and softball activity in Santa Cruz County, more and more kids and parents look to Russ and his team to offer traveling teams once school and youth sports leagues finish for the year.

Rogers will be the head coach of this year’s Cooperstown squad and will be assisted by Nakagawa and San Lorenzo Valley High School JV baseball coach Jimmy Sinnot.

The team so far consists of seven from Scotts Valley — Brennie Hillan, Bubba Rogers, Ben Braverman, Alex Waggoner, Andrew Pagliaro, Alex Pruneau and Eli Bariteau — Jordan Peabody from Felton, and Howie Lyon, Mike Armento, Nick Sinclair and Kendrick Brown from the Salinas/King City area.

There’s still a slot or two open that Rogers is looking to fill.

Kids learning baseball and more

In addition to sharpening their game for their week of tournament play Aug. 16 through 23, the kids are developing another skill — fundraising.

They’re hosting barbecues, selling bagged coffee at area sports events and organizing a golf tournament for July 14 at De Laveaga Golf Course to cover the $1,200-per-person cost of the trip.

Asked what he thinks he’ll take away from his Cooperstown experience, Bariteau said, "Now I know that it’s hard to make money."

But he and his mates are unanimous that fundraising is a small price to pay for the memories that are in store for them.

They talk excitedly about the commemorative plaques and rings that all tournament players receive from their induction into the American Youth Baseball Hall of Fame, the pins they’ll swap with kids from other areas once there, and of the challenge of competing against the some of the country’s most talented teams.

"I think everybody recognizes it’s going to be hard to duplicate this experience," said Barry Bariteau, Eli’s dad.

What: Fundraising golf tournament at De Laveaga Golf Course

When: 11 a.m. July 14

Details: Teams of four, $125 per person

Info: Russ Rogers, 423-6272