In three weeks, the boys of spring – and future and current American heroes – will be back in Kinston.
The Freedom Classic, the brainchild of Kinston/Lenoir County Parks and Recreation Director Bill Ellis, returns to Historic Grainger Stadium Feb. 22-24. The baseball teams from the U.S. Naval Academy and the U.S. Air Force Academy will play a four-game series that weekend, with a 6 p.m. game on Friday, a doubleheader beginning at 2 p.m. on Saturday and a 12:30 p.m. game on Sunday.
I hope you will put it in your schedule to get out there for at least one, if not all, of the games. There are a few reasons why it is important.
First, there’s no better way to tell potential minor league baseball franchises looking at Kinston that our city is ready for another team than to fill Grainger Stadium for this tournament. If there are 2,000 fans at the venerable stadium in mid-February, what kind of message does that send to those franchises about the potential of fans in June, July or August?
As important, though, are the young men who are going to be taking the field in that four-game set. They are the future officers of the Air Force, Navy and Marines who could potentially be going from the baseball field to the field of battle in just a few months. They are the heroes who will be leading other heroes who are defending our country and our way of life.
Speaking of those other heroes, here is your opportunity to help them enjoy a little baseball later this month. Ellis and Jenny Inabinet, the Freedom Classic organizer for the Parks and Rec Department, have come up with a great idea to help the airmen from Goldsboro’s Seymour Johnson Air Force Base and Marines from Onslow County’s Camp Lejeune and Cherry Point attend the game.
Donate $20 to the Freedom Classic and your name will be included in a donors portion of the official tournament program. Your $20 donation will also help provide five tickets to service members (whose admission is free) to enjoy the Classic.
You can make your donation by sending it to Inabinet (sounds like “cabinet”) at 2602 W. Vernon Ave., Kinston NC, 28504.
However, The Free Press wants to make your donation even more special to you; for every $20 you donate, you will receive the above-mentioned inclusion in the tournament program and the knowledge you are sending five service members to the Classic. You will also receive two tickets to an ECU baseball game of your choice (limit two per donation) from Free Press Advertising Director Matt Holbrook’s secret stash.
Finally, for every donation received at The Free Press, the donors’ name will go into a pot for the chance to go to an ECU game with me and The Free Press’ loveable curmudgeonly columnist Jon Dawson. The winner will get two tickets, two hot dogs and two soft drinks and Dawson’s expert analysis of the ECU game of your choice.
We’ll start accepting donations at The Free Press on Tuesday for The Freedom Classic and continue taking them through 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 12. It’ll be first-come, first-served for the tickets to the ECU games – the earlier you make your donation, the better the chance to go to the game of your choice.
Need more details, email me at Bryan.Hanks@Kinston.com. Let’s send some service members to the Freedom Classic – and support our town at the same time!
Bryan C. Hanks is the managing editor of The Free Press; his column appears in this space every Sunday. You can reach him at 252-559-1074 or at Bryan.Hanks@Kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter at BCHanks and check out his blog at bhanks.encblogs.com.