South Riverdale Little League parade returns, celebrating start of the season

Marching through the spring sunlight, the South Riverdale Little League brought together dozens of kids, family members and coaches for its Opening Day Parade, bringing the community tradition out of its years-long hiatus.

For children ranging from 4 to 16 years old, across 22 teams, the parade marked an official start to the baseball and softball seasons. At the parade, players expressed their eagerness to get out on the field for the season. That excitement could be felt across age groups. Parents and coaches alike said the league continues to be a fixture in Riverdale, drawing in generations of families. 

Walking from the Riverdale Monument on West 239th Street to Seton Park on April 18, spirits were high. Girls from The Lightning waved blue and silver pompoms and sang their own rendition of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.” Ahead, a group of boys chanted “Let’s go Rays.”

When they arrived at the field, kids scattered, giggling and chasing one another across the grass. They soon crowded around the diamond to watch Council member Eric Dinowitz throw the first pitch of the season. He said the throw was “squarely in the strike zone.” 

“Everything you need to know you can learn on the field,” Council member Dinowitz said. “So much of what we want to instill in our children is resilience and teamwork.”

League president and coach Jason Baum, who played as a kid and has a son in the league, said the parade was pulled together in about a week. The dedication it took to get the parade back off the ground can also be seen as generations pass down a love of the sport through the league. As a new season kicks off this spring, Baum said it is meaningful to watch the older players teach some of the younger ones.

“All these kids love the game,” Baum said. “It was a great league when I grew up in it, and I think we made it better.”

Assembly member Jeffrey Dinowitz, who threw the second pitch of the season, said he and his son both played little league, and shared he was heartened to see a new wave of players compete in the South Riverdale Little League.

“This is the type of thing that makes a strong community,” Assembly member Dinowitz said. “It’s such a valuable experience for kids to be part of a team, working with others, and to be engaged in a good activity.”

Resident Ebrohim Rasheed hopes his daughter, 4-year-old Bella, benefits from the league in such ways. Rasheed said he enrolled Bella after watching his friend’s kids play in the league.

“She watches the Yankees with me a lot, so she’s already kind of got the bug,” Rasheed said. He aims for Bella to pick up discipline, skills and hand-eye coordination as she plays.

South Riverdale Little League has been embedded in the community since 1980. However, there was a time four years ago when participation in the softball league dwindled, according to Emily James, who has two daughters in the league and was formerly a softball commissioner and coach.

But the girls James and her husband helped recruit ended up finding a love for the sport, and stuck with it. The league became fuller each year, and now, downtime on the field has fostered an “automatic bond that has not broken,” James said.

“These young kids just keep coming back and growing our pool of community players,” Baum said, noting some players stay involved with the sport for a lifetime.

Among them is lifelong South Riverdale resident Howie Levine, coach and commissioner of the minor teams, who grew up with the league. Throughout Levine’s childhood, his dad was a coach and a commissioner, and Levine found it crucial to carry on the tradition.

Levine’s son, 8-year-old Levi Levine, currently plays with the Angels, but said he has been involved in the sport since he was 2 years old.

“I just like how the game works,” Levi said. “I like playing it and I also like my teammates because I’m making friends.”

Levine said the parade evoked memories from when he was a kid. Even though athletics have changed — as some kids gravitate toward other sports, or devote more attention to electronics — the deep-rooted sense of community remains the same, he said.