Elijah Ricks is not one of those youth baseball players who has spent years on the travel-ball circuit. An 11-year-old out of Pacifica, Ricks still played Little League until this summer.
This summer, Ricks’ life changed. That’s what happens when you are part of the inaugural USA Baseball under-12 national team that traveled to Taiwan and captured the gold medal in the International Baseball Federation World Cup.
“He was a Little League player last year,” said his father Tony Ricks. “He played a little bit of travel ball, but nothing super competitive.”
Elijah made six appearances in Taiwan, making three starts in nine games. He made the most of his opportunities: he batted .444 with four hits in nine at-bats, scored four runs, drove in six, hit two doubles and a home run and finished with a 1.000 slugging percentage.
It was long, yet quick, road from Pacifica to Taiwan. Elijah was first noticed during Pacifica American’s run through the 2012 all-star season that saw the 9-10 team capture the District 52 title, the Section 3 championship and advance to the Division 2 championship series. It was during this run that a representative from the Lamorinda Immortals, a travel-ball club based in the East Bay, approached Tony and asked if Elijah would be interested in trying out for the team.
Tony said Elijah was one of 80 kids trying out for two Lamorinda spots. He made the team. At the beginning of this summer, the Lamorinda manager informed his players and parents USA Baseball was holding tryouts for the U12 national team and they were welcome to try out.
Tony Ricks said the tryout in Sacramento was one of several going on around the country.
“We never went up there expecting our kid to make the national team,” Tony said.
It was a two-day tryout after which USA Baseball would send out letters informing players who had made the initial cut. Elijah got a letter after the first day.
“Only 200 letters went out,” Tony said. “I was satisfied (with my son even being included).”
About a month later, Tony got a call from USA Baseball, asking him if he was interested in having Elijah on the team. Tony didn’t give him a “yes” right away. He told the representative he had to run it by Elijah first.
“The kids that make the team, [the parents] turn them over to USA Baseball,” Tony said. “I wasn’t worried about the two hours on the field, I was worried about the other 22 hours. I spent 10 hours with Elijah over 17 days (of this adventure).
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“I run it by Elijah and the kid lit up like a Christmas tree. He asked me, ‘Are you messing with me?’ … About three days before getting on the plane, I asked if he was still excited. He was prepared.”
The journey began with a three-day camp in Los Angeles, then it was off to Taiwan.
This was no goodwill trip or a vacation. There was no guarantee of playing time or every player getting into the game. The team had one goal: win a gold medal, and the coaching staff was going to put the best players on the field to accomplish that goal.
“The kids had no problems accepting it,” Tony said. “The parents had big issues. … The coaches told us all, ‘Nine kids play on a baseball field. We have 18 kids going over there. … Not everybody is playing. We’re going out there to win.’”
Just because a player wasn’t in the starting lineup didn’t mean they were any less part of the team. Even the substitutes had a role to play.
“Manager Dave Webb made a great comment, this was before they even put out a lineup,” Tony said. “He let the kids know, if you’re not in the starting lineup, don’t be content coming off the bench.”
Elijah had his moments in the spotlight — most notably coming to the plate in the bottom of the sixth inning with Team USA trailing Venezuela 3-2. Elijah had a chance to be a hero, but instead struck out to end the game.
While Elijah was disappointed, Tony was thrilled to see the coaching staff have the confidence in his son to send him to the plate with the game on the line.
Elijah did not get into the championship game, an 8-1 win over defending champion and host Taiwan, but that didn’t matter to his dad.
“I think he was fine with it,” Tony said. “I told him, ‘Your gold medal is the same size as everyone else’s. It’s just as shiny.’”
There is no guarantee Elijah will ever make another national team, but it was a good omen when Tony received an email from USA Baseball asking him to keep the federation updated on Elijah’s progress. Until then, Elijah will keep himself in game shape.
“I told him [Tuesday] night, ‘Hey take a break.’ He was out hitting off a tee,” Tony said. “The kid knows what he wants to do.”
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