Thanks, everyone. It is always a lot of work, but it's also a LOT OF FUN. I want to attempt to list the volunteers that work their butts off for this event (at the risk of leaving someone out):
Frank Kerby - 11 years of taking care of too many things to list here.
Jimmy Keith - Chairman & so much more.
Joe Day - not a better man or family alive. He can build anything out of anything. Heard he built a cabin using nothing but a leatherman tool.
Tom Turpin - solves problems before anyone sees them.
Travis Turpin (13 yo energizer bunny)
Tami Sprouse
Jacky Thomas
Kathy Kerby
Robert & Sandy Spengler
Connie Dowell
Steve Babbitt
Randy LeBlanc
Rob Dalton
Dianna Sprouse
Several Maverick parents that I don't have a list of.
BJ Dixon - not enough people know how much time, money and effort this man puts into improving this field. In one day, he and Joe Day (there he is again) rebuilt the mound, rebuilt home plate and the area behind the plate, laid sod behind home plate, redid the warning track, and shaved the dirt portion of the infield with a grader (you should've seen Joe get that thing through the gate by 1st base), as well as reset second base. BJ's son, Michael, also helped. THANKS, B.
Thanks to the Ball Fields at Craig Ranch for use of their facility.
Thanks to the Collin County Baseball Umpire Association.
Thanks to my wife, Lena, for putting up with me and allowing me to do this (although I did love baseball before I fell in love with her.)
Thanks to Al Alford who helped provide a place for me and many others to play.
Thanks to Gabe Nesbitt and Lindsey Gunter who helped show me that it's all about the kids. I know they were both looking down and hopefully they liked what they saw. I know they enjoyed that last game.
I want to apologize to all of the volunteers for the lack of communication Saturday evening when I changed the game times.
As OP and Kirk mentioned, we do need some financial help if we wish to continue this event in McKinney. Our bills are now through the roof, and continue to rise, but our sponsorships/contributions are down. We spend approximately $55,000 to host this tourney. Daniel Jones and Mr. Riggo at Encore Wire have been great, but they can't continue forever. We will be meeting in a week or two once Frank gets all of the numbers, and then we will have to make a decision by October 1 if we will be able to host this event in 2007.
DBAT GM........glad your kid got a ball. We let them keep them and we went through 28 dozen baseballs. It's a good thing Diamond sends us all of the baseballs. Some of those kids had spotters up in the stands and the others would stand outside. Kinda like looking at McCovey Cove when Bonds is up to bat.
If anyone knows how to help, please let us know. We ain't too proud to beg.