COLUMBIA, There is a baseball team playing at Dave Hall Field this summer. College kids, wood bats, evening light on the Columbia State campus, tickets that cost less than a pizza. The Columbia Jumpin' Jacks are in their first season, and if you have not been out to see them yet, you are missing out on a slice of Americana.
The Jacks are part of the Volunteer State League, a collegiate summer wood bat league that places college players in communities across Tennessee while they develop their game between seasons. The name is new. The field is not. Dave Hall Field has seen plenty of baseball over the years, and this summer it has a team again.
They opened on June 4 with a 7-6 win. Home games run through the end of July, with tickets from five to twelve dollars. You can bring a blanket & your family and not spend much more than that.
The league's CEO, Alec Allred, said they look for “communities that value baseball, support local events, and take pride in their hometown identity.” Columbia fit. It usually does.
This is summer baseball the way it is supposed to work. Young men far from home, playing for the love of it, in a town that has agreed to root for them. The Sandlot had a monster behind the fence. Field of Dreams had a cornfield. Columbia has Hampshire Pike and the Duck River and maybe a legend or two still to be written. All it needs is a crowd in the bleachers.
Home games run through July. Tickets and schedule at columbiajumpinjacks.com.