Road trip through time

Fifteen boys from various sections of the city are sitting on an authentic 1947 Clipper Bus. Like typical 13-year-olds, they are joking with one another and laughing.

The young athletes are getting their first look at the restored vehicle that will take them across the country this summer on a trip that is nothing short of a baseball lover’s fantasy.

The Philadelphia Stars Throw Back Tour ’04 will be a 15-city, 3,700-mile barnstorming jaunt through the pages of baseball lore. The athletes hope to leave their own mark on the national pastime along the way.

Coach and program director Steve Bandura believes the trip will be a profound experience for his multicultural group of players.

The coach is coordinating the travel plans with the help of Mitchell & Ness Nostalgia Co. and the Department of Recreation. The team — a mix of black, white and Latino players — will visit plenty of big baseball towns, including Baltimore, Atlanta, Chicago and New York.

The trip is a testament to the legacies of Jackie Robinson and Roberto Clemente, said Bandura, a Marian Anderson Recreation Center leader.

"It’s because of those guys that these kids are traveling together," he said.

On June 12, the team will depart from Anderson Rec Center, 17th and Fitzwater streets, on the bus paid for by Mitchell and Ness.

The team will make its first stop in Baltimore, where the players will visit the Babe Ruth Museum and attend the Orioles game against the San Francisco Giants. The Stars also will play their own game against the Baltimore RBI team before heading to Richmond, Va.

The trip includes 15 exhibition games in all, including one on the Field of Dreams in Dyersville, Iowa.

"I am looking forward to visiting Iowa because we are playing on the Field of Dreams," said Northeast Philadelphia’s Shawn O’Neill, a pitcher-first baseman. "I always looked forward to playing there."

In 1997, Bandura took the Anderson Monarchs, a squad of mostly 10- and 11-year-old players, on a 13-day, 10-city barnstorming tour that marked the 50th anniversary of Robinson breaking Major League Baseball’s color barrier. The coach wanted his athletes to relive the days when Robinson and other Negro League baseball players barnstormed across the country on hot, cramped buses just to play the game.

Today, the Stars — who take their name from the Philadelphia Negro League team of the 1930s and ’40s — will join the five surviving players from the original Stars as part of Jackie Robinson Day at Citizens Bank Park. Robinson’s number 42 is retired by the Monarchs, but Germantown player Jonathan Etheridge wears the number with great pride for the Stars.

"I always admired Jackie Robinson for the stuff he had to go through for us to play baseball," he said. "I want to be like Jackie Robinson someday."

The athletes say they have picked up a lot more than hitting and fielding tips from playing with the Stars. Many have been with the squad for five years.

"The best part about this team is we are not all white kids and we are not all Puerto Rican kids," said Northeast Philly’s Kyle Levocz. "We are all mixed together."

That’s exactly the diversity Bandura was going for when he called coaches and other contacts around the city in a search for players.

"In Major League Baseball, you see what is possible when guys from different backgrounds work for the same cause," he said. "Unfortunately in Little League, that doesn’t happen too often. A little exposure goes a long way."

Bandura expands on the typical Little League experience by teaching the youngsters the history and impact of the game and its course through American society. The coach uses the Ken Burns documentary Baseball to enlighten players about the evolution of the game. Occasionally, Bandura will mix in baseball films like Field of Dreams and 61*. The history lessons have influenced the kids so much that when asked to name their favorite baseball players, Ty Cobb and Hank Aaron are among the top.

"I like Hank Aaron because he broke Babe Ruth’s home run record," said Rasheed Stewart of 16th and Webster streets.

Last Thursday marked the 30th anniversary of Aaron’s 715th career home run, which broke Ruth’s record.

Bandura is hoping to have the Stars meet Aaron in Atlanta when the team attends the Braves game against the Kansas City Royals on June 17.

The group also plans historic stops to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Mo.; the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.; and Jackie Robinson’s grave in Brooklyn. Add eight major league games, three minor league games and a trip to the College World Series in Omaha, Neb., and it’s a trip the players will be talking about for years.

Going all those miles on a 57-year-old bus is part of the adventure.

"It’s definitely more comfortable than the school bus," said 12-year-old Giovanni Morales, of North Philadelphia. "I hope it doesn’t break down along the way."

The Stars will be on the road for all but three days of their 20-day journey. The longest leg of the trip will be the 435 miles from Cleveland to Cooperstown. It could be a good time for the boys to catch up on their sleep — or not.

"I don’t think I’ll sleep with all these crazy kids on the bus," said Northeast Philadelphia’s Christopher Rivera.

Bandura has one bus driver lined up, and plans to hire another before the team leaves South Philadelphia. The coach wants the team’s name painted on the roof of the bus.

His remaining challenge is raising the last third of the $75,000 needed for the tour. Bandura’s Philadelphia Youth Organization, a registered nonprofit, is seeking local businesses to sponsor kids from their neighborhoods. Donors will receive recognition in team publications and at team events.

Bandura acknowledges that great strides have been made since the 1940s and ’50s, when a multicultural Little League team would have been unthinkable, but he believes the Stars can help foster even more progress.

"I want this to be an example for other programs to break down some of those invisible barriers," Bandura said. "You have to give kids actual examples to base their personal opinions on."

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For more information on the Philadelphia Stars Throw Back Tour ’04 or to donate funds, call Steve Bandura, 215-923-7459.

The Philadelphia Stars

Giovanni Morales 2B

Rasheed Stewart 1B

Tito Rohena P/OF

Bobby Hopkins 2B

Alex Wilson SS

Ryan Walker P/3B

Anthony Ortiz SS/2B

Joe Etheridge P/OF

Tim Vernon C

Keith Brown OF

Kyle Levocz 3B

Mike McGuoirk 3B

Chris Rivera C

Shawn O’Neill P/1B

Brian Santiago 1B

Steve Bandura Coach