There&8217;s just something about baseball.

Logic tells you that there has to be a reason why every summer, for as long as anyone can remember, the citizens of this community have been flocking out to the local little league parks, only to sweat out the evenings cheering on games that have no significance in the grand scheme of life.

It could be the ambience. The average observer readily picks up on the sounds and sights affiliated with America&8217;s game. There are plenty of them to take in at every game. There is the ping of the aluminum bats and the cheer of the crowd as someone&8217;s son or daughter charges down the base path, as if there were nothing else they would rather be doing. There is the sigh of fifty parents watch a baseball roll between the legs of two consecutive players.

It&8217;s probably not the food, although it is doubtful if there has ever been anyone in attendance who did not take in the occasional snow cone or hotdog from one of the concession stands.

It could be about legacy and the fact that above the press boxes are the names of players from years past, who now play for one of the local colleges, or perhaps coach one of the local teams. At any one of the are games, one could easily take a show of hands and find that a good part of the crowd, once played on the same field that they now come out to for the purpose of watching the next generation.

Porky Smith, commissioner of the Natchez Dixie Youth Baseball League, has an old Natchez Democrat clipping on the wall in the press box. In it is the story of one game from 1985, as well as a photo of a much younger Smith back when he was a coach.

&8220;Do you know who this player is?&8221; He said pointing to name in the body of the story. &8220;That&8217;s Russ Johnson, who now plays for the Toronto Blue Jays. He was quite the player back then.&8221;

Smith has left his own mark on local baseball, he&8217;s at a local game more nights than not. Ballew-Bowlin carries the nickname of the &8220;Pig-Pen,&8221; a moniker symbolic of the difficulty maintaining an infield prone to washouts from the rain, as it is a tribute to Smith, who oversees its upkeep.

In addition to legacy, Natchez&8217;s love of baseball probably has a lot to do with family.

&8220;Baseball is the only thing in town that families can come out to here in town and enjoy with each other,&8221; one parent said.

No, you won&8217;t find any major league scouts in the stands out at Duncan Park, only parents, friends, families and neighbors, who all share one thing-a simple, but pure love for baseball.