Ric Anderson: Dear Washburn: Bring back high school baseball

An open letter to Washburn University officials: If you value your connection to Topeka high school baseball, it's time to waive the rental fee you charge city schools to use Falley Field for regional tournaments.

Yes, I know the rent is merely $240 and that it's in place only to cover your expenses for field preparation, maintenance and other overhead costs.

But I think you'd benefit by swallowing it. As you know, the rent became an issue this season when host school Highland Park opted against the expense and decided to hold its Class 5A regional at rent-free McDonald Field. That's too bad, because you could have had a showcase for Topeka baseball on your campus. Four Topeka teams are participating, including No. 2-ranked Shawnee Heights and No. 4-ranked Topeka West. If Heights and West survive their first-round games against Highland Park and Seaman, the final would easily be the most intriguing game of the season. But instead of drawing fans to your campus, the teams will be playing at aging McDonald, which, despite recent on-field improvements, has all the fan appeal of a goat pasture. Seating is lousy and parking will be scarce if wet weather forces officials to close makeshift lots that have been created in nearby grassy areas. JACK WILEY, HI PARK athletic director, has been working with city officials to make sure parking, restroom facilities and other amenities are up to snuff. I hope everything will be OK. But put it this way: You'd be doing the players, parents and fans a tremendous service in future years if you welcomed the tournament. The regional has traditionally been played at Falley when a Topeka school is designated as host, and it seems like the ideal spot. Such a shame, then, that nobody will be there Monday. Players and fans would have benefitted, and I suspect the university would have done the same. The tournament, after all, seems like a good recruiting tool because it brings dozens of high school students and athletes to Washburn. In the highly competitive atmosphere of college recruiting, I'd think that would be valuable. Worth $240, at least. As a good-will gesture, maybe waiving the fee would help persuade some Topeka seniors to stay in town next fall. I'm sure you're aware that plenty of them are leaving, including three who will be playing at McDonald on Monday -- Shawnee Heights' Paul Dykes and Topeka West's Stephen Downey and Boomer Berry, who have chosen to play for one of your chief baseball rivals, Central Missouri State. You can argue that it needn't have come to this; that it wouldn't have killed the budget at Hi Park or the school district to come up with a lousy $240. If worse came to worse, you might think, the kids could wash a few cars or sell a few homemade pies. Fact is, though, that the fee is turning schools away. Regional baseball is an iffy proposition to begin with, and extra expenses make it downright bad. SCHOOL OFFICIALS are facing their own overhead costs (through pay for announcers, scorekeepers, ticket takers and other personnel, for example) for an event that probably won't produce off-setting revenue because a portion of gate receipts go to the Kansas State High School Activities Association. Schools also don't have first option for concessions, meaning they won't be able to recoup losses through food and drink sales. For Highland Park, that equation made McDonald more attractive than Falley. Although one head coach was so dismayed by the thought of playing at McDonald that he urged his school to front the rental fee, Seaman AD Brad Dietz and West AD Joe Schrag supported the move. Despite McDonald's shortcomings, they said, they believed the field was adequate and understood why Hi Park would opt to forego the rental fee. I'm saddened, though. Having met players and coaches from all four of the tournament teams this year, I'd rather see their talents displayed on an elite field rather than shabby, secluded McDonald. Maybe this is a pie-in-the-sky wish. You undoubtedly face your own budget constrictions, and a waiver would open a can of worms in deciding who would or wouldn't get the field for free. I'm just saying that for one day a year, in an important tournament like this one, it would be a fantastic way to show your community support and boost your recruiting efforts at the same time. Players, parents and other fans -- and who knows, maybe even a few college-bound high school seniors -- would appreciate it.

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