Giving Baseball Back To The Kids

Nationals Turn Over The Club To Their Youngest Fans For A Day

(CBS)  Baseball fans have long lamented how grown-up the big leagues have gotten with all the super-sized salaries and super-sized egos. They wonder what happened to that field of dreams where kids watched the heroes of the game and dreamed of being stars themselves.

As CBS News correspondent Joie Chen reports, the Washington Nationals tried to answer some of those questions Sunday. The team gave some kids a chance at the bigs – and a chance to remind the rest of us that the game is still about fun – by turning over the entire operation to their youngest fans.

As bad as it's been for the Nats this season, why not put a 5-year-old at second base? Or let kids help make out the line-up?

It's wasn't an attempt to trim the payroll. On this summer day, the Nationals were making America's pastime a game for children again. They let kids run the show.

They watered the infield and marked off the base paths.

11-year-old Sean Largent even went into the dugout to grill the closer.

"What has been your greatest moment in baseball?" the intrepid young reporter asked big leaguer Chad Cordero.

"My greatest moment was probably making the all-star team last year," the pitcher replied.

When we asked Cordero how the kid fared compared to the grown-up reporters, he said with a laugh, "He might be a little bit better, he's got a good career ahead of him."

Well, anybody can learn to ask questions, but doing the play-by-play?

You've probably done it a million times in your living room, but you're not doing it live at the mike. And you're not ten years old.

But, when the Nationals held try-outs for their junior broadcasters, the kids came through with catch phrases and even a little analysis.

12-year-old Victoria Litman made the cut for the radio booth, calling the game like a pro.

And 9-year-old Steve McFarlane got a round of applause from his grown-up partner in the television booth.

The kid's a natural, but to be honest he'd rather let his glove do the talking. He said he's going to try to be a centerfielder. If that doesn't work out, he said, then he'll be a broadcaster.

Who knows, maybe the kid will get to live out his boyhood dream in the Nationals' outfield. On this game day, you have to believe that anyone one of them really could go all the way.