T.J. baseball players step up with emphasis on dignity, discipline, dedication

SLIDESHOW: Giving baseball a helping hand

With his arms resting on a waist-high chain link fence, Burnen Christian watched in delight a sight he thought he'd never again see in Richmond: a competitive baseball game between two city schools.

On a sunny afternoon in mid May -- a baseball day, if ever there was one -- Thomas Jefferson and John Marshall high schools split a doubleheader.

"This team is gradually coming along," Christian said, standing a few feet from the Marshall field where he played high school baseball in the early 1980s and where his son, Brandan, was playing third base for T.J. "I'm looking for that program to step it up."

It is, thanks to Chris Mercer, a Spanish teacher at Binford Middle School whose one-man mission of improving city baseball has found a team of converts at T.J. and another at Binford.

A decade after playing at T.J., Mercer is back as an assistant coach. But he's more than a hit-'em-grounders guy. He has created a program geared to improving the way the game is played -- and the way the players carry themselves. He's teaching it to the T.J. players. And they, in turn, are teaching it to the players at Binford.

"I want this program to be everything for these kids that it wasn't for me," Mercer said.

To get there, he came up with the concept of 3-D baseball -- the D's stand for dignity, discipline and dedication.

"Baseball could be such a rich tradition to the lives of these kids," he said.

In the years since Christian played baseball, the sport has become an afterthought in the city. It's a rare year when all five city high schools field teams, and rarer still if one of the five pulls off a win against competition from one of the surrounding counties.

This isn't that rare year, but it is a little better than usual for the team at Thomas Jefferson. For one thing, the Vikings have won. Twice so far, and counting. They have wins against city foes Armstrong and Marshall.

For another, they're building a foundation for the future. And part of that foundation is built on the likes of the younger Christian, who has played baseball for years.

"He's had a glove on his hand since he was 6 years old," his father said.

But it's also built on students such as sophomore Thye Duffy, who's playing organized ball for the first time in his life.

"It was hard," Duffy said. "I kind of got mad [not being able to hit the ball]. But if you're dedicated, you can't worry about it."

A few games into the season, when Duffy got his first hit, he had a team cheering behind him. That kind of unity hasn't always been present at T.J.

"Talentwise, I've had better teams here, but I've never had a team with better chemistry," said coach Harold Henry.

Henry was quick to say -- and he repeated himself for emphasis several times -- that he'd always had good kids. Just not, perhaps, with the kind of dedication that can get a tired, homework-overloaded, distracted teenager to stick around in the afternoon for a few extra swings in the batting cage or a dozen more groundballs in the infield.

Mercer leaves no room for doubt about the work required to play baseball.

Practices at the West End school have gone from relatively loose-knit, semi-optional gatherings to formal affairs since he showed up with his 3-D regime and his motivational speaker approach.

"Last year, I would have skipped practice," said Christian. "This year, I make it to practice. My grades have improved, and I'm getting in trouble less."

He's not alone in enjoying a newfound love of practice.

"A lot more people are showing up to practice on time and ready to go," said Arnold Silver, a senior who pitches and plays second base, third base and left field.

He said the fun -- and the big challenge -- of Mercer's system is not just learning, but remembering. Everything the T.J. players practice, they'll have to teach to players at Binford.

"We get to show them what we learned," Silver said.

"You carry yourself different around them," said junior Joel McCauley, who pitches and plays shortstop. "When they show up, it's more a teacher's job. But you also learn a few things."

Christian saw proof of that. While he was offering the occasional tip from his perch behind home plate, he was happy to see something resembling the game he once played.

"It's coming back," he said. "Slowly but surely."

Contact Zachary Reid at (804) 775-8179 or zreid@timesdispatch.com.