LOS ANGELES – On opening day near the corner of E. Artesia Boulevard and Santa Fe Avenue in Compton, their names rasped from a bullhorn, they stepped forward and, when they remembered, they waved. Their proud parents, bored brothers and sisters, and doting aunties and uncles applauded politely from the greenish knolls that backed up to a row of trees that brought relief from the surprisingly aggressive late afternoon sun.
The field was perfect – chain-link dugouts, foul lines, outfield walls, a scoreboard and red, white and blue bunting lashed to the backstop.