Strike three, they're out

With summer winding down and Major League Baseball heating up (hopefully, so are the Dodgers), we're thinking doubly hard about today's front page story on the closing of Baseball City in Agoura Hills.

The popular business has been a home away from home for youth baseball and softball players for almost 25 years. Who hasn't had a son or daughter step up to the plate and take their licks against one of those hard-throwing pitching machines? And was there ever a coach worth his salt who didn't call a team meeting to say, "Let's go hit at the batting cages"?

In order to keep a sharp eye, regular visits to the cages were a must.

And it wasn't just kids who used the facility to tune up their game. As Stephanie Bertholdo tells us in her Neighborhood Focus story, men even in their 70s enjoyed testing their mettle at the Baseball City batting cages.

Few local businesses could be considered community icons, but this one sure was, and now it's gone. And if the long-range development plans in Agoura Hills are any indication, it's unlikely that a similar business will be taking its place.

The antiquated Whizin's shopping center where the facility is located will likely undergo a major facelift in the nottoodistant future, but, unfortunately, momandpop businesses like Baseball City don't figure in the plans.

Ours has become a community of malls and offices. Outdoor batting cages, miniature golf courses and midget racetracks appear to be a thing of the past.

Does it mean our community is becoming less friendly to children? Not at all, but the loss of Baseball City still signals the end of an era.

Once a big hit, the batting cages are out.