I know what you mean about baseball leagues, and how they make a town seem smaller. My daughter played softball in the St. Pete area of FL. The Toronto Blue Jays have their training camp there and, while my daughter played, the parents manned the concession and, in turn, the team gave their concession budget to the LL. The girls got their own fields. ;o)
Anyway, you get to know people with whom you would not ordinarily be in contact, and the longer they play, the more families you get to know. I can just imagine what was going through your mind when this all hit.
So...did you get the T-shrit? It lol
lol No t-shirt or bumper stickers for me. So disgusting!