Magazine ranks Manassas top place to live

By Bennie Scarton Jr.

Published: October 12, 2008

Masters Athlete, a national magazine, has named Manassas as one of the top 10 places in the United States to live for senior or “Master’s” baseball and softball players.

The city was ranked the sixth-best area by the national magazine, behind Sacramento, Calif.; Long Island, N.Y.; St. George, Utah; The Villages, Fla.; and Las Vegas. It was cited for the many “vibrant programs” in the two sports.

The title of the article was: “Diamond Towns — Best Places to Live: Softball/Baseball.“

Known to many as the Senior Softball Capital of the World, Manassas is the hub of one of the country’s most active areas for Masters’ age softball.

Manassas has hosted more national-level senior softball tournaments, including the 2008 International Senior Softball Association World Championships, than any other place in the world.

The magazine noted that “drawing mainly from nearby counties, the Northern Virginia Softball League has 25 teams divided into three divisions based on skill level. From mid-April to early August, the teams play a 60-game season with competitions taking place on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. A 30-game season is played in September and October. Several other area softball leagues have senior divisions with weeknight and Sunday competition.”

A number of national caliber tournament teams — both men’s and women’s — have come from the area.

The 14th annual World Championship, hosted by Manassas on Aug. 18-20, has become one of the favorites on the senior tour and annually attracts some of the best senior teams in the world.

The event began in Manassas and surrounding Prince William County in 1995.

Working with local officials, the tournament has grown in size and now draws senior teams from throughout the United States. It has become one of the largest single-weekend tournaments with all competitions scheduled over three days.

“Each year we see more and more and local people involved, more community support as the tournament becomes a special time for Manassas. Some players simply refer to it as the Manassas Tournament,” said ISSA Executive Director R. B. Thomas Jr. of Manassas.

“The players and their families simply like coming to Manassas each year. The tournament is professionally run by an experienced staff and when not playing softball there are many attractions nearby to occupy everyone’s spare time,” Thomas added.

The tournament this year was a milestone event for the area. In addition to the 14 ISSA World Championships, Thomas who also served as the director of senior softball for the International Softball Federation, has hosted six ISF Senior World Cup Championships in Manassas. Twenty world-class events for senior softball at one location has given rise to the area becoming known as the Senior Softball Capital of the World.

Thomas, who also serves on the Prince William Park Authority Board of Directors, feels the area has some very good programs for baseball and softball participation for male and female players of all ages.

“Our local volunteer groups do a great job organizing and managing these leagues from t-ball to the senior leagues with players over 75 years old. We happen to be one of the areas in the country where participation continues into adult programs and allows players to stay active and ageless into their golden years,” Thomas said.

This year there were 18 teams participating in the Prince William Senor Softball League. Hundreds of Masters-age players participate on one or more teams in the various local open leagues for men, women, coed and church.

Fairmont Park, which was built by the players in the Western Prince William Men’s League and opened in 1982, gave a big boost to softball in the area. Valley View Park opened in 2003 with five championship-quality fields to accommodate the growing number of teams.

Teams have discovered that there’s never a shortage of things to do in Manassas and Prince William County. They have found enough history, shopping and outdoors activities to make them want to come back year after year.

Each year about 90 percent of the participating teams return for another shot at the ISSA World Championship, and while here they have given the local economy a huge boost.

Each tournament weekend produces more than $1 million of spending in local businesses.

The other top 10 localities were Virginia Beach, Akron, Denver and El Paso, Texas.

Staff writer Bennie Scarton Jr. can be reached at 703-369-6707.