It's a small world

Sports fans-cum-entrepreneurs produce mini baseball stadiums

By Chris Samson

Bolstered by new interest in their game, the creators of Get Small Baseball have begun production on a new model of their mini-stadiums.

Peter Welker and partner Dennis Stearns completed construction of two of the games ordered by rock musician Steve Miller. They expect to fill orders from several members of the Minnesota Twins soon.

At $5,500 a pop, the new Get Small Baseball “Bedrock County Stadium” model is not for everyone's budget. But the creators spared no expense in achieving detail and authenticity.

Get Small baseball, Welker explained, is a scaled-down version of the national pastime played on a field approximately 4-by4 feet in size. Virtually every real-life baseball strategy and situation is incorporated into the game: double plays, stolen bases, even suicide squeeze bunts.

Welker claims it's the only three dimensional baseball game ever invented and one of only five miniature baseball games registered with the U. S. Patent Office sine 1882. Welker, an accomplished musician in his own right, keeps the original stadium – a replica on Boston's Fenway Park – at his house, and has organized league play with several friends.

With the help of designer Stearns and fabricator Tom Winfree, he came up with the original “Bedrock” model for ex-Giant and current Minnesota Twins relief pitcher Steve Bedrosian. About six improvements have been added to the new models, including a new pitching device, dugouts and backstop.

After they put the finishing touches on the two mini-stadiums for Steve Miller, a truck driver for the rock star stopped in Petaluma on New Year's Day to pick them up. One of the games will be delivered to Miller's father-in-law, Lester Smith, who was one of the original owners of the Seattle Mariners. The second model is destined for Miller's own house in Idaho.

“Steve (Miller) is a real baseball fan,” said Welker, who said Miller was introduced to the game through a mutual friend, musician Norton Buffalo. “When he found out about Get Small Baseball he said he had to order them.”

For baseball fans on a budget, Welker said his company plans to begin mass-producing a less expensive model later this year.

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