River Falls, WI – It’s not often a Major League Baseball player gets to return to his hometown in the middle of the season.

Washington Nationals outfielder Alex Call is one of the lucky few who’re able to take advantage of a visit back home in season. He grew up in River Falls, Wisc., a 40-minute drive from Target Field. With the Nats in town Thursday for their off-day, it made it easier for Call to return to his roots and take advantage of providing 50 11- to 13-year-olds a baseball clinic before Friday night’s game.

“It was just really special for me to give back, get involved,” Call said. “I don’t come back all that often, so having this day on the calendar when the schedule came out, ‘Oh, off day in Minnesota.’ I knew it was going to be really special, so I’m glad we could put it all together, and just important to continue to foster the environment of the community.”

“Alex is a homegrown kid across the river here, and he’s never forgotten that,” said River Falls High School baseball coach Ryan Bishop. “His whole life, no matter where he’s gone. He’s played this game all over the country, and he’s never forgotten that. He’s so appreciative of his roots and understanding how important that is to his journey.”

Bishop and Call had been in touch about the clinic over the past month. Call had worked with the MLB Players Trust to help set up the clinic free of charge for the River Falls youth and their families. It was a popular draw once Bishop and the River Falls Baseball Council announced it to the community, to the extent that they had to put a cap on 50 players signing up for the clinic.

Bishop and the volunteers expected Call to spend only the scheduled two to three hours in River Falls on Friday morning for the clinic, but were pleasantly surprised that Call stayed from 7 am until noon with the players. Especially on a game day for Call.

“He doesn’t have to do a camp on a game day, and he really wanted to,” said Bishop. “He didn’t view it as tiring him out for the game that night. He viewed it as energizing him to get back to his roots and work with the kids who are in his shoes on that exact field, not too long ago.”

Bishop has been a high school baseball coach in River Falls for 26 seasons and counting. He’s had numerous players coming through the program over two and a half decades, but only three have made it to pro-ball; Call, RHP J.P. Feyerisen, who’s pitched in the majors for parts of the last five seasons, and Marty Herum, who spent seven seasons in the Arizona Diamondbacks farm system before retiring after the 2019 season.

Call and Bishop knew Herum would be available to help out with the clinic in the early stages of planning. With Feyerisen still active in the league, it didn’t seem feasible for him to make the clinic.

However, the Los Angeles Dodgers released him on May 27, and he has been staying active by working out in town. It then became a perfect reunion between these former high school teammates, teaching the next generation of River Falls baseball players, and bringing Bishop to a full-circle moment.

“For me as a coach, I just kind of had to sit back for a minute because all those guys are my former players and just to watch them giving back from the professional level they’re at back to the youth where they started,” Bishop said. “It was just kind of one of those pinch-me moments for me as a coach to have all those guys on the same field again, and giving back to the game and really repping the RF and growing the love of the game.”

The River Falls Baseball Council has helped the game grow immensely in town since Call graduated from high school in 2013. They help fund the townball team, the Fighting Fish, which is a staple of summer nights for everyone who’s lived in River Falls at one point or another.

Their home ballpark, First National Bank Stadium, had a new turf installed in 2021 thanks to a $850,000 grant that Baseball Hall of Famer Dave Winfield helped secure for them through Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players’ Association Youth Development Foundation.

The University of Wisconsin-River Falls had a team return to action for the first time this year, after it had been disbanded in 2002 due to budget cuts and allegations of players violating Title IX on campus. But most importantly, the youth have taken a greater interest in the game because of their hometown heroes such as Herum, Feyerisen, and Call going pro.

“We’ve had an incredible homegrown group of youth players and the coaches who are out there today who are all, they all wore the RF growing up,” said Bishop. “And to see it all unfold on the same field was incredible. There’s a culture that has been established through River Falls Baseball, through the youth, through the Fightin’ Fish that has really gripped the community.”

“It’s incredible, honestly. I can’t believe, just the success of the program, I can’t believe it, but it’s just great to see,” said Call. “Not only just the program itself, but just the whole community with the ballpark and all the efforts people have put in to make River Falls really special and put it on the map.”

The most important part of the day wasn’t a focus on the skills Call, Feyerisen, and Herum were passing along to these young players, but rather on instilling in them a love of the game, creating big dreams of their own.

“They can stand up and find themselves in front of 40,000 people, too,” Call said. “They just have got to put the work in, believe in themselves, and have fun playing the game. We have some of the best coaches around to participate, former teammates and all. So, all around, just a great day, and I’m proud of all the kids and their efforts today.”