Jim Bobbitt Remembered at Eastern Regional

Baseball was Jim Bobbitt's world.

After long days at DuPont, he'd head straight to the ballpark to shape another generation of ballplayers, teaching them the fundamentals and a strict respect for the rules of the game.

Bobbitt was one of the founding members of Mantua Little League, served as Mantua's league president and was the District 15 administrator for nine years, before his death this past December.

And so it was a fitting tribute to him that the Senior Leaguers paused a moment Friday night to remember Bobbitt and watch as two of his grandsons, Avery and Carter, both sporting matching Assistant District Administrator t-shirts, team up to throw out the first pitch at in memory of their grandfather.

“It was so lovely–it's a nice way to remember my husband,” said Carolyn Bobbitt, his widow. “It's very comforting to us.”

New District Administrator Jim McGehrin remembered Jim Bobbitt as a teacher and a leader among District 15 officials.

“There were some very cold, dark, sad days back there in December,” McGehrin said. “There were many times we wondered...how we would go forward.”

There were tears as Bobbitt's family–Carolyn, their son James Jr. and his wife, Michele, and grandchildren Avery, Kendall, Carter and Cooper–gathered near the pitcher's mound, watching a tournament begin without him for the first time in a decade.

“It was his love, it was his passion,” said Carolyn Bobbitt. “There were no vacations in my house–not in the summertime, not during ball season.”