A North Shore Massachusetts native, Billy Kearins made his way south — all the way to the end of the road in Key West — after graduating from Boston College in 2001. The plan back then — or lack thereof — was to enjoy some time in the sun, figure out a career path, and find a new place to settle.
Twenty years later, and he’s still pondering those same questions from his studio in the Old Town neighborhood of the Southernmost City.
Growing up, Kearins played baseball and hockey through high school, and upon landing in Key West, took up sailing and captained boats professionally for a stint.
But as the years moved on, his creative instincts took over, and for the past ten years he’s made his way as an artist, designer, and live music producer, founding the arts-based company Coast Projects and its annual hurricane-season-ending celebration aptly called The Coast Is Clear Music & Arts Festival — a gathering of creative clout which has brought some pretty big names to small stages around the island during the first weekend of each December.
The new career path and two growing kids kept him busy for a spell, but baseball came knocking again when his son decided that he wanted to play ball like his old man. And for the past five years, he’s woven his way into the local baseball scene on a number of fronts — from coaching Little League, to playing co-ed softball, and, more recently, in starting up the island’s first (and only) sandlot ball club.
The latter came just following the 2021 Coast Is Clear Festival when a couple of Texas Playboys who were in attendance suggested fielding a team so that they could “barnstorm” the festival the following year.
And that’s just what happened, when 12 months later — in December 2022 — a barebones Playboys squad landed on the island to enjoy a weekend of music and a seven-inning nailbiter against the newly minted Old Town Coast sandlot ball club where Kearins serves as the team’s shortstop and spiritual leader.
The hometown team won the inaugural game in the final frame, but the boys from Austin vowed to return. Other clubs across the country have caught wind of the Southernmost sandlot squad and promised to make the pilgrimage to the end of the road, too.
Plans to expand the festival program to include a sandlot tournament are already in the works, so stay tuned, folks…

We head back east to talk to Carlo about Philly Sandlot attitude.

Fresh off the presses!

The origin story and insights into one of the tremendous new teams of 2022!

Mr. King and his trusty sidekick Producer Phil bring us one of the most innovative podcasts of 2022. If you have trouble sleeping this is your podcast. Check out this New Yorker article on Northwoods Sleep Radio https://www.newyorker.com/culture/rabbit-holes/the-rapture-of-listening-to-a-fake-baseball-game

• Born & raised in Los Angeles to a diehard Dodgers family.

• Fell in love with baseball because of Vin Scully’s broadcasts. 

• Went to college in San Diego

• Travel around the world collecting tattoos 

• Greatest sports experience was going to a Hanshin Tigers vs Chunichi Dragons baseball game at Koshien Stadium in Osaka, Japan.

• Serve as the Expansion Program Lead Designer for the New York Metro Baseball League, creating new & creative team identities and uniform designs for every expansion team each season. 

• Created the hype video for the Milwaukee Bangers’ team name/logo unveiling.

• Manage/run the Hudson Hurricanes of the NYCMBL, as well as the Radio City Rockefellers. 

• Currently play for the Tiburones de San Diego in CA & Radio City Rockefellers in NYC. 

• What sandlot means to me: Sandlot gives me the opportunity to play the sport I have loved my entire life, but with a focus on community. The support everyone within the sandlot community gives each other is inspiring. Everyone is so welcoming. The community is inclusive and focuses on lifting each other up and creating positive experiences for everyone involved, all while keeping games competitive. 

Mark is a South Texas native who currently resides in Houston, Tx, with his wife & kids. He’s been sitting behind home plate for the last twenty-six years, and when he’s not on the diamond, he’s out in all corners of Texas capturing content for brands & producing events. Former Houston Gambler, now GM/ Owner of the Texas Oil Dawgs, Mark is eager to get sandlot on the forefront and push it wherever he roams.

CARRIE AND CHRIS BOTH WORK FOR THE PILLBOX BAT CO. STARTED OVER TWO DECADES AGO WHEN ZAK  FELLMAN AND DAN WATSON WERE PLAYING LITTLE LEAGUE BASEBALL TOGETHER.  PILLBOX IS CLOSELY ALIGNED WITH SANDLOT AND THE SANDLOT ETHOS, SPONSORING SEVERAL TEAMS AND OFFERING THEIR CUSTOM BATS FOR SALE ONLINE.

Allison Orr, Founder and Artistic Director of Forklift Danceworks

From sanitation workers to firefighters, power linemen to maintenance teams, Allison Orr creates award-winning choreography with people whose work sustains our everyday lives. Inspired by the beauty and virtuosity in the movement of labor, Allison has honed a methodology of ethnographic choreography that engages community members as co-authors and performers in the creation of large-scale civic spectacles. Allison has been named a 2021 MacDowell Fellow,  a 2019 Dance | USA Artist in Social Change, a 2018 United States Artist Fellow, and Best Choreographer of 2020 by The Austin Chronicle. Learn more at www.forkliftdanceworks.org.

Jack  Sanders the "Modern Godfather" of sandlot is an artist, designer and  builder who started the Texas Playboys in 2006 and The Long Time Texas  in 2015. He and his field have been featured by MLB.COM, Sports  Illustrated, and YETI among others. We talk about Sandlot, his Sandlot  Manifesto, and how it all started. Check these out... YETI:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNk61iDebno SI:  https://www.si.com/mlb/2021/10/04/hidden-gems-long-time-sandlot-baseball-texas-daily-cover  MLB.COM: https://www.mlb.com/cut4/inside-texas-sandlot-baseball

BIO: Jack Sanders received his Master of Architecture degree from The  University of Texas at Austin and his Bachelor of Architecture degree  from Auburn University. His Master of Design, Artistry, Culture and  Community is an ongoing process of love at a sandlot facility by the  name of The Longtime in Austin, Texas.

A perpetual student of life, teaching and learning, “Captain Jack”  founded and heads up the infamous TX Playboys Baseball Club. The  Playboys are long time sandlotters made up with a healthy mix of  artists, filmmakers, musicians, entrepreneurs and horrible negotiators  (some say a prerequisite to become a Playboy). Jack operates his aptly  named company, Design Build Adventure, from the Longtime with the  Playboys home sandlot baseball field just off the back porch. When you  find a grand design that feels new yet broken in, well designed in  elegance but just plain ol’ comfortable, there are pretty good odds Jack  had a hand in it. Oft found amidst an array of hand drawn sketches,  notes numbers and sometimes a cold beer, he can usually be found in his  office or shop mapping out the next project. These projects big and  small, pay or play, always lie within the ethos of his long penned and  newly published Sandlot Manifesto.

An avid community activist, often with cohort Beto O’Rourke and a  trail of Playboys, Jack Sanders leads the charge to sign up and  encourage voters of all likes to exercise their power. Raising funds  through art, music and baseball is a given to the many friends of Jack  who understand how he operates and manages production. His long  tradition of fundraising for community needs and non-profits has carried  onward and been replicated coast to coast in the sandlot world. “Sooner  or later, we’ll forget the game winning grand slam and fielding errors,  even the momentum shifting home runs you granted (three in a row) while  pitching. The money we raised for local causes, however, will have a  lasting impact.”

Jack Sanders Jack has been a visiting lecturer and studio instructor  at Auburn University’s Rural Studio, Mississippi State University and  The University of Texas at Austin. He also has led design-build projects  with students in Portland, Oregon, and in Salvador de Bahia, Brazil. He  and his wife, Ann Tucker of Studio A Group, live in Austin with their  two children, Mary Vance and Tuck.