NEDERLAND — The ballcaps the Athletics wear is the same as the Angels’, yet it represents so much to all the players.

“We’re all trying to represent the same area,” Angels pitcher Jacob Martin said. “Everybody wants to make this area look good. As long as everybody wears the same hat, … nobody wants to do bad.”

But in this league, no one — not even the coaches — argues any calls from the umpires, and the players don’t feel any pressure during the game. Winning is great, but having fun is more important.

More important than fun? Just having a chance to play.

“They know when they drive in from a long distance, they’re going to play,” longtime league volunteer and coach Clint Landry said. “We never have a forfeit, ever. If we have eight guys and they have 10, that 10^th guy is coming to play for us. We’ll give him a jersey, and everybody wears the same hat.”

Such is life in Mid-County Senior Babe Ruth baseball. The league has been in operation for more than 50 years (the exact inaugural year is unknown) and wrapped up another regular season Thursday.

Every year, plenty of 16- to 18-year-olds from Jefferson, Hardin, Orange and Chambers counties sign up for a month’s worth of games following their high school seasons. The games are played at Nederland High’s Metreyon-Delahoussaye Field.

“We’ve always had about eight major-league teams,” Angels coach Clint Landry said, each of the clubs named after a big-league team. “We carry about 15 to 18 guys on a roster because a lot of the guys work, and they can’t make it to the games.”

The league has survived in a time when many elite players participate on travel teams in hopes of catching the eye of the right major-league or college scout and many teens find work to fill their summer schedules. It doesn’t mean that a player has to choose between league and travel ball, though.

“We try to play Monday through Thursday, so that a lot of guys can do both,” said league president Jimmy Collins, a volunteer of at least 36 years. “We try to accommodate them the best we can and get everybody two games a week that way.”

To keep the pressure off, the players never have practice during the league season.

“I think the main focus is on the kids,” Landry said. “We treat everyone equal. We treat the Division I guy the same as the guy who doesn’t play high school ball. When they get in the dugout, they realize that. I think that’s what keeps us going.”

Each dugout is as relaxed an atmosphere as the stands where families congregate and celebrate every hit and defensive stop without the nervousness that often surrounds a high school game. Even players from teams that aren’t competing will pay a visit to their counterparts for a brief chat.

The umpires, Landry said, get a kick out of the experience because of the league’s peaceful nature.

“They are the four best in the area,” he said. “It’s all fun.”

“It’s not really a competitive league,” said Martin, who just finished his freshman year at Lamar studying biology but is not on the Cardinals’ baseball team. “Everybody’s out here to have fun. We all know each other, for the most part. We have kids from all around the area.”

Many coaches past and present in Mid-County Senior Babe Ruth are either fathers of players or former players themselves, but as a matter of policy, coaches aren’t allowed to manage teams while their sons are competing. Landry had to follow that rule when his son Chad, now Bridge City High’s head coach, was playing in the 1990s.

The league also has produced major-league players including Lumberton’s Clay Buchholz, now a Boston Red Sox pitcher, and Nederland graduate Brian Sanches, a retired seven-year veteran with three teams.

Zach Clark, a recent Nederland grad who plays on the Athletics, appreciates the volunteerism that goes into the league.

“The coaches come out here every day. The coaches mow this field two or three times per week, I know. They love this field. It’s really fun, and everybody comes out and plays.”

I.C. Murrell: 721-2435. Twitter: @ICMurrellPANews