BY LENORE T. ADKINS
Daily Herald Staff Writer
Posted Saturday, May 12, 2007
 Cal
Sutter loved playing baseball for the South
Elgin Little League, and the league loved him
right back.
And with that love, the league is doing
everything in its power to make sure its
players, personnel and parents never forget Cal,
the 13-year-old South Elgin boy who died in
August after a yearlong battle against
leukemia.The league today will name one of its
ball fields after Cal, who earned a spot on the
all-star team but was hospitalized before he
could play on it.
"He received such a great honor. ... He was
named one of the best 12 and then he found out
he had leukemia," said Greg Tredup, the league's
president, who attended Cal's funeral. "He
touched a lot of lives, be it parents or kids he
went to school with."
Cal Sutter Field is the one Cal played on as a
member of the league's division for 11- and
12-year-olds, Tredup said.
A new scoreboard will carry Cal's name above the
field at Concord Park. It marks the first time
officials have ever named one of their six
fields after an individual, Tredup said.
Officials initially wanted to hold the
dedication ceremony, scheduled for 12:30 p.m. on
opening day in April, but couldn't because the
scoreboard had not yet arrived, Tredup said.
Sue Lund Sutter, Cal's mom, says today's
ceremony means her other son, Ryan, 11, will
have the honor of playing on his brother's field
once the ceremony concludes.
The scoreboard, however, isn't the only way the
league will pay tribute to Cal.
 This
season, the league is retiring his number - 9.
Only three people will wear the number this
season: Cal's brother Ryan, his 9-year-old
sister Jessie, and his best friend Sean Olson.
Also this season, players are going to bat with
baseballs and softballs featuring Cal's number
with a halo above it. The league got the balls
for free after the manufacturer realized what
they were for, Tredup said.
More than 770 kids in the league play ball on
nearly 60 teams.
Cal played for the Angels.
"If Cal could only see, or just be there instead
of, you know be there in memory, it would be 100
percent better," his mom said. "It shouldn't be
like this."
Meanwhile, South Elgin also is paying homage to
Cal in other ways around town.
His name will be one of many engraved on the new
Footprints in Time monument, dedicated to South
Elgin children who have died and to adults who
devoted their lives to local children.
And next Friday, Fox Meadow Grade School, at
which Cal was a member of the first graduating
class, will plant a tree in his memory, his
mother said.
ladkins@dailyherald.com
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