FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — If you build it, they will come. Teams from all across the area come to compete in Sam Perroni's backyard for the annual Northwest Arkansas Little League Field of Dreams tournament on a field he built for his grandchildren 10 years ago.
"I wanted to be able to practice out here and have the teams come out, which worked. They did. We had a good time with them when they were little playing out here. They loved the field," Perroni said.
However, this event isn't just about baseball, it's about Sam's wife and millions of others who suffer from Alzheimer's. Perroni said this event is his way of doing his part.
"It's basically my way of doing something," he said. "Alzheimer's caregivers feel helpless. We don't know what to do, so this way, I knew what to do. I'm going to raise money for Alzheimer's research, and maybe our little bit of money will make a difference down the road to a cure for Alzheimer's."
Perroni said what's really devastating about the disease is feeling like you lost your loved one twice.
"You lose them when you end up finally having to go to a home, and you lose them again when they pass away from the disease," Perroni said.
However, as he watches his wife's five-year struggle with Alzheimer's, he takes advice from one of his favorite movies, Field of Dreams.
"There's something very significant about that movie," he said. "When the speech is made towards the end of the movie about baseball, he says baseball has marked the time ... This country's national game is baseball, and if you look back, baseball has brought us back. Baseball brought us back after 9/11 ... It's just a part of America, and it always will be, and these kids are a testament to that," Perroni said.
With this event, he hopes to bring more awareness to the disease.
"If people are more aware of this and understand if we focus on this, like Americans can do, we can find a cure for Alzheimer's," Perroni said. "We could stop these terrible things that happen to families and family members."
The coaches and players said they loved coming out for this event.
"It's really good for the kids, a really unique kind of great atmosphere for them," Jared Dutton, who coached in the tournament, said. "It's really gracious of Mr. Perroni to do this for all the kids."
"It was good to hang out with all my friends and raise money for Alzheimer's," Gunnor Dotton, a young player in the tournament, said. "It's great how they put all this together just for Alzheimer's and just to have fun for the kids."
Perroni said he loves this event so much that he dreads it being over.
"The saddest day of this is the day after this event because there are no children out there," he said. "There are no boys out here playing baseball."
Perroni said their goal was to raise $15,000 for Alzheimer's research, but with how the tournament went, he believes it will be closer to $20,000.
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