'To Russia with glove'; City native scores hit as youth baseball coach.

Byline: Bill Doyle

WORCESTER -- When Paul Fenner left Worcester to live in Russia three years ago, he had trouble adjusting to the harsh living conditions, depressing weather and different culture.

To make himself feel more at home, he helped introduce a bit of Americana to St. Petersburg -- baseball.

Russians play soccer and hockey, but not much baseball. In a Russian cafe, Fenner, 47, met a Russian who had discovered baseball on Cape Cod while he had been an exchange student in the U.S. So Fenner offered to help his bare-bones baseball team in St. Petersburg.

Baseball equipment can't be purchased in Russia so Fenner returned home to Worcester to collect uniforms, caps, helmets, gloves, bats, baseballs and catcher's equipment. Some of the equipment was purchased with money raised by the Russian players, some was donated by Fenner's friends.

Either way, Fenner's journey back to St. Petersburg could have been labeled, "To Russia with glove.''

Fenner now plays in a league with adults and he coaches in a youth league he helped develop.

"Baseball is a little bit of America in Russia,'' said Fenner, who is visiting his mother in Worcester for a couple of weeks. "It really helps me feel more at home. If I hadn't become involved with baseball, I would have left Russia 21/2 years ago. It was cold and dark and depressing. My involvement with baseball was as much for me and it was for them.''

Fenner doesn't speak Russian, but doesn't need to in order to show the young players everything from how to hold a bat to the proper footwork needed while turning a double play. When he must explain in greater detail, he uses interpreters.

The youths can't much speak English, but Fenner knows they appreciate his coaching.

"They smile, and Russians don't smile very much,'' he said.

The Russians use English terms on the baseball field.

"There are a lot of guys who don't speak any English,'' Fenner said, "but they can say 'Choke up.' ''

St. Petersburg has no baseball fields so they play on what Fenner described as "a gravel pit,'' a big open field littered with chunks of brick from a torn-down factory.

"The ball takes awful bounces,'' Fenner said. "These guys look so beat-up. They've got black eyes, they're black and blue, but they don't care.''

The field is covered with weeds but no grass, and base paths were formed by players stomping down the weeds. The catcher never wore a mask, helmet, chest protector or shin pads until Fenner provided them.

Sometimes the ball...