World Champions Trophy Tour

This Saturday, Aug. 24, 903 Baseball and Softball Academy will host the World Champions Trophy Tour from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Area citizens will have the opportunity to see the Texas Rangers’ 2023 World Series Trophy (Commissioner’s Trophy) in person.

The tour started off in Plano on Apr. 12, and will end in Spartanburg, S.C., on Sept. 8.

Jay Owens, and his wife Jennifer, opened 903 Baseball and Softball Academy just a few months ago and the opportunity to host the trophy tour was a pleasant surprise.

“This actually started to take shape after I got a call from James Brooks who had talked to someone in Texarkana about the trophy tour making its way to east Texas,” Owens said. “He asked if I’d be interested in hosting and I said, ‘of course I would’”.

“I was excited because a lot of these kids around here and folks in general may never have an opportunity to see the championship trophy on display,” Owens remarked. “The feedback has been positive and there are plenty of people interested in attending the event.”

For Owens, the trophy tour is a “cherry on top” event for someone who has played baseball since he could pick up a bat and who always had the ambition to own and open an indoor facility.

“I’ve been playing baseball since I was three or four years old,” Owens said. “My dad and both my uncles all played college ball. My grandpa coached all three of them. It’s a family thing.”

“My dad started out at D-BAT when I was a senior in high school and I would go there for training and ever since that time I wanted to open my own academy. I always wanted to have my own indoor facility,” Owens added.

D-BAT, which means Developing Beliefs, Attitudes, and Traditions, was founded in 1998 and went from two brothers traveling around the state to provide expert baseball lessons to D-BAT Academy boasting nearly 200 locations within the United States and China.

Owens mentioned just how expensive it can be to begin your own D-BATS franchise.

Upon looking it up, 2024 fees for a D-BAT franchise include: $499,650 - $972,100 for the initial investment, for you to have a net worth requirement of $300,000 - $5,000,000, a cash requirement of $75,000 - $200,000 and a franchise fee of $45,000.

Those numbers are one reason Owens, and his wife Jennifer, opted to open their own indoor facility in downtown Atlanta.

“When we took a look at this building it was in need of quite a bit of work,” Owens said. “I talked to the owner and he gave me a good price on it and the city helped out with the extensive remodel since everything had to be redone.”

Thus Owens’ dream was born. Any age group of children can visit the academy and rent the batting cages. They can also obtain valuable lessons from those on staff during their visits.

You can also purchase bats, batting gloves, gloves, apparel and even bat grips by Lizard Skins.

The academy even has the 903 logo on its battling gloves, shirts, hats, jerseys and in the works Owens is getting the 903 logo added onto the fielding gloves.

As far as what’s in the works at the academy, 903 has a few travel baseball teams that have already brought home titles and several accolades.

“We have 8U, 9U, 11U,12U and two 14U teams already playing travel ball most of the year and are looking to add softball teams sometime in the future,” Owens remarked.

Follow 903 Baseball and Softball Academy on Facebook or drop by the academy located at 214 N. East Street, in Atlanta for information such as business times and other information.

As far as the trophy tour goes, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for baseball fans to get a closeup view of the Texas Rangers’ World Series Trophy.

As Owens stated, you don’t have to be a fan of the Rangers to take part in this historic event. Any baseball fan can attend and take part in the Rangers’ first-ever championship win.

The event is free to attend and 903 will provide snacks and drinks while people wait in line to take photos with the trophy.

If anyone misses the chance to see the trophy in Atlanta, the tour will continue on to Shreveport, Marshall, Longview, Henderson, Tyler, Mineola, Kaufman, Forney and Terrell before leaving the state of Texas.

For a complete listing of the tour itself visit https://www.mlb.com/rangers/fans/ trophy-tour.