LONG BEACH, Calif. \u2014 Electrical boxes were ripped open, tracks marked up every open patch of grass, and the lamp posts and lights had gone dark.<\/p>\n
At Long Beach Little League, kids, parents and league officials awoke in late January to find that every bit of copper had been torn out their home field, stolen by thieves. Their season was going to be badly impacted, their plans thrown into turmoil just as practices were about to begin.<\/p>\n
LBLL is unusual in the sense that it expects to compete for the Little League World Series title on an annual basis. It is the only U.S.-based team to win the event in back-to-back years, when the \u201cBeach Boys\u201d did so back in the 1990s.<\/p>\n
In a much different sense, however, LBLL is just like everyone else, facing the harsh reality<\/a> of a swiftly rising issue: Copper theft, which isn\u2019t easily stopped, and has wide-ranging consequences.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve talked about people pulling overnight shifts at the park,\u201d said Adriel Tedesco, the league\u2019s vice president. \u201cHaving volunteer sign-up sheets to do overnighters.<\/p>\n \u201cIt should not have to come to that.\u201d<\/p>\n But there\u2019s little recourse for local parents to combat a problem resonating nationwide. The price of copper is rising \u2014 hitting a five-year high of $5.93 per pound on Jan. 23 \u2014 and that has incentivized theft, which has exploded in recent years. According to AT&T<\/a>, there were just 71 reported copper thefts in California in 2021, compared to more than 2,200 in 2024.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a nationwide issue, with more than a dozen states<\/a> passing new laws in 2025, related to the resale of copper. The National Cable & Telecommunications Association<\/a> reported 15,540 such incidents nationwide between June 2024 and June 2025, with estimates on \u201csocietal costs\u201d ranging from $38 million to $188 million.<\/p>\n The thefts have downed power lines, roiled phone and internet service and disrupted communication to emergency services throughout affected communities. The damage is expensive and the impacts could be dangerous.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s very simple. Copper prices are near record highs. And the higher prices go, the more incentive there is to steal as much copper as you can,\u201d said John E. Gross, an expert on metals and the economy.<\/p>\n The latest victim is Little League baseball. In Long Beach alone, three leagues have felt the impact of these thefts. In addition to Long Beach Little League, the East Long Beach Pony League in Heartwell Park and the Village Baseball Little League in Lakewood\u2019s San Martin Park have dealt with copper thefts in the last month.<\/p>\n \u201cWherever there is copper exposed, it becomes a target for stealing it,\u201d Gross said.<\/p>\n The reasons for the rise in costs, Gross said, are numerous. The weakness of the dollar is pushing metal prices higher. The storage of about 8,000 metric tons of copper in warehouses has \u201cenabled the copper market to be squeezed.<\/p>\n There\u2019s also the rise in electric vehicles and the construction of artificial intelligence data centers, which experts say is contributing to increased demand. Then, there are President Donald Trump\u2019s tariffs, which create uncertainty.<\/p>\n \u201c(Donald) Trump is talking about tariffs on copper coming into the U.S. So that pushed the market higher again,\u201d Gross said, adding that concerns over additional tariffs in 2027 and 2028 are incentivizing traders to bring copper into the U.S. more quickly.<\/p>\n \u201cSo you\u2019ve got a lot of things simultaneously that have pushed the market higher.\u201d<\/p>\n The trickle-down effects go beyond darkened fields, impacting things like the snack bar that essentially funds all operations for the East Long Beach Pony League. With power to the snack bar cut due to the thefts, even if daylight games are possible, a massive revenue source for the league has been removed.<\/p>\n And for those involved, losing the lights is not simply about the loss of practice time or games.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a feeling of being violated,\u201d Tedesco said.<\/p>\n \u201cWithout the lights, the kids can\u2019t play,\u201d said East Long Beach Pony League president Steve Esquivel. \u201cBaseball, ELB, it\u2019s a family. We pride ourselves on having a community feel and everyone loves each other.\u201d<\/p>\n In October, California lawmakers passed Assembly Bill No. 476, which requires businesses purchasing \u201cjunk\u201d metals to gain additional information about the acquisition, and keep more detailed records about where the materials originated. It also increased the potential for fines, and jail time, as a result of violating the updated statute.<\/p>\n But enforcement of the law will be difficult, with the consequences of theft extending far beyond baseball. Catching the Little League perpetrators will also be a challenge, as thefts occur at night and the thieves often look for areas outside the view of surveillance cameras.<\/p>\n The Long Beach Police Department told The Athletic in a statement that it\u2019s \u201cactively investigating\u201d the incidents, and is \u201ccommitted to identifying those responsible and holding them accountable.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe recognize the impact these incidents have on residents and families who rely on these shared spaces,\u201d the department said, \u201cespecially our Long Beach youth who use our baseball fields, and we take these incidents seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n The belief among most Little League officials is that an experienced individual or crew of thieves is responsible. Stealing copper out of boxes could otherwise be dangerous, and requires some baseline electrical education.<\/p>\n At Stearns Champions Park, where LBLL plays, Tedesco said the theft occurred over three days \u2014 but didn\u2019t impact their field until the final night. At San Martin Park, the witness that called 9-1-1 told The Athletic that the thief or thieves left a lever hoist tool at the scene.<\/p>\n Trey Buckley, the building property and committee chair for the Village Little League, said he believes the copper that powers overhead stadium lights is typically more valuable, which further incentivizes specifically targeting their parks.<\/p>\n \u201cIt will impact our youth sports, for sure,\u201d Buckley said. \u201cThey produce their schedule intending to use night lights. They schedule intending to go until 8:30 at night. Now, all of a sudden, they go at this time of year until dark. They\u2019re down to 5:30, and lose a whole game, if not a little bit more.\u201d<\/p>\n It was a hot, late January morning at Stearns Champions Park, the home of Long Beach Little League. Armando Escobedo, an electrician for the city, was on his knees, digging through loose wiring next to a massive light stanchion overseeing the field.<\/p>\n He\u2019d been called out to make the repair, part of a multi-day project that will ultimately sap the city\u2019s resources and cost around $5,000 to fix. All for what Escobedo estimated was about $1,000 in copper.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the last six-to-eight months,\u201d Escobedo said of recent thefts, \u201cit\u2019s been ridiculously crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n Once everything is fixed and patched up, the lights will come back on and baseball will go on, uninterrupted. But Escobedo quickly acknowledged that there\u2019s nothing to stop the thieves from coming back, and inflicting the same harm. After all, Heartwell Park, he said, had been hit three months ago, and was hit again earlier this month.<\/p>\n In San Martin Park, the electrical boxes were reinforced with silicone, adding an extra obstacle for the thieves. But one park official was pessimistic when asked if any of these measures will actually stop further theft. Ultimately, there is little that can be done to solve this, particularly considering the limited resources of the leagues and city budgets.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re going to have to come up with something different,\u201d Escobedo said.<\/p>\n Some of the repairs have already taken place, like the silicone additions to San Martin Park, and the work that Escobedo did to repair the lights for Long Beach Little League. Both leagues were at the whim of the city, its quickness, and willingness to pay for the repairs. The league\u2019s connections to local politicians potentially helped spur the process.<\/p>\n But nothing is to stop it from happening again, and again, and again. Both in Long Beach Little Leagues and across every community in Southern California.<\/p>\n Tedesco said last year\u2019s team was on the cusp of Little League World Series contention, and expects this year\u2019s team to be better. The only thing holding them back, they fear, is another theft, one they feel nearly powerless to prevent.<\/p>\n \u201cThe biggest shock is, you know, most of us live within a mile of the park,\u201d Tedesco said. \u201cPeople are coming into the place where our family hangs out. We feel safe to leave our kids to roam around the park. It\u2019s a family environment.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd when you realize there\u2019s that sort of crime taking place right there, it takes you back. It\u2019s a disheartening feeling. Like, \u2018C\u2019mon man. It\u2019s Little League baseball.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LONG BEACH, Calif. \u2014 Electrical boxes were ripped open, tracks marked up every open patch of grass, and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":163439,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[131,133,132,2866,53,1334],"class_list":["post-163438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news","tag-los-angeles-angels","tag-los-angeles-dodgers","tag-mlb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=163438"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163438\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/163439"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=163438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=163438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=163438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}