Fifty years ago, Murphey Candler Park in Dunwoody held its first sign-ups for youth baseball.

Twenty-five years ago, Marc Pisciotta pitched East Marietta to a Little League World Series championship.

The two parks, rivals in Little League district play, open their 2008 seasons with nostalgia and a nod to the communities that have kept these parks vibrant.

Little League baseball is by no means a dying entity in metro Atlanta, but it's not what it once was either, as many of the bigger, more established recreation leagues have opted for different affiliations lately.

But Murphey Candler and East Marietta, both steeped in success stories, aren't about to leave Little League.

Both parks toyed with the idea of big fancy anniversary celebrations to kick off the 2008 season. Instead, they chose something more low-key.

"We wanted to keep the focus on the kids," said Mike Glennon, a board director at Murphey Candler.

Stan Klinger, the current president at Murphey Candler, believes his park has done so well because it has evolved with the times and kept the little guy's interest at heart.

"We take a little different approach," Klinger said. "We want to be competitive in post-seasons and have our teams do well. But we focus on the everyday recreation league player. We have participation rules up, until the oldest age, that say you can't put kids in right field all game.

"Then, we realized that parents had sons playing different age groups and would be spending their whole Saturday at the park. So we added playgrounds and benches and tried to make it more of a parklike atmosphere."

East Marietta will hold its Opening Day parade today —- a week later than it had wanted, but snow and baseball didn't mesh.

The coach of the 1983 World Series champs, Richard Hilton, will be on hand along with some county officials and about 360 "bright-eyed Little Leaguers," said East Marietta president Randy Agnew. The parade starts at 9 a.m. near the Big Chicken, heading east on Roswell Road.

Hilton is being honored this morning for his 40 years of service to East Marietta with a new complex of fields being named the Richard Hilton Fields.

"I have taken the tact of honoring him for who he is today, still coaching kids, with a nod toward remembering the 1983 World Series team," Agnew said.

"In addition, we have coaches who are truly laying the groundwork today in training our kids to be top contenders again. At the same time, we still have a wonderful program for recreational ball players too. I have never seen all of our parents so excited about this park, baseball and most importantly as a community endeavor."

As is common at parks all over Atlanta, East Marietta and Murphey Candler have coaching volunteers who have far outlasted their kids' participation. In Little League, when you turn 13, you move on.

But for parents such as Scott Cunningham, who has coached four of his sons and one daughter (in softball), leaving will be hard to do.

"In 16 years, I've had five kids go through the park and Tommy, my 12-year-old, is in his last year before aging out," he said. "It's a bit of a separation thing going on. I'll still see some of the same folks I've seen all along as our kids stay in sports.

"But Murphey Candler is a special place. You can have a crappy day at the office, have people yelling at you, and you get to the park, and it's like going to the beach. Kids pile out of cars and everyone knows everyone's kids. It's almost like a gigantic backyard."

THE SCOREBOARD

Murphey Candler

> 7 fields, 840 children, 7 subleagues, 70 teams

East Marietta

> 7 fields, 380 kids, 4 subleagues, 35 teams