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Ten years ago, the current members of the Fort Wayne Wizards baseball team were about the same age as the children seeking their autographs Sunday.

Even though the average age of the 25 members of the Fort Wayne's minor league baseball team is 21, the hordes of children seeking the players' John Hancocks were star-struck nevertheless. Many who waited in line to enter right field after Sunday's game against West Michigan said they were seeking autographs in case the players became stars in the years to come.

But odds are most of the players won't make it to the major leagues. Of the 424 players in Wizards history, 49 have reached the big leagues - about 12 percent.

Yet many of the children at Memorial Stadium said they consider the players to be local celebrities and crowded around them with gloves, mini-bats, baseball hats and T-shirts for them to sign.

The Wises have hosted a baseball player every season for the past five years and are paired up with outfielder Mike Sansoe, 23, this year, who hails from Whitestone, N.Y.

The Wises will purchase snacks for Sansoe to take on the road and will have him over for dinner from time to time. Sarah and Emily showed their support for their favorite player this season by painting his name and number in blue on their faces.

Although many of the children expressed strong confidence that their favorite players would make it to the big leagues one day, they were less sure about a topic that's been plaguing baseball this year: steroids.

Many of the young boys and girls who waited in line Sunday did not know what steroids were and would never dream that their favorite players would take performance-enhancing drugs.

But some of the children in the crowd knew surprisingly more than their parents expected. Joe and Betty Wise didn't think fourth-grade daughter Sarah knew much about steroids, but they stood corrected.

Nathan Schreibert, 11, said the Wizards were good enough players to not need steroids. But for the lesser players, he didn't think it was a good idea.

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