Sand-ing ovation for Play Ball Weekend!

They were surrounded not by the stands but the sands, the familiar feel of batter’s box dirt replaced by the granular expanse of the ocean shore.

When Yasiel Puig and Justin Turner took a detour from their route to Dodger Stadium on Saturday for some pick-up game participation, they not only surprised the kids from the Boys & Girls Club of Venice as part of Major League Baseball’s Play Ball Weekend but also taught those kids a lesson about the game’s picturesque portability.

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“I think the message here is to encourage kids to get outside and be active,” Turner said. “Maybe in the future, they will organize some little games like this on their own so they can come out and get out of the house, get out from behind the computer screen and the iPad.”

• Puig, Turner enjoy baseball on the beach

Play Ball Weekend is an extension of the Play Ball initiative, which launched in 2015 as the sport’s largest effort to encourage widespread participation in both formal and casual baseball and softball activities.

Be it on the beach, on a military base, on fields meant for big leaguers or for Little Leaguers, Play Ball Weekend spread the joy of the sport in all its forms, from the satisfying simplicity of friends playing catch to the pinch-me potential of meeting and interacting with a real Major Leaguer.

The goal here was a simple one, really: When you make a concerted and well-orchestrated effort to engage a young audience, to make memories and promote participation, you can create a lasting bond. And with each of the 15 home clubs embracing the initiative this weekend in their own unique way (the away clubs will hold their Play Ball events on alternate …

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