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Baseball - America's Forgotten Game

September 08, 2008

I had tryouts for my 2009 summer baseball team this weekend - ALREADY - and it has occurred to me how much things have changed over the years. For the record, the players that I coach are now high school juniors and seniors.

When I started this coaching odyssey some twenty years ago baseball was a much different game. At that time, it was a mainstream sport. Soccer was played in the fall only and lacrosse was a “secondary” sport. When I registered my own sons for baseball at the local recreation council back then we needed to arrive several hours early to make sure that we were far enough up in line to get a spot. That same recreation council no longer has a baseball program today.

In reality, we are now a “secondary” sport. Baseball is no longer America’s game. The games are considered slow, too long and boring. This perception is reinforced when we take youngsters in our sport and make them, and their parents, sit through two hour games where almost nothing happens. Soccer, lacrosse and many other activities seem to have much more action and provide immediate gratification; which is very important to today’s kids (and their parents). The only upside to this new attitude is that the baseball players that I now get, especially at this age, are passionate about and committed to the game and are happy to be here. The other big change that I have noticed is how competitive and businesslike baseball teams like mine have become. Parents sometimes spend thousands of dollars on these teams (not on mine) and consider them a ticket to a college scholarship. We play in “showcase” tournaments in front of college scouts but the cruel reality is that only a very small percentage of these players will ever get a penny for playing. With only about 12 scholarships to offer, Division 1 baseball coaches aren’t flocking to the northeast looking to fill their rosters, Lastly, it’s somewhat ludicrous that I’m having tryouts for next year’s team already. If I don’t however, I’ll have no players to choose from. In a perfect world, I could wait until April or May of next year to finalize my roster but if I tried that; I literally would have almost no quality players to choose from. The reality is that a vast majority of these kids will have committed to a 2009 summer team by the end of September. It may be crazy but that’s the reality of the situation. For better or worse it is what it is now so let’s play ball.

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