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The State of Baseball


cocheese
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Another thing killing baseball is HS basketball and football mandatory practices. Kid's that are playing travel baseball, but also play HS basketball and/or football are having to choose. Last time I checked, basketball was a winter sport and football was a fall sport.

 

We are in June........that would be summer!

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Another thing killing baseball is HS basketball and football mandatory practices. Kid's that are playing travel baseball, but also play HS basketball and/or football are having to choose. Last time I checked, basketball was a winter sport and football was a fall sport.

 

We are in June........that would be summer!

AMEN!
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You are absolutely right. People who say recruiters only come to travel games are sadly mistaken. This season alone I saw coaches from Maryville to Memphis, from UAB to Western Kentucky, Belmont to Trevecca, Austin Peay to MTSU, Alabama to Tennessee Tech. Not to mention our state's great Juco programs. Our annual Warrior Spring Classic has college coaches come from near and far. I know this because they come up to me to say hi!

 

What most parents do not understand is that it isn't what a coach sees on the field that does the most work. It is the 'network' of 'bird dogs' and high school coaches that help the recruiting process the most. A kid may run a ground ball out if he sees a certain shirt in the crowd. It is what he does when that shirt isn't there that counts the most. College coaches watch a game for the little things, like how a player handles some adversity. How he interacts with his teammates and coaches and the other team. Does he run out popups? Does he take a 2-strike approach? Does he take a pitch if his team is down late in the game?

 

College coaches talk with each other. An SEC school may not have a spot for a kid but may mention him to another D-1 school. A D-1 coach may mention someone to a D-2, NAIA or Juco coach. A parent may not see all of this taking place, but trust me, it does. On almost a daily basis.....

 

David Limbaugh has his finger on the pulse - another thing, kids feel pressure to play one sport - some as early as 6th or 7th grade for "fear" they will get behind others... its hogwash - sure kids get better playing one - but how much improvement can they make when they graduate if its all they've ever done - college coaches will tell you its hard to tell - they like guys who play more than one sport - I've seen it first hand in softball and baseball - every kid needs a break, even if they don't think they want one - they need to have other things to do - its not healthy to spend your time doing one thing - overuse injuries are exploding due to one sport specialization... if we placed as much emphasis on academics as we did athletics every kids would get enough academic scholarships they would make money going to school... in the mid to late 90's all these training places opened up... then you have the people running the tournemants all year round - why??? $$$$$$ and now everyone is brainwashed into training and playing year round.... just not healthy - there are 10 yr old kids playing more games than MLB players do in a year.... travel ball can be done right - but if everyone stayed in their park they could have the same competition and save a lot of money - I think travelling should start around 14 or 15 - when you start to get a little serious about playing - HS coaches are to blame for this stuff too however - It started with FB coaches telling kids to just play football (of course they used sneakier tactices like "you know, if you stayed in the weight room this offseason you could probably start as a sophomore next year" I can't tell you how many kids I've had want to come back to baseball as a senior tell me that... people get mad at TSSAA for the deads periods ,etc - what they ought to do is outlaw all offseason stuff - then if a kid wanted to train they could do it on their own time wherever they wanted -

Edited by JD29
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then he has not heard of R.A Dickey or David Price, or Rex Brothers .... all played high level travel ball

Dickey played after his freshman season in the local college league - they didn't travel much - then he played for Jeff Forehand in the local 17-18 league I believe they were called the "Sox" if memory served me correct. That was early 90's when the travel ball started to explode (everyone played it - which means teams weren't that good) you still had Shoetiques, Twitty City which were better teams and there were some Worth teams as well.

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Hey CatsBackr! We go way back, don't we? :)

 

What frustrates me to no end is an umpire that literally has no business calling a high school baseball game. I can name some. And have seen a few I can not name. Balls-strikes, outs-safes are one thing. But losing control of a game and not knowing some of the basic rules of the game - that is what I get frustrated with.

 

What is really frustrating is when you share this information with an assigner, giving specific examples, and they just brush it aside, even when they are at the park and witness it for themselves - ugh!

 

You are right, umpires are getting hard to find in some places. And I can name some young people who are doing a great job and will only get better. But a problem I see is political in a different way. Coaches want to see the better umpires at their games, but the assigner has to make sure everyone gets games or some will quit on him. Problem is by doing that some of the good ones who want (and know they should be working) the better games are not assigned to them and lesser ones are to try to keep everyone happy.

 

I don't get mad when an umpire kicks a call - they kicked 3 calls in one play on TV last night in Colorado! I get mad when it is the same umpire kicking the same call 3 times in one game.... I can honestly name 3-4 games over 20 years that I can say with a straight face that blue cost us the game. But by the same token, in those 3-4 games and every other one, if two kids hit doubles instead of popups or a kid hits a ground ball to the right side to move a kid to third and the next kid hits a fly ball to score him instead of both striking out we win as well and that wasn't blue's fault. SS's boot ground balls and RFs drop fly balls. Baseball is the only sport where the line score on the scoreboard has a column for Errors. And umpires get a lot more right than they do wrong - and try to play a game without one....

We do go back a ways I guess! I enjoyed being up at your place for your Wednesday game with Tullahoma.

 

No one believes me, but we are going to have an umpire shortage in the very near future. Our association in Chattanooga does not see near as many new, young umpires as we need. We have begun some of the things I mentioned, including preseason, on field training, indoor mechanics training, etc. to attempt to develop better, new umpires. Only time will tell.

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We do go back a ways I guess! I enjoyed being up at your place for your Wednesday game with Tullahoma.

 

No one believes me, but we are going to have an umpire shortage in the very near future. Our association in Chattanooga does not see near as many new, young umpires as we need. We have begun some of the things I mentioned, including preseason, on field training, indoor mechanics training, etc. to attempt to develop better, new umpires. Only time will tell.

 

I believe you - issue is because the growth of new umpires is not keeping pace with the growth in new schools and new teams - number of games being played is outstripping the talent pool of available umpires....

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And another consequence of continued growth and new umpires not being developed is that you get umpires assigned to BIG games that are not ready for that level of game.

 

We try and drill mechanics, including rotations, communications, signaling, positioning, but you can't drill the most important aspect of upper level umpiring, game management. How an umpire handles situations, rules, and interaction with coaches is the most important thing, but you can't practice them, it takes experience and time.

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And another consequence of continued growth and new umpires not being developed is that you get umpires assigned to BIG games that are not ready for that level of game.

 

We try and drill mechanics, including rotations, communications, signaling, positioning, but you can't drill the most important aspect of upper level umpiring, game management. How an umpire handles situations, rules, and interaction with coaches is the most important thing, but you can't practice them, it takes experience and time.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I found this quote in the Tennessean yesterday from former Tullahoma coach Jerry Mathis. I remember almost every second that I spent at Grider Stadium during my high school playing days back in the late 70's for Columbia. I think he's exactly right. You build a tradition where the kids in your community take pride in wearing that high school cap and everything else takes care of itself.

“We’ve had 11 or 12 kids drafted into the pros and a hundred or so scholarships through those years,†Mathis said. “When I was handing out team caps one year I had one boy say to me, ‘I have waited my whole life to get to wear this cap.’… That’s when you know you’ve got them right where you want them to be.â€

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Another thing killing baseball is HS basketball and football mandatory practices. Kid's that are playing travel baseball, but also play HS basketball and/or football are having to choose. Last time I checked, basketball was a winter sport and football was a fall sport.

 

We are in June........that would be summer!

 

Baseball is slowly killing football, at least in east tn. Kids at a young age are choosing not to play football in the fall because they are told they must play with their travel team in the fall if they want to be on it in the spring. Most of the good athletes in my sons school do not play football for this reason. Just this year I have spoken to the parents of at least 6 kids in one grade that are good football players that have decided to play fall baseball. Baseball is becoming a year round sport and I'm afraid football will start feeling the effects in the upcoming years. I do not think 8-11 yr olds should have to choose a sport. I do agree that basketball is ridiculous. They play an entire season of games in June at camp.

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