Your opinion on baseball interest

It certainly is starting to look elitist.

I would argue that it has absolutely become an elitist sport.


"Elite 8" "NIT"s
Most kids playing rec ball know that there is another level of competition above them.

$400 dollars for a bat!!! 250 for a glove. Go to any travel ball tournament and do the $$math on just the bats you see in the dug outs at ALL age levels.
Literally thousands of dollars. We had a 12U rec team that had in excess of $2000 in bats. Out of control.

Are the Hirachi cleats the newest "I got to have them to play better" item?

Ok to some degree Im kind of trying to make a point for wood bats. Scrap(no pun intended) the aluminum bats and everyone go to wood.

Why wood? They're substantially cheaper of course which levels the financial playing field. Lets face it you can't get to the next level in this sport these days without having a $400 bat. Wall Mart bats will not get you there. A whole lot of people can't afford a $400 bats. If all where required to swing wood then most could afford a top wood bat. $100 bucks tops.

And gloves? Well they're over rated anyway. Just get rid of them all together(just kidding of course. You have to have a glove to play.)

 

baseball is too expensive for the average family. too many people trying to make money off the game,imho. major league quality is down too imo. at leat 7 starting pitchers in their mid 40's what will we say when these guys hit 50 and are still pitching?

 

I would say, "congratulations and pass me whatever you are taking. I want to play"

Seriously, I don't believe the quality of pitching is worse now than years past. But I adamantly will argue MLB has taken quality pitchers and made them worse because of reducing the height of the mound and turned the plate into a thimble. MLB has made baseball hitter friendly and I understand why, but you must keep this in mind when comparing quality pitchers of this era vs era's past. There are some who say that if you took a moderately successful pitcher today and put him back in the 60's, he would dominate.

I want to thank everybody for their great replies....keep them coming

 

The time commitment to be good at baseball is great. It's true that not everyone wants to put that time in but that goes for a lot of sports.

 

All sports

have their dues. Not defending any of them. But, run 5 miles, take a hit from a 275 lb. fullback, swim five laps in a pool, hit a small white ball on a stick with a stick at a small hole hunderds of yards away or just hit a larger one with a stick thrown at you around 90 mph. For me it is at what level can we expect our kids the perform. I see kids getting trophies for fourth place in a four team touney. We teach our kids to work hard for the prize. We now are making the prize to easy to get. Agreed, sports have thier dues. To make the upper levels it takes years of commitment.

 

Baseball is a great game! It's a difficult game! It's a game that needs to be learned early in life and our kids have more on their plate today than I had on mine.
The movie "Sandlot" portrays kids meeting everyday at the sandlot to play ball. Where does that happen today?
There are no sandlots today! That movie reminds me of my childhood, we played ball everyday as soon as it got warm enough and played until it got too cold. Then we would play football and basketball until spring. I would watch MLB baseball every saturday and learn my favorite team lineups. Now I can't pronounce most of the names on the teams. Kids today just can't go to ballparks without the fear of some thug doing something unspeakable. Leagues are great, but I believe the kids that play sandlot, just for the LOVE OF THE GAME learn more and are game ready when the time comes.
That's the root of what's going on in baseball today IMHO.
I am just like you guys in wanting to do the best for baseball and the kids. I want them to learn to love the game as I did, I just don't see it today for the most part. Don't get me wrong there are players that I enjoying watching play because they show their love of the game on the field. I'm speaking in general terms.

Maybe I'm getting old and the game has changed or not the game, but the approach to the game has changed?

 

The thing that taught us all baseball: playing cup ball at the park on Saturdays during our buddies' games. Everyone played it. It was different forms, but we all played it. Take a cup, ball it up, and play baseball with it. You hit it with your hand. We'd play that for hours on Saturday afternoons waiting for everyone to get finished playing.


Don't feel old, I'm 20 and I'm saying that.

 

Here ya go, countryboy. Perhaps you can remember this

 

loooooks,

awful familiar Braves!

 

$$$$$. if i am playing poker and i can buy the pot and put you out then you won't play anymore. youth baseball has become so expensive that many cannot or will not play it anymore. this is something that i think is conscously done by the middle class parents as it gets their kids away from the "
poorer" kids they would have to play with in football and basketball. if it costs enough and i can afford it becomes more exclusive financially then the competition is lessened and my kid as maybe a mediocre talent will look like a better player and have greater chance to succeed.the pros aren't fooled by this though because they scout based on tools mostly. you see them getting more an more foreign talent in their systems and more foreigners making it to the big leagues