No Respect for Raleigh

No Respect For Raleigh Baseball

Just follow the news from the Bobby Murray Invitational (unsure of those dates) and the Knightdale Tournament (March 29 - April 2) and you will find out about nearly all of the Raleigh area baseball players.

 

Amazing... Better Coaching need in the Rec programs in Raleigh, A new team is forming

Well, after so many years, its good to actually see that there is concern for the youth and the baseball in the Raleigh area again. Perhap at some point I will introduce myself, but for now.. I want to enjoy what is going on with all the folks in our area and this blog, and that are looking forward to the new generation of players that will certainly push this kids to a new level of competition in our area.

I think that its extremely important that everyone who has just arrived in the Raleigh area in just the last few years gets a good understanding of what is available and what is not available as far as instruction and competition in Baseball. First off, many of the players that were mentioned above and that are the current top crop of Seniors and of Juniors all basically started in 2 areas in Raleigh, one was the North Wake League, and second was the Rec programs sponsored by the city. You had parents that looked or basically thought that they wanted better competition for their kids, and decided that in fact NW or other "elite" teams was the place to be.

The fact is that if you were to look at the top schools in the "North" raleigh area, i.e. Leesville, Sanderson, and Milbrook, and outside of Raleigh, i.e. Fuquay; most of those players all started at the rec level. It was only until the North Raleigh Rockhounds created a rec AAU All Star Team, that the level of play in North Raleigh made its mark in North Carolina competition.

Soon after, another AAU team began makings its mark in raleigh as well.. i.e. the Raleigh Redwings. which was coached by a former NW coach, and which in fact was the assistant coach to the NR Rockhounds originally. Sure North Wake has put some players in major schools and I believe one that moved on to the pro level many years ago. But if you really take a look at the current crop of high school players, you will see, that these original rec players are getting more scholarships than at anytime in the history of the baseball programs here in North Raleigh. In fact some of these "elite" programs decided to try and play outside of their own programs to compete at the AAU level and to my knowlege never even got to a championship game. Where the Rockhounds and Redwings won many champioships, and competed at the National level. I will make no bones about it, these kids are the elite ball players in our highschool programs today. If it were not because of these 2 AAU teams, a great deal of the political baseball climate that was generated by these so called "elite" team would have had a strangle hold on the high school baseball scene today.

Basically the 3 coaches of the time, that had these 2 teams new that their kids would not have stood a chance to play in baseball if they did not have there so called "elite" stripes. That obviously never played out because of the complete dominance of these 2 AAU teams in the Raleigh area.

I am already seeing again that there is a very bad assumption being made today and that was done way back then, that these "elite" leagues were the place to be, this was much farther from the truth, as I can assure everyone; that already I am seeing players at the age of 10 years old, that are bigger and better than the athletes that we had before in these rec leagues. More important is the fact that we are seeing far more better coaches that have moved in the area than I have seen before and are bringing in much needed help in teaching the game.

I want to be sure that we are all on the same page; to you coaches out there who know and follow this game, we need you to be at the very bottom and spring the seeds of the game forward!

Back to history...So one of my points in all of this is the following. If you take the kids that are playing today in their last year of high school, and also the current juniors, and you seperate the ones that came out of the rec programs, and the so called elite programs here in raleigh. You will see and find, that the rec ball players are by far the large pool of the best players in the area. Period.

Further, if you do an analysis of the current teams in both "elite" and rec teams today below the age of 10, you will find, that there is no difference in talent, that you have maybe 3 very good players in each team and the remaining players are kids that are so far behind, that some of them can't even throw a baseball.

I honestly believe that at the core of what is going to make us the best in N.C. we need to have better involvement from parents with their children at every league here in Raleigh to move the talent to the next level. This basically means that parents need to make a very good decision and get a assesment regarding their children level of playing. I am already seeing boys that are 10 years old that cannot throw a ball 10 feet and yet their parents continue signing their kids up, just so that they can be part of something. Some folks will dissagree with me and thats fine, but unless you are on the bench, and here the kids,that can play, you will hear that they hate to lose, and hence that filters down to the other kids that can't play as well and which basically don't care because they we supposed to be there to have a good time...

So I believe that, just like you need to tell a child that he needs to study, a parent and especially a dad needs to spend the time throwing and catching a baseball with his son or daughter. That single involvement between parent and child is what makes baseball so unique to the history of our country and our passion for this game.

Well am sorry I took so much time on this one, and I don't have the time to spell check it, or look it over. But to all you folks out there that have a child that is in the 10u age bracket right now; keep an eye out there because very soon there is a new team that will be forming.
A team that is coming around for a 2nd generation; a team that has a great tradition of teaching the game and of teaching the values of playing hard, and playing together. A team that will give your son the best shot at playing at the highest level. If your interested, stay tuned... If you an old timer around here, then you know whats coming!

 

name dropping

Just my 2 cents.

I see a West Johnston dad posting quite a bit about his son on this board. He is a good player, but the deal is done and we are all proud of him, how about mentioning us other guys in the conference for once. JR, the biggest problem with the GNR and Cap7 and others that depend on the Raleigh Nuisance paper is reporting of game coverage. No story goes with the game, just the stats and you dont even get that if the home coach is whizzed off at the other coach after a loss (he wont call it in). The story tells more about the player than the game stats which is what you get with other newspapers, especially the small local ones. I was in the stats twice a week with 2 hits almost every game. My last name was the only thing that showed in leading hitters, so who cares. In our HS area, the only person who can give you recognition is the opposing coach. You do well against his team and that is the guy who gets your name out fast. I heard you being talked about alot in those bombs you launched this year. I use the opposing coaches as a reference because some college coaches dont believe all of what your coach says about you and that guy you got 2 hits or a triple or HR against will remember you well.

Next, AAU is seated in Charlotte where the BIG tourneys happen and most of the USSSA is the triad area. How many times do you see the teams from those areas come east to play our tournaments?? NONE!! So, now you lose the players whose parents wont go to Charlotte, Hickory, etc every weekend. And face it, they pay their own umpires who seem to know all of the other coaches & players. They tend to prejudge the outcome of alot of those championship games we lost too. Here, we have the Greater Raleigh Fall league, who supposedly has all the best talent playing there. When is the last time you have seen an article or game coverage from that league? I havent and didnt know if you played there or not.

Our coach Jason saw the need you are talking about and had the right idea about what the Raleigh area needed. Unfortunately, he was alot better coach and instructor than he was a business man.

One last comment on a personal note. I dont want to speak badly of the Rockhounds because they were a good team. I remember when I was twelve, they had asked my dad to bring me to a tryout. I had played against them with another team many times and it was always a split who won. From my observation the coaches only cared about their 2 kids and wanted to build a team around them. Before I got warmed up, one coach told me that if I played second, I wouldnt never start because this is the position his son played and he was the coach and he was doing this for his son first. Next, he let me know that my body size was small which may be a problem because they wanted to win a national title with some BIG KIDS. His son was my height but outweighed me by a brickload. Well, I decided not to even tryout with them and went to a NEW/OLD AAU team that was folding because the Rockhounds had taken a handful of their players before the waiver/sitout period existed. We had only 3 players with AAU experience and our coaches went out and recruited only rec players from the Harnett area. The first game that we won that season was against the stacked RockHounds in a 3-0 game. Remember me, I was the short guy with all 3 RBIs?

 

Region 3 - State Games

"ABout the State Games... I will say this about Mike Joyner at Smothfield-Selma. I was an asst the last time he was head coach for Region 3. I can say without a doubt that he will choose the best players from Region 3. He will pick a team to win, he does not care about politics, I can say that for sure!!"

Sorry Coach Evans - you were dead wrong on this one - you have a player that should have been a no-brainer - only 3 kids from Tri-8/Cap 7 - players at the tryout overheard discussing who was already on the team - once again, Region 3 is mostly a beauty contest - no interest in actually choosing all of the best players who have actually earned it on the field. It really is a shame.

 

Raleigh Area Baseball

In addition to my other "hats", I am City Council appointee to the Raleigh Parks, Recreation, and Greenways Advisory Board. Public support for baseball and its facilities has nearly eroded. Just last night, a decision was made to recommend the location of the aquatics center at Buffaloe Road Park. In order to situate the aquatics center, a proposed baseball field will be displaced. Why? When the public meetings were held, the "baseball folks" were no where to be found. I have been a Parks Board member for 4 years now. Whenever a new park is planned, I always try to look out for baseball - however - the people who favor "passive recreation" come out in droves! There seems to be more of an interest in butterfly gardens, birdwatching, and open meadows than there seems to be in baseball.

If one wants to know why their is a "perceived" lack of interest in baseball coverage by the news media, one need look no further at the baseball facilities (or lack thereof) in this great City.

I would love for all of the baseball folks to attend a Parks Board meeting and voice your concerns about baseball in the city of Raleigh.

For information on the Parks Board, please visit:
http://www.raleighnc.gov/portal/ser...on_and_Greenway_Advisory_Board/Cat-Index.html

 

The Raleigh Redwings organization was started by Tom Smith (who also coached the 13U team). He was not asscociated with North Wake until his son played with the NW Warriors 4 years after the Redwings organization was started.

 

Was he the coach that drug the field with his baby blue mercedes?

 

I have never heard of, nor seen any Redwings coach even driving a baby blue mercedes, none the less dragging the field with one. I hope that comment was purely sarcastic.

 

Dragging the field

Yes there was a team manager (not coach) for the Red Wings who did drive his mercedes on the practice field to drag it. Everyone wanted to give him a can of green paint to paint his car with (John Deere). It was one heck of a work house car, I will say that.
The field turned into quite a nice little field due to that Mercedes. It took a lot of hard work but the guy and his Mercedes made it happen
There were several teams that form the Red Wings Org, but only one stayed the course and lasted for 4 years. U10-U14.

 

bulls and red wolves

it all started when the D. Bulls wouldn't let the Mudcats build a stadium in Raleigh.

and there was a Coastal Plains team at Doak fd. for about a season or two and that's all.