Myrtle Beach Collegiate Summer Baseball League

Hey All,

Make sure to check out the Myrtle Beach Collegiate Summer Baseball League. The Beach League is proud to announce our inaugural season in June 2012!

www.mbcsbl.org

Please feel free to email us with any questions:
[email protected]
[email protected]

 

Beach League Commercial

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9HccNoCbak

 

How many more college wood bat leagues can our country absorb without the standard of play declining in all but the very best? I swear, it's beginning to look like the watering down of travel/showcase ball at the high school level.

 

But isn't everybody entitled to a place to play?
At all levels?
Capitolism at its best - and I love it.
Just call it what it is... $$$-maka'

 

You're right. The more the merrier. Gives more players a chance to play during the summer.

 

I get that; but, it's also true that the deeper these leagues go into the college ranks, the more the product on the field suffers in quality. The more the quality of the product declines, the more difficult it becomes to consistently put paying customers in the seats. ...and since we've all just learned that it's a money maker, I'd think that the leagues would become concerned with that.

 

Ummm. These young men are ALREADY playing in college so can't we assume they can play? I do understand this is about $$$ but don't understand coments about talent not being up to par

 

Of course, they can all play; but, they don't all play equally well.

Historically, the summer college leagues have been a venue to accomplish three main goals: (1) to provide high quality, family-oriented entertainment for each team's host community; (2) to create an efficient means for professional scouts to evaluate prospects by confining the league's geography; and (3) to serve as a way for the players involved to stay sharp through the summer. It was out of those considerations that leagues such as the Alaskan, Northwoods, Coastal Plains, Cape Cod, and New England were formed.

Because of their value to Major League Baseball as an evaluation venue, most, if not all of those leagues were heavily subsidized by professional baseball. Thanks largely to that subsidy, players in the those leagues didn't have to pay anything to play in them. To the best of my knowledge, the MLB subsidy is no longer available (or is greatly reduced); but, because of their well established organizations, players still do not pay to play in some of them.

When the number of leagues was more limited, it was a high honor to be invited to play on one of the summer leagues' teams. Now that they're more abundant and a higher percentage of college players play in them, it still qualifies as special recognition; but, except in the two or three that are at the top of the pyramid, it's not the uniformly high honor that it once was.

Every college baseball player is special. He belongs to a group that is made up of less than 10% of his high school peers, and he can play.

However, this is also sport; and, as you create more and more teams at a certain level such as college, you necessarily diminish the overall quality of play. It not only occurs in the newer leagues; but, it affects a number of the more established leagues as the new leagues inevitably attract some of the players who, otherwise, would have played in the longer established ones.

I want to see as many college players playing in the summer as the market will support, and I'd like to see this new league succeed. All I'm suggesting through my original question is that at some point it may become difficult for some of these leagues to attract enough high quality players to live up to the expectations they create in the communities they serve.

 

There are upwards of 1,500 college baseball programs in this country. Multiply that number by 30, the size of a typical roster, to get a rough idea of the amount of college baseball players in the country (around 45,000). There are a total of 70 teams between the Cape Cod, Coastal Plains, Northwoods, Alaska, New England, and Valley Leagues. Multiply 70 by the average roster number of 30 to get to the number of about 2,100 players total represented in these leagues each summer. It's safe to assume that about half (likely more) of these players are from Division 1 schools or powerhouse JUCOs.

The standard of play is not declining. In fact, it's not even close to declining. First of all, the few leagues in this country that are considered the best will always represent the best. There are only a handful of leagues that are considered to have talent even close to the ones listed above. There could be ten million summer leagues. But the top leagues will retain the top talent. And if a new league enters the market in a way that allows them to bring in top talent and be considered one of the top leagues, then good for them.

So I pose these two questions: 1) Why is it that there seems to be a lack of a real realization that there is high-level talent at divisions other than D1? and 2) Even if some of the leagues out there don't put a Cape Cod level team on the field, what's wrong with giving every college baseball player the opportunity to play in the summer?

 

The Newport Gulls of the New England Collegiate Baseball League

Sometimes it's not about making money.

Two close friends of mine operate a team in the New England Collegiate League called the Newport Gulls. The Gulls are a non-profit organization. They play in the oldest standing wood frame ballpark in America which is now over 100 years old. It's called Cardines Field and I believe it is a historical landmark.

The team is comprised of players from all over the country. I've seen players from Washington and Washington State, Standford, Vanderbilt, Miss State, St. Johns, and many more. I've seen players from UNC, NC State and ECU on the roster as well. Most recently Jack Rhineheimer (SS) from ECU. A few years ago the Gulls were ranked 3rd in the nation by Baseball America and have won the NE Collegiate League title more than a few times in their 10+ years in the league.

The players are provided with a host family and play at no cost. What's even more remarkable is that ALL of the park's "employees" are volunteers! Everyone! The ticket takers, the PA announcer (who is in his 70's and as good as anyone I've ever heard at any level including MLB), the concessionaires, the groundskeepers and the community relations people are all volunteers.

The Gulls attendance is often over 3000 including some very entertaining diehards! It's a spectacle to say the least. This organization does things for the right reasons. They promote their community and provide a valuable asset for those foggy summer nights in Rhode Island. This is a model for others to take note of.

Please don't misunderstand. I'm not at all down on adding new leagues and teams. Quite the contrary. I admire it and wish them the very best. It's not all about making money though. At least it doesn't have to be.

www.newportgulls.com