Do the Orioles have a type? 😆

[foxfield]

I think if people think that the only successful goal of Travel Ball is to produce a scholarship for your kid, you are more apt to be disappointed.  And like anything else, there are bad apples and results and there is chicanery just as there is everywhere.  Buyer beware.

Travel Ball for my family...three of my kids did the full run, two girls in Softball and my son in baseball, was overall a very good experience.  My daughters played and traveled literally all over the country (California, Colorado, Illinois, Ohio, Florida, New Jersey, Virginia and Maryland). By the time they got to college, they had travelled extensively and were used to managing schedules, work etc.  One of my daughters played D1 and went to her dream school.  One picked a school over Softball and was happy with her choice.  My son was recruited to schools but wanted go to a trade school instead.

When I went to college, I had been in three states in my entire life.

The point, is the experience has value as long as you as parent and they as child do understand that the ultimate outcome not only depends on the talent of the kid, but also what THEY ultimately want...which they cannot possibly know at age 8.  I will not expound on that idea further for obvious reasons.

[emmett16]

3 hours ago, wildbillhiccup said:

The budget for MLB's entire Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities (RBI) Program is just over $30M. 

The Rays alone just invested nearly $20M for a "facelift" to their Dominican Republic facility.

The population of the DR is just north of 11M. The population of NYC alone is almost 9M. 

If you want to argue that there's no hope for MLB to win over the African-American community that's perfectly fine, but they've really done little more than try to use a tiny water gun to put out a  blazing fire to try and fix the problem. 

We are talking about an industry that spent 1.5BB on pitchers salaries, about half of which is a sunk cost due to injury, and they can’t get their heads together to figure out a solution to fixing arm issues.  I’m not gonna count on them to be future sited.  Sad.  They could do so much and while doing so grow and expand the game long term. 

Edited March 10 by emmett16

[SemperFi]

1 hour ago, emmett16 said:

 At high collegiate levels and pro all the players are incredible athletes with physical skills required that no amount of games at a high level can compensates for.  

  Of course there are some good coaches and good programs out there that aren’t trying to take advantage of the youth sports market, but that’s a small minority.  Sounds like you are one of those, so good on you.  But let’s not kid ourselves into thinking the goal of travel baseball is to “make kids productive members of society”.  It’s a money grab part of a multibillion dollar youth sports market and the lessons kids are being taught are that winning is the only thing that’s important.  
 

 

I don't think you have coached or had kids play at this level given your comments?? 

Those that get paid are very, very few and far between, ask Jammer, Ripken or others.  While I think coaches reallly want to win that's not why we coach in my experience-it's to see personal growth (teaching), instill a work ethic, discipline, unit cohesion, and the ability to handle adversity-skills that are important in life.  IMO for kids that made it far (NCAA, MLB, MiLB, Indy)  was not just talent but the abiity work hard, concentrate and handle setbacks all of which are instilled largely through coaching/teaching.  What made Jackson Holliday the #1 pick in front of more physically gifted athletes? 

Oh, but then didn't you characterize Trevor Bauer as a "self made" man while his "solidly middle class" family was spending roughly $10k a year (11 week session including room, board and travel) during his HS years JUST FOR one pitching camp-that's quite a disingenous argument.

https://www.texasbaseballranch.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Registration-Summer-Program-2024-Early-Bird-v3.pdf

[Malike]

For people who view sports as a "way out", baseball is low on the list. NCAA schools give far more scholarships to Football and Basketball players. Heck, there are many HBCU's who couldn't even fill their rosters out with black baseball players, and some had games where they had none start. Baseball is the most difficult of the big three sports, it requires toiling around in minor leagues for no pay for years and most will never make it to the big leagues. It's just not an attractive option if you don't absolutely love baseball, for anyone, not just black players. You can do all the marketing you want to kids, but when they try to hit a baseball and find out how hard it is, and that they'd rather be playing football or basketball, you lose kids to those sports, who are represented by "people of color" at 75% and 81% respectively.

As a person with 2 bi-racial children myself, I've never once been asked Dad, can you buy me MLB the Show? My kids would love to watch hoop or football but would never sit through a baseball game and my son played football, basketball, and soccer and never had any interest standing around on a baseball field and in his case, it had nothing to do with money. He is 32 years old now, and still has zero interest in baseball, and none of his friends do either.

I refuse to believe there is a nefarious plot to keep black kids out of baseball, it just happens to be the least attractive option for kids in the cities.

For those poo-pooing the RBI program because of the budget, it has had millions of kids in the program and Nike provides team equipment, uniforms, field access and umpires at no cost. You can make everything free, but you can't make kids interested if they are not.

 

[emmett16]

1 hour ago, SemperFi said:

I don't think you have coached or had kids play at this level given your comments?? 

Those that get paid are very, very few and far between, ask Jammer, Ripken or others.  While I think coaches reallly want to win that's not why we coach in my experience-it's to see personal growth (teaching), instill a work ethic, discipline, unit cohesion, and the ability to handle adversity-skills that are important in life.  IMO for kids that made it far (NCAA, MLB, MiLB, Indy)  was not just talent but the abiity work hard, concentrate and handle setbacks all of which are instilled largely through coaching/teaching.  What made Jackson Holliday the #1 pick in front of more physically gifted athletes? 

Oh, but then didn't you characterize Trevor Bauer as a "self made" man while his "solidly middle class" family was spending roughly $10k a year (11 week session including room, board and travel) during his HS years JUST FOR one pitching camp-that's quite a disingenous argument.

https://www.texasbaseballranch.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Registration-Summer-Program-2024-Early-Bird-v3.pdf

I do coach.  And I played D1 and pro.  I have friends that coach pro and D1 currently.  
 

There’s more than one way to skin a cat…as Bauer proved.  But then again, he’s the .05% of MLBers that isn’t a freak athlete. 

Lol didn’t realize I was talking with the CMO of PG.  Sorry if I hit a nerve. You do you. 

Edited March 10 by emmett16

[SemperFi]

12 minutes ago, emmett16 said:

I do coach.  And I played D1 and pro.  I have friends that coach pro and D1 currently.  
 

There’s more than one way to skin a cat…as Bauer proved.  But then again, he’s the .05% of MLBers that isn’t a freak athlete. 

Lol didn’t realize I was talking with the CMO of PG.  You do you. 

Sorry, I'm a grown assed man-I don't LOL or use imoges and I have no clue what CMO/PG means unless it is the Chief Marketing Office of Procter and Gamble.   

[emmett16]

13 minutes ago, SemperFi said:

Sorry, I'm a grown assed man-I don't LOL or use imoges and I have no clue what CMO/PG means unless it is the Chief Marketing Office of Procter and Gamble.   

Close.  Your a coach and don’t know what PG is?

Apologize in advance on the emoji use.  

[SemperFi]

11 minutes ago, emmett16 said:

Close.  Your a coach and don’t know what PG is?

Apologize in advance on the emoji use.  

I'm older so I no longer coach but I have no idea what PG means other than parental guide-certainly not as a reference to CMO.  Again, sorry but let's just leave it there-thanks in advance!!!

[eddie83]

6 hours ago, wildbillhiccup said:

The budget for MLB's entire Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities (RBI) Program is just over $30M. 

The Rays alone just invested nearly $20M for a "facelift" to their Dominican Republic facility.

The population of the DR is just north of 11M. The population of NYC alone is almost 9M. 

If you want to argue that there's no hope for MLB to win over the African-American community that's perfectly fine, but they've really done little more than try to use a tiny water gun to put out a  blazing fire to try and fix the problem. 

Kids aren’t playing football, lacrosse etc  in the Dominican. Baseball is king there. 
 

Like most topics there is not a simple answer. I think some parents -and I have no idea what percentage-  push kids to sports with better scholarship opportunities as well. 

[Can_of_corn]

On 3/9/2024 at 11:13 PM, Can_of_corn said:

They don't really need to.  Overall the game is in good shape.  The biggest issue I had was addressed last season.

I do agree with you on the marketing.

Evidence of Baseball being in good shape.

 

[eddie83]

2 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

Evidence of Baseball being in good shape.

 

I know I have read in past that “Little League” is down but that is due to more travel ball.
 

Either way it’s good the numbers are up.