Nice post OBN - I agree with the approach you have taken with your son.
Like you, our primary goal for our son in the early years (9-14) was to prepare for baseball so that he could be a contributor on the high school team should he decide to play in high school. If he had said, "I don't like this game I want to be done" when it came time for HS ball we would have been fine with that (sad but fine). However, he thrives on the game and is happy to spend every evening of his summer playing baseball. An added bonus .... if you are playing ball every night you have little time for other distractions that could lead teenagers astray.