I am not so sure that travel and showcases are hurting baseball as much as other sports have become popular and are drawing kids away from baseball, especially at the youth levels. I find that most boys that quit rec league baseball move on to play lacrosse, s****r, tennis and golf. Not because they went to a travel baseball team.
Travel ball is just as prevalent where I live as anywhere else however for the last few years our rec baseball league participation has been at all time highs. When you consider that our small town has over 900 boys in our rec program, I bet there are less than 2% to 5% of players that have opted out of rec ball to only play travel ball. If anything, it is the rec league boards’ members that are forcing players from being allowed to play on rec teams if they also play on a travel team.
After the 12 yo season we all know that we lose many players from rec leagues for a multitude of reasons however I don’t think the majority quit because they are showcasing or on an elite travel team. Even when I look at the middle school and high school teams I would say less than 50% of those boys play travel or do showcases (HS age players). Maybe our area is different but I don’t see how travel teams and showcases are hurting baseball. Now if you want to talk about the quality of rec vs. travel that’s a whole different discussion.
As TPM mentioned, baseball seems to be at an all-time high with popularity and attendance at the college and professional ranks. So are showcases and travel really hurting the game or do some just wish it would go back to the “old days” when rec and legion was the only option available? I for one don’t know that it is better or worse, just different. I think most of us on this message board are probably part of that 2% to 5% that make a commitment to our sons to pursue baseball at higher levels so it makes sense to me that we might sometimes think that what our families are doing is the norm. Obviously that’s not the case.