Baseball Opportunities

Fungo,
What the heck are you doing driving around our great country? Are you on vacation, was your route planned, or spontanious?

It is a sad thought about the lonely diamond with no one to care for it. I suppose those kids would have to seek out a "travel team" some place out of town. On the other hand if there were kids around that did want to play, they could do like we and our kids did when we found we had a team, but no field. We all-- kids and parents and anyone else who wnated to help or donate worked our tails off turning a backstop with a field with four feet high weeds, home to snakes and rodents--into a nice place to play. All the maintainence had to be done by us, and to this day younger teams have taken it over and still is an very nice place to play.

I'm just wondering, Fungo.........was she really "such a fine sight to see"?

According to OPP, he painted a bull's eye on the side of the barn so Zach could throw at the target.

Guess that wherever there is a will there is a way. In Key West (much less populated than Miami/Dade metro area)the HS team (only one) has to travel for hours to play other HS teams, yet they tend to produce some very talented players, ex. Khalil from the Padres).

I've played on some pretty nice fields (minor league facility, Cardinals Care facility, some high school fields) and I've also played on some real bad fields. This summer the team I am coaching I think we've been to one field that was nicer than our own. Our field is pretty nice, but it could definitely be better. But we're so low on the totem pole that we get the worst fields.

Three years ago when I played on this team we played at one that 'Izzy' from the Cardinals played on in high school. It's his high school's field. You could have baled hay in the outfield. They found glass at first base. Was TERRIBLE and my dad was telling me it's normal for that area.

Krak,
You and I must think alike! I did pull up the Eagles "Take it Easy" and cranked it up as we rolled into town. But no flat bed Ford showed up.

iheartbb, We are on vacation. This is my last fling with "affordable" gas prices. Wait!! $4.39 (highest we paid) is affordable when compared to $7-$8 that may be in our future. Ouch!

TPM, I thought about Zach and I also thought about Jim Thorpe. This has has to be close to a miracle for some of these boys.

Fungo, I know there is some travel baseball going on in that region, as we ran into a team from Gallup, New Mexico at USA Baseball's 16u Championships last month in Peoria and Surprise, Arizona. I talked to them for a while, and was told that the team's name, Na'aatani, is Navajo in origin. That made sense as Gallup is right in Navajo country. I thought that was pretty neat for this team to exist, as western New Mexico isn't exactly a hotbed of baseball activity.

If you haven't already left that area, you should head a bit south, down toward Show Low and then Pinetop. You won't believe the difference in scenery, and you can drive through some of the most beautiful country in Arizona once you're onto the White Mountain Apache Reservation. You'd head east from Hon Dah, and come back out near Alpine, Arizona which is 8,000 ft. elevation, nice and cool. It's not that big a detour and worth the drive to see the White Mountains, they're some beautiful country. Or, since you love to fish, you could head north up to Page, and then on to Lee's Ferry. That's where the Colorado River is, just below Glen Canyon Dam. Some of the best cutthroat trout fishing in the country. Lots of guides to take you fishing, and you're down in the bottom of the canyon, which is spectacular scenery. THAT is worth the drive, no matter how long.

Talk about vast distances in the open heartland. College of Southern Nevada (Las Vegas) is in the same league as Southern Idaho. Drive from Las Vegas to Idaho sometime. 500 miles of pure open desert and nary a soul except a rogue hamlet. Oh yea.. and Area 51. Just don't gas up in Ely, Nevada. Five gas stations and all the same high price. (Don't 'ya love the good 'ol boys?)

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"Bad" fields?...

It's all relative....

Few years ago HS team, who plays on a lovely, well maintained, pristine FLAT field, with pearly white baseballs took a mid-spring road trip...played some high schools in an area that had very bumpy fields, and local clay fields that instantly stained the balls dark, making them impossible for infielders or batters to see...

...with this "double whammy"...Bad bounces, and invisible baseballs...our kids REALLY struggled...

...While the local kids happily scooped up every bad bounce...and hit our "invisible" pitches all over the park...

Come to find out that college and professional scouts flock to this area because they know that the conditions make the kids tougher and more skilled...

...they know that when these players get to flat infields and get to hit white baseballs they are way ahead of players trained on "perfect" fields...

Be careful what you wish for!

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quote:

Come to find out that college and professional scouts flock to this area because they know that the condtions make the kids tougher and more skilled...they know that when these players get to flat infields and get to hit white baseballs they are way ahead of players trained on "perfect" fields...

Current example: Moody High School in Corpus Christi, TX

HORRIBLE field....and yet the team is state-ranked and nationally-ranked year after year after year....

Those kids know how to play the game and most likely, the bad playing conditions are part of the reason why.

Where there is a will,...there is away!
Some just have to walk a little farther, try a little harder, and knock a bit louder.

Ahhhh,...the great midwest. A topic close to my own heart Fungo.

Wonder how many baseballs this cornfield has gobbled up?



If you build it,..they will come!


Enjoy your travels Fungo. I know several " quaint " midwest fields that are about as Americana as it gets out here on a Saturday afternoon. If ya need directions, feel free to pm me.

Might not be fancy,.....but there are moments when it sure can seem magical.



Foul ball!


Field of dreams ( Iowa ):

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John Kinsella: Is this heaven?

Ray Kinsella: It's Iowa.

John Kinsella: Iowa? I could have sworn this was heaven. [John starts to walk away]

Ray Kinsella: Is there a heaven?

John Kinsella: Oh yeah. It's the place where dreams come true. [Ray looks around, seeing his wife playing with their daughter on the porch]

Ray Kinsella: Maybe this is heaven.


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