Baseball's Changing Dynamic

This acquiring of high-end equipment has been going on for some time, the bragging part of it I have not seen but it sounds a little over the top but par for the course these days.

I have commented on this before on this site but when my son was in high school we played one team that couldn't afford equipment.  My son took it upon himself to do an equipment drive and we also bought a lot of new things (shoes and balls) and he donated them to the school.  If you try to donate to an organization they won't take stuff because they are swimming in excess inventory, but mostly used stuff.  There probably should be an organization focused predominantly on new gloves, cleats, pants, bats, etc for underprivileged communities.

One more point on equipment.  I used to coach the younger kids.  I had more than my fair share of decked out players who couldn't hit the ball or field.  It's not the equipment that makes the player. 

I hear your point clearly though.

I have no problem with people spending money on sports equipment. It’s their money (or credit cards). As far as bragging, I’ve never looked at it that way. I’ve only seen kids post pics of their new gear for Christmas on social. What’s the difference if he posts about baseball gear or a new PlayStation?

Like Gunner Mack, we’ve helped provide gear and coaching to kids who didn’t have access to it. We’ve also provided rides, hotels, and food for kids in Rec or on the travel team who needed the help.

FWIW, I always make sure my kid has whatever gloves, bats, gear, or cleats he wants. I don’t think he really cares as much as I do, lol. As a HS junior, the best use of money for him so far has been an unlimited gym/trainer membership and the nutritional support to eat like an athlete.

I provide what they need and it does not always align with what they want....fortunately my 17 yo is employed and can use his own funds to upgrade what I am willing to subsidize. If left to his mom, he would be raiding the annual baseball gear donation bin...a very productive way on her part to suppress any complaints from the kid.

I had limits on how much I would spend on my kid’s equipment before high school. When my son want a “cool” monogrammed glove in 7th grade he caddied until he had the money. When they got to high school they got the best. They had proven with hard work and talent they were worth the investment. It was never a matter of money. It was a matter of my kids maintaining perspective.

We did the same with cars in high school. While the parking lot looked like a lot of hand me down Mercedes, BMWs, Audis, Volvos, etc coming off lease and handed down our kids got six year old Civics senior year. They paid for a third. It meant they had to work.

My son's travel team had a lot of underprivileged kids on it.  Their uniform was a dry-fit tee shirt. This set a tone for the team equipment... well broken in gloves, dirty back packs, taped up bat handles.  These kids drooled when a team showed up to a big tournament with brand new matching equipment bags because they knew they would be whooping some butt that day.

@Smitty28 posted:

My son's travel team had a lot of underprivileged kids on it.  Their uniform was a dry-fit tee shirt. This set a tone for the team equipment... well broken in gloves, dirty back packs, taped up bat handles.  These kids drooled when a team showed up to a big tournament with brand new matching equipment bags because they knew they would be whooping some butt that day.

My son’s team through 16u had three really nice tops. They preferred to play in the warmup tees, look like dirtbags and kick arse. The 17u team he joined was more about looking like a pro.

All the beautiful equipment just to strike out and miss balls, but they looking “drip”. If you have the $$$ go head and buy it all!
I prefer to spend my $ on lesson, nutrition, training etc. I did splurge on new gear-because he’s a HS freshman!  

This said I don’t care what other people spend their $$$ on but I want good, strong, competition on the field!

New motto “work hard, play harder, look “drip”

Idk this generation is definitely different that ours. Sharing a bat, old glove! Guess change is good?

I can barely keep up with the vernacular used by my knuckleheads....drip.... cap...?!?!?!?!. I am so ready for the rocking chair on my porch.   

@Momball11 I do think it has gotten out of control. Not just the drip, the gear, the equipment…but also the amount/distance of travel, the private coaches/lessons, the rankings and the proliferation of travel teams. In my opinion, the craziness starts way too young. With three children who were talented student athletes really close in age, we struggled to keep up financially—we kept is as local and “low drip” as possible for as long as we could. I actually got into a heated discussion with one of my son’s coaches (when James was 11) about how over the top our team budget was. 7 years later we met up to talk college recruiting (his son was 2 years older than James and an ACC commit) and the Dad acknowledged that the team was starting to get out of control when we had our “conversation.” He admitted that he was so excited about the caliber of the team and what they were capable of that he didn’t really consider the strain it was on some of the families in the team (he and the head coach were really well off) and everyone else was too afraid to say anything (were talking pants with their number and logo embroidered on them).

Aside from making it hard for families with less resources to participate, it also waters down rec sports so much that in some cases it is unwatchable. I don’t have the answer because I understand that it’s natural to want to pour into your kids anyway you know how. But it makes me sad. I think some kids who really need sports for the comraderie and discipline are missing out on it  

As we started doing better financially as a family we looked for ways to support young athletes. I hope it is something James will take on as well as a young adult with means but I would also welcome systemic adjustments.

@2022NYC posted:

I can barely keep up with the vernacular used by my knuckleheads....drip.... cap...?!?!?!?!. I am so ready for the rocking chair on my porch.   

Don’t worry! A year out of college and they’re mostly speaking like adults with language you can understand. Also, about a year into the real world they realize dad wasn’t as dumb as they thought.

A year out of college my daughter told me I drove her nuts saying, “Did it ‘like’ happen or did it really happen? Suddenly, she realized how valuable it was to communicate like an adult and not sound like a kid.

Here in TX age 6 is doing serious travel ball. 6 it’s like $2000 a season for everything. 6u - SIX. LIKE SIX 😭😂🤦‍♀️  I am happy we started later in age and played rec ball. Six and playing PG

@NY posted:

Here in TX age 6 is doing serious travel ball. 6 it’s like $2000 a season for everything. 6u - SIX. LIKE SIX 😭😂🤦‍♀️  I am happy we started later in age and played rec ball. Six and playing PG

6u Travel Tee Ball

After playing in the NBA Bob Bigelow became a youth sports advocate …

https://youtu.be/MPzQQLJsYA8

It's social media that's the root cause. Once the kid is on social media and sees what others are posting, it's all over. Literally, Christmas morning, the kids are unwrapping with with their phone in the hand.

I remember many Christmas mornings ago, when my son was in the 6th grade, showing me an Instagram post of a classmate posing with two boxes. "Look dad...Thomas got an Xbox AND a Play Station for Christmas." I couldn't hold back and said "His parents are trying to make up for never being around that much and always leaving him at home with a babysitter." (Not my proudest parenting moment but it slipped out.)

It's no better with the baseball stuff. Look dad...he reclassified, dropped out of HS in NJ and moved to Florida to attend a baseball academy for the next two years. Why can't I do that...?

Once again...because your parents have common sense.

I took my son and did two self guided college tours today, so I just now read over the posts.

TerribleBPthrower: I am turned off by most social media posts of individuals with their gifts, Playstation included. I guess the ones that don't bother me are gifts that are homemade. Maybe I'm just old fashioned, but I would prefer to see a photo of the gift recipient with the gift giver.

It is comforting to know that there are other parents out there that can relate with my concerns and feelings about baseball and money. 

PTWood: I also have three youth athletes. We have made similar decisions to keep costs down. I love my children, but I'm not going to use credit to purchase their equipment or sacrifice reducing my retirement contributions so they can have the latest and greatest.

When my son was younger he used a $5 yard sale bat (for two seasons). It was not some amazing find. It was old and a low quality bat, but it met the requirements to be legal for play. Almost every kid on his team asked to use that bat over their $$ bat at some point because they thought it was a "good" bat. It definitely wasn't the bat, but the batter that made the difference.

Francis7: Yes, I think you are on to something there about social media. It definitely has been disappointing to see so many baseball players that have reclassified. My son asked the same thing. Reclassifying was meant to provide means to those that had an academic issue. It's disappointing that parents encourage/allow it with the intent of putting them at an advantage in athletics. Definitely sends the message to the child that sports is the number one priority above all else.

@Momball11 we bought maybe three bats in 11 years of baseball. The kid learned how to trade and sell bats to buy what he wanted next. He learned how to go to "Play It Again" and find a good deal and re-sell it.  His Dad also worked for adidas for several years so he swung an old sample adidas bat for a year...and then resold that too. Whatever it took. It cracked me up one year when he was younger. All the parents bought expensive bats for their kids and they all ended up using this one orange bat (they even named it) that the boys swore hit the ball farther than any other bat. Since my son was playing up, the team "donated" the bat to him at the end of the year when they all had to graduate to BBCOR...

It sounds like I am trashing parents who invest...I'm not. Particulary since I am aware that I am the pot calling the kettle black with where my kid when to HS (there is a HUGE backstory behind that). But it has become a slippery slope and I would imagine there is an element of the "law of diminishing returns." Per my econometrics class: The law of diminishing returns states that as one input variable is increased, there is a point at which the marginal increase in output begins to decrease, holding all other inputs constant. ... This does not mean that output decreases; output begins to increase at a decreasing rate for each additional unit of input.

I see your point momball. I thought about it and I can’t think of the last time I saw a kid post stuff on social. I don’t really look for it either but I don’t see the parents posting. My son doesn’t really ever post anything so I don’t pay a lot of attention.

I would put myself in the bucket of spending a lot on gear. I’ve never once thought of it as investing though. I never had a new piece of equipment through HS. Even my spikes were used. I’ll take that back, I bought a new cup once. I think my spending on gear now is probably making up for all the stuff my family couldn’t afford when I was a kid. My son doesn’t ask for it, I just buy it and see if he likes it. If so we keep it. If not I’ll sell it or give it to a kid in need if I know of one at the time.

*Edit* if anyone knows of a kid who could use a 15.5 AllStar S7 Axis chest protector please let me know. It is navy and orange. It is the CP my son is wearing in my avatar. Free to someone in need. It’s in pretty good condition.

The only area I had no issue with cost was safety equipment. I bought the highest rated batting helmet and catcher's mask. The kid took several foul tips and the expense probably saved him from a trip to the concussion protocol. Oddly enough the one wild pitch head shot during an at bat was on his neck, still glad he had the higher rated helmet

I don't think social media is the *root* cause.  I think the tendency to puff the feathers and show off is part of human nature.  I remember the kid in HS who drove up in the brand new Trans Am... he instantly became the most popular kid in school and got the pretty girl.  This was back in the late 70s and I imagine this had been going on for a long time by then.  Social media has *amplified* this and brought it into our homes in real-time.  That's not good, but we as parents have some control over this.  I know in my house the kids did not have their cell phones anywhere near the Christmas tree when it came time to open presents.

@Smitty28 posted:

I don't think social media is the *root* cause.  I think the tendency to puff the feathers and show off is part of human nature.  I remember the kid in HS who drove up in the brand new Trans Am... he instantly became the most popular kid in school and got the pretty girl.  This was back in the late 70s and I imagine this had been going on for a long time by then.  Social media has *amplified* this and brought it into our homes in real-time.  That's not good, but we as parents have some control over this.  I know in my house the kids did not have their cell phones anywhere near the Christmas tree when it came time to open presents.

I would agree about it being human nature. You are absolutely right about parents having some control. Sadly, I feel that there are fewer of those sort of parents each year. I once was a HS teacher. Early on in my career if I had an issue and called home...the parent(s) would support me as the teacher. Toward the last few years before I switched careers the parent(s) would put the blame on me as the teacher. Heaven forbid their perfect child would ever do wrong or make poor decisions.

If you the sauce you don't need the drip.

@LousyLefty posted:

If you the sauce you don't need the drip.

😂 love it

@2022NYC posted:

I can barely keep up with the vernacular used by my knuckleheads....drip.... cap...?!?!?!?!. I am so ready for the rocking chair on my porch.   

It's aight, man.

I think equipment is about what you deem to be worthwhile and you can afford. at younger ages my kids always had quality products, by the time they hit HS they got stuff they requested. Pro preferred had it, Mako, done, Easton Speed had one, CP5 had one, Victus wood we bought 4 at a time...spikes we always top of line etc.

It was important to me...they didn't have 3 or 4 different bats a year, they had 1 but it was whatever 1 they wanted. They had pro preferred in HS but it was the same glove, got another one going into college. It was about having quality stuff to play a game you work hard in...I was the same way when i played and didn't have any money, it was important.

My golf bag changes every year, i typically get new Irons every other or 3rd year, I replace the woods and hybrids the opposite year...why? because they are out there, i can, it is fun, i love to golf...to say i have over 100 used golf clubs in my garage would not a be an overstatement. The vast majority in excellent condition and were top of the line when purchased, they ran out of good shots LOL