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13 replies

Baseball versus Track

BS Brian Shanberg100+ posts
Given: Pre-High School athlete.

My son comes home from middle school earlier this week and says the following try-outs are on Monday at the same time:
- Baseball
- Track & Field
- Tennis

This is a very large school that will likely have 100 kids come out for baseball. So, attending try-outs is a must. Can't just skip a day and hope your talent puts you on the team.

He wants to play all 3 sports and could likely make those teams. But, he is forced to only choose one as the try-outs and competitions completely overlap.

I'm leaving the decision up to him. But, my suggestion was as follows:
- Join the middle school track team as the speed and sprint workouts can benefit all of your athletic endeavors.
- Skip middle school baseball and continue with your summer team.
- Bring the tennis rackets to every baseball tournament as there are almost alway tennis courts at the tournament parks and we always have gaps between games. (Been doing this for years.)

So, how do you decide? He's young and doesn't have a dominate sport. I can only see this conflict getting harder as he gets into high school.

Are there any baseball players that also run track? 100 meters, 200 meters, 400 meter races.

How did Jim Courier do it? He was a stud pitcher our of Florida in high school that ended up winning the Australian Open in Tennis. Somehow, he did both during high school.
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bballmanbballman10,000+ posts
Tough call. Those three sports are all during the same season in our HS. He's probably going to have to pick one during HS. Pick the sport that he is either is the best at, or enjoys the most. My bet is he enjoys the one he is best at the most.

In the meantime, I'd just be careful about over committing. You will make one of the coaches mad if he is missing events in order to attend one from another sport. Probably, if he is on a travel baseball team, you may want to skip that in middle school unless he really wants to do it.

No clear cut answer. You're just going to have to make a choice.
BS Brian Shanberg100+ posts
The good thing about middle school sports, in my area, is they have no weekend events or practices. Most games/meets are directly after school which frees up the evenings and weekends for travel BBall. But, when he gets to highschool, I'm sure the time commitment will increase.

Sounds like this will be a prevailing issue as he moves into high school. Just wondering if there are any baseball players that also competed in track and field.

When I was in school, back in the dark ages, football players were not allowed to skip Spring football practice. But, they were allowed to skip track practice and just show up at the meets. These were sprinters for the most part and were also the biggest point earners for the track team. So, it was allowed.
IB Innocent Bystander500+ posts
I'm going with TR on this one, let him pick out the sport he loves most... And if that doesn't work out, he'll still have time to run track or play tennis later. Big Grin
The school AD was so enamored with my 8th grade son in track he was already making plans to have him come and compete at meets that didn't conflict with baseball at the high school level.
PS Obviously there's a huge difference here since we are presently at a small school, but in the 8th grade we told them that he was a baseball player first and would like to run track when it didn't conflict with baseball. So he missed a few meets but they acted like it was no big deal.
Last edited by Innocent Bystander
zombywoofzombywoof1,000+ posts
If the sports are played in different seasons, I would think an athlete would normally be allowed to play what he can handle coupled with the head coaches rules regarding multi-sport athletes.

While middle school may allow weekend participation in another sport, high school will be a conflict at some point since they practice and/or play 6 days a week and if teams from another sport go far in the state or county playoffs, it might affect time a player will put towards off-season conditioning if they play a winter and then a spring sport.

In our area, there are set dates for fall, winter and spring sports where the coaches are allowed to be directly involved with the players and their sport so technically, it shouldn't be an issue but depending on how coaches view off-season training programs and what they expect from players who play in a given sport, that may or may not have any effrect on their status.

As for playing multiple high school sports in the same season, I agree with TRhit that it would seem impossible to do since each sport demands full time committment in-season.

If it came down to choice, the player should go with he wants to play.
C CaBB1,000+ posts
This pertains to high school VARSITY sports but is interesting.

In our area one of my friends has a daughter, now in 11th grade, that has played varsity water polo, cross country, track, and swimming all 3 years!! She is one of the top runners in N. CA and has been to state meets several times. She is looking to continue to run in college and is getting lots of interest from college coaches (Stanford being one of them). She is an elite triathlete, ranked in the top of the nation for her age group. Through all this she maintains about a 4.0 gpa with AP classes.

Amazing girl and I never thought she could do all this. She has been able to get cooperation with all the coaches @ the high school. She doesn't practice with the water polo team but plays in the games. I'm sure there are some disgruntled parents when she shows up and plays (and scores) but it's up to the coaches as to who they play.

I was the biggest nay sayer when my friend told me what her daughter's schedule would be. She is one in a million to be able to pull this off and she also has a social life and is a great kid!
zombywoofzombywoof1,000+ posts
quote:
Originally posted by CaBB:
This pertains to high school VARSITY sports but is interesting.
She is looking to continue to run in college and is getting lots of interest from college coaches (Stanford being one of them). She is an elite triathlete, ranked in the top of the nation for her age group. Through all this she maintains about a 4.0 gpa with AP classes

She has been able to get cooperation with all the coaches @ the high school. She doesn't practice with the water polo team but plays in the games. I'm sure there are some disgruntled parents when she shows up and plays (and scores) but it's up to the coaches as to who they play.


That's probably why this individual gets full cooperation from her coaches. My guess is she's probably the best athlete and can seemlessly move from one sport to the next. It's likely she doesn't need to prove anything in practices and being able to maintain a 4.0 and taking AP course makes for a special type of student/athlete who can balance schoolwork with sports and handle both at the highest level.
Last edited by zombywoof
Three BaggerThree Bagger1,000+ posts
My oldest son has participated in high school baseball for 4 years(All-State mention as a Junior) while going as high as the Regional meets in 5 track events(200meters, 800m relay, mile relay, long jump, and triple jump). He goes to school at 6am to practice for the spring one act play, goes to school and maintains a straight A average, then practices track from 3:30 to 5:00, then baseball 5:00 until 7;00. He has placed in the jumps, 200m and one of the relays in Regional comp which has 50 to 64 schools in 8 districts represented. He also went to regional in power lifting in the spring when he was a freshman. He already signed a baseball letter of intent in Nov. All his teachers and coaches work together to schedule events as much as possible when he can be there since he is the fastest runner, longest jumper, baseball MVP soph and junior years. It can be done.
Three BaggerThree Bagger1,000+ posts
In our high school baseball is definitely the third or fourth sport. This weekend we had 10 varsity and 9 jayvee guys in each of their respective tournaments. Everyone who comes out makes at least the Jayvee team. The school encourages the best athletes to play as many sports as they want. My son doesn't miss practices, he only misses the some predistrict track meets which don't count in the points for a district championship. They are only for the individual athletes or relays to practice against competition. You couldn't do this at larger schools but it is not only fair but necessary to have baseball and track teams at smaller 1A & 2A schools.
Backstop-17Backstop-17500+ posts
quote:
Originally posted by Brian Shanberg:
Sounds like this will be a prevailing issue as he moves into high school. Just wondering if there are any baseball players that also competed in track and field.

When I was in school, back in the dark ages, football players were not allowed to skip Spring football practice. But, they were allowed to skip track practice and just show up at the meets. These were sprinters for the most part and were also the biggest point earners for the track team. So, it was allowed.


Deion Sanders at FSU. Of course we know of his football and baseball pursuits. He played football and baseball at FSU. Chip Baker, Director of Baseball operations told the story of how the track team wanted Deion to run a 4 X 100 relay for them in a very important meet the day of a home baseball game. He ran the relay, then changed into his baseball uni and was leading off 15 minutes after he ran the final.
zombywoofzombywoof1,000+ posts
quote:
Originally posted by RJM:
Is it fair for a kid to play two sports in one season, miss most of the practies for one sport, then take the place of someone who is committed to the team and makes all the practices? A stud kid may have the ability to do it. But is it right?


It's right as long as the varsity head coaches are ok with it and there's a cooperative agreement between the head coaches of the sports involved. If an athlete is so good that he/she has a huge impact at any sport played regardless of the time they put in at practice, coaches will do whatever they can to get those athletes on the field to to play their sport. This is would only work for that special athlete.

My dad was one of those type of athletes. A first team all-state athlete in football, baseball, basketball and track and a high school hall of fame inductee. It's not likely he ran into that problem.
Last edited by zombywoof
S syeaterMember
I know this is a little late, but if can put in my two cents.

Do the Middle school track team
Play Babe Ruth baseball

My son has been doing this for three years now with occasional games with the HS summer program last year and probably most HS summer games this year. He will get enough babe ruth games in to play all stars. If your Middle school programs are like most that I have been around it will be a little tough a few days but the season is short and babe ruth works around the track schedule.

My son knows he will have to make a decision next year between baseball and track. He has played for both the baseball and track coaches before and is pretty torn. He is a 40 point kid in track and I have been told he would have started on varsity baseball this year. I want him to experience both as long as he can, then make a decision. As I told him I am staying out of it-he is the one who has to go to practice every day.

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