How has the game changed since you were a kid?

Well, when I was comin up and playing ball. It dang sure didn't cost $1500 to play on a team!!! Shoot I could have played on 15 teams for that money!!

Also the game has become more organized now. I mean you never see the kids meeting at the field on a Sat. to play a game, the way we did every Sat. Now the only times the guys play is either a practice or a tournament or a league game. I know those organized games can be fun to. But it not the same as when one neighborhood would challenge another and "meet at the field" to settle it!!!
AAAHHHHHH YES.... THE GOOD OLD DAYS!! (late 60's)

Hair.....in the late 70s, it was mullets, perfectly 'feathered' sides, and a few blue-eyed 'fros. Kids have better hair today.

"Every normal man must be tempted at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats."
H.L. Mencken

In my eyes how the game has changed; ( I played in the 50's 60's)

01--there is no longer a "neighborhood" where the kids played on an empty lot--first 18 there played--winner kept the field--some days it was all day

02-- nobody plays "catch" anymore

03-- kids don't practice without coaches around directing them

04-- do any kids know what stoop ball is or stick ball or stoop ball?

05-- there are too many other things for the kids to do now--back then you played whatever game was in season--Atari had not yet come along

06-- the parents are now TOO INVOLVED in too cases

07 --there is no longer the respect for the coach that there used to be--my parents, nor those of any of the other players I knew, would never have questioned a coach about playing time or where their kid hit in the lineup-- they went and cheered and that was it. In many cases it was like a family outing.

08-- Even at the LL level back the if you were not good enough for the 10/12 bracket you stayed down in the minors regardless of your age.There was no "every kid who tries out for the majors was in the majors" stuff. If you were good enough you made it if not you went to the minors--- YES back then they differentiated between the majors and minors--we did not have to worry about political correctness--

09-- At the HS level the HS coach was "KING" --he usually taught drivers ed or Gym as well--thus he was not a classroom teacher who coached but he a coach who had a second respsonsibility in a classroom to augment his income.

10-- There were no freshman teams--you either made the varsity or JV in HS--again no fretting about political correctness

11-- Talk to the college coach or AD about your sons playing time-- ARE YOU KIDDING ME !!! do that and your son was the laughing stock of the university

YES the times have changed!
YES things are different!
HAs the game changed--not that much--it is more the people around the game who have changed

What has changed is the size of the player and the strength of the player.
What has changed is the "selectiveness" of every sport.
What has changed is the family situation where before broken families did not occur but once in a blue moon. Now it is an everyday occurrence. This has made for a "coddled" kids in more cases than not. LL coaches in all too many cases have become glorified babysitters--Mommy drops the kid off, heads to the mall and forgets what time it is--don't say it doesn't happen because it does --- and coach cannot leave the kid at the park alone nor do you bring him back to your house for fear of reprecussions.
What has changed is the greater urge for a baseball scholarship when in fact there are not that many to be had.

What is good and what is bad about the game now I wont go into because we can talk about that from here to Kingdom come.

The game is still the greatest game there is and the same problems permeate the other sports perhaps even more so in football and basketball where big bucks are involved.

Why am I still in it? Because I love the game and feel I have something to offer not only as a teacher but as guidance factor in terms ofm recruiting. For me all the positives about the game overcome the negatives and I will cope with the negatives but on my terms.

TRhit

TRHit, Good post..I had already typed mine but we are on the same page...
I started playing baseball in 1955. The game has NOT changed! Many things, including our society, have changed around baseball. Equipment has drastically changed with the advent of the aluminum bat. Other equipment changes like the full batting helmets, batting gloves, bat bags, turfs, dri-fits, radar guns, stop watches, uniforms etc. make things “look” differently but the game continues on as it was. I admit that a lot has changed around the game. The most drastic changes I’ve noticed is youth baseball has become less important as “just a game”. It has become more of a promotional venue. I’m not sure if this is good or bad. Many parents become manipulative and are just looking for the team, or coach, that can catapult their son to the next level. Teams are used primarily as steppingstone to the next level. High school baseball loses much of its standalone importance and becomes a means to an end. The people that watch it, the people that coach it, and the people that talk about it have all changed.
I like to watch the rec ball players that are playing for the sake of playing. There is no crowd. There are no scouts. Many times there are just a few parents. It’s just some boys with a desire to play the game of baseball. Baseball has not changed; we are just looking at the game from a different perspective.
Fungo

Never argue with an idiot. They drag you down to their level, then beat you with experience.

..excellent observations..............

Fungo and TRhit:

GREAT POSTS!!

Is this heaven?...

In our part of the country things have changed. For the elite player/athlete, you could say they've changed for the better. More travel teams, more competition, more exposure opportunities.

When I was a young boy, a "traveling team" was one that might go 20 miles to play a double header. In every elementary school a sign up card was handed out to every student who wanted to play Kids League Baseball. You sign up... You're on a team... Simple as that! No try outs, no cuts! Nearly every male child played baseball and most had a blast.

For years I've tried to tell those in high MLB positions the following. Baseball Fans are more important than Baseball Players. Most Baseball Fans developed their love for the game at a young age. We all have life long memories of things that happened or accomplishments at the very youngest ages. I still remember plays I made when I was 8 or 9 years old. I remember vividly my first time playing under the lights. I remember my first baseball uniform. It was a T-Shirt and cap with "Thursday Optomist" printed across the chest. I remember my youth coaches and I remember the "atta boys" and the pats on the back. All this gave me a big passion for the game that is still there today. I was very lucky being a pretty good player and having many great experiences. However, I know many long time friends who were not very good, but they are still big baseball fans today. I doubt they would be such big fans had they not been involved as a young boy. I'm sure they have life long baseball playing memories, too.

So in the interest of promoting this great game. I can't understand why MLB Baseball doesn't do more to promote their game to the very youngest. Maybe they think the Players are more important than the Fans! There will always be great players, but the game won't be the same without the millions of great fans.

Remember, the next time you pat a kid on the back and tell him "great job", you might be creating a baseball fan. That player might never play the game at a high level, but all those that end up with baseball careers should thank you.

I think one of the biggest changes has been the equipment. Underarmor, cletes that cost $100+ gloves that cost $300+ .My husband often talks about the first cletes he remembers having they cost $9.00 and he thought they were the greatest things he had ever seen.

I played in the 60's through mid 70s.
Changes:
1. Aluminum bat
2. DH
3. Travel and select teams
4. Far more private instruction
5. Area code and showcases more prevalent

Overall, I believe the HS players of today are better than we were and our area had many high draft picks and players that made the show.

TR,
Although we try to get as many of the older kids into majors as possible nobody except the kids who have already played majors is guaranteed a spot in majors. This year we allowed parents to specify the highest level they'd allow the kids to play and about half a dozen 12 year olds were kept in minors, appropriately, by their parents. One belonged in majors off the tryout and we got the parents to allow him into majors.

Kids do not appreciate what they have. I can only imagine if I had the opportunity to make myself a better player that those today have. I played in the 60's. Of course as Trhit said we played on our own and did pretty well without adult supervision. Now some kids will not do anything unless somebody tells them to. I think today kids are not as mentally tough as we were. In the Politically correct world we live in many times we are worried about how people feel rather than what reality is. Too much ego stroking. Back then if you screwed up or did not do what you were supposed to you caught hell and thought nothing of it. Now it seems we have to make everybody feel good about themselves.

Kids are bigger, stronger, faster and, in some cases, more athletic than years ago.

Biggest change is in the "attitude"...Way too many distractions for those that should have intensity.

...and, too many poor sports when they lose a game.

...man, this is almost a religous experience.............

You are right on too, BTIL......................

In my time, 60's, in my Dominican Republic we played in any empty lot, it were not pitching count, or rest days in betwing starts. Some kids have to share gloves, everybody have to bat with the same bat (sometimes too heavy, some times too light, some times too long, sometimes too short). When bat was broken we have to put it toguether with nails and tape or hit with the remained piece When baseball become too damaged, game stops until baseball was cover with electric tape. Games most of the times finished after a house or car window was broken with the ball, or when the ball or bat's owner didn't want to play no more.

"Peace is, the respect for the other people's rights".
Benito Juarez

quote:

---

Originally posted by Racab:
In my time, 60's, in my Dominican Republic we played in any empty lot, it were not pitching count, or rest days in betwing starts. Some kids have to share gloves, everybody have to bat with the same bat (sometimes too heavy, some times too light, some times too long, sometimes too short). When bat was broken we have to put it toguether with nails and tape or hit with the remained piece When baseball become too damaged, game stops until baseball was cover with electric tape. Games most of the times finished after a house or car window was broken with the ball, or when the ball or bat's owner didn't want to play no more.

"Peace is, the respect for the other people's rights".
Benito Juarez

---

Oh...this was great Racab. What memories!!! Mrs. Higginbotham's house was located on the left side of our baseball diamond in the neighborhood. She finally decided to put up steel bars on the windows on the side of her house. She got so tired of calling our parents to report another broken window. I forgot to tell Mrs. H how much I appreciated her doing that.

I remember each captain choking up the handle of the bat to determine who batted first.

I also remember the teams at USC (that's South Carolina for the Left Coast members) in the early to mid 70's. We had 3 players drafted in the first round and not one of them had the strength or athleticism that you will find regularly from today's kid.

"strength or athleticism"

Braves...remember when they told us that weightlifting was bad for you?...therefore, you didn't lift.... That swimming was bad for you?...therefore, you didn't swim.

....still not sure if those coaches were wrong. But then again, my coach knew I was not a good swimmer...Pitchers never lifted weights, except maybe a can of beer (uh...I mean Root Beer) to my lips

Played high school ball '80-'84. Don't remember our coach worrying about pitch counts. Players executed rundowns better back then (lots of pickle in the back yard). Lots of changes, but that is the way of the world!

Boy has the game changed. I played in the 60's and 70's. Graduated from high school in 74, we used wooden bats. I remember growing up and playing baseball at the "lot" all night till it got dark. When the wooden bat broke, you put a couple of nails in it, and kept playing. I don't remember as much coaching as there is today, specialized and such. Parents never got involved in the "politics" during high school, you either played or you sat, and mom had nothing to say about it. She came out and supported the team. HOWEVER, no matter how much the game has changed over the years, it is still a great game. Like someone said before, "baseball is like church, many attend and few understand".

played 60's 70's

Remember the equipment bag?

only one for the team. Not one for each player!! had 3-4 wood bats. 2 or 3 batting helmets and 2-3 of the running helmets.

a 28,30,32 oz bat and maybe a 34 for the big guy and we were 12-14. I don't think the MLB swings a 34 today.

If you broke the bat you had one less to choose from. Somehow we would get through the season with 2-3 Wooden bats and not break them.

Youth baseball in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia in the 60's:

-Little League was the only league.
-post season every year our all star team got blown out by Front Royal or Lower Loudoun; back then it was 1 loss and out. I recall beating Front Royal once, in maybe a zillion years, and then Loudoun pasted us....
-in the neighborhood, we played daily, on a vacant lot (that years later I learned the grumpy guy next door owned and refused to sell till the neighborhood kids grew up), choosing teams by tossing a bat and squeezing fists till somebody could touch the top and got first pick.
-we usually had one ball, purchased after scouring ditches for pop bottles, for which King Fish, the gas station owner, gave us two cents each, and when we got about a dollar's worth, we went to Western Auto and bought a ball.
-after the cover came off, we normally wrapped it in masking tape, and got a few more games out of it
-balls going down the sewer hole were out of play
-everybody had a glove, the same glove, for years
-wooden bats were glued, taped, screwed, nailed, and every other imaginable trick, before being discarded
-home run line early on was to the trees, then to the ditch beyond the trees, then to the road beyond the ditch, then to the hedge on the other side of the road. Our baseball on the field stopped the year that Bobby Pence broke a window in the house beyond the hedge in the first and last game of the summer-we realized we had outgrown it. Bobby, my best child hood buddy, died of cancer in his mid 40's a few years ago. Great guy, good arm, excellent range at shortstop. Usually lost the fights to his brother, who grew up to become a fine State Policeman.
-in my 12 yo all star game, after walking the first 5 batters, our coach came out and gave me a very reassuring talk: " D**** it, throw strikes! I don't have another d*** pitcher!"

-they were the "good old days", but our sons will look back years from now and have their stories too, and many of us will be in those stories, for better or worse.

-what a great game...........

Played in the 60's. Lived in the city. Sports was all we ha. As the seasons changed you played that sport. Now it seems that many kids do the one sport all year. Also I never remember the money thing. Now no matter where a kid plays somebody is hitting the "parents" up for money. I could just imagine asking my Dad for money to take lessons or go to a "showcase" or play on an "elite" team. We sort of made ourselves better playing on our own when there was no 'organized" practice. If we had a couple of hardballs and a wooden bat or two we were set. Of course there was always stick ball in the street and other assorted games of running throwing and catching. We never wanted for more. We made up the sides. Settled our own disputes. Now everything is organized. sort of takes the imagination out.