HS team traditions, recognition

Form a committee. Have a baseball Hall of Fame. Don't retire numbers. But put names on the fence. Have an alumni game. Have a former player throw out the first pitch opening day. Have a senior day game and invite alumni of the program.

Our local HS has senior night for all sports (usually the last home game of the season) where the seniors and the parents are recognized and a short blurb about the seniors' post high school plans (college, military, etc).

There is also an end of year team banquet where any school or team awards given out, any students that received district (now conference), regional or state awards recognized.  The big ones from the coach were usually team MVP and sportsmanship awards.   They use to have one long ceremony where each coach of each sport handed out their awards, but they went to having seperate team banquets or dinners.  The school also had awards for female and male athletes of the year. 

Two of the more successful HS programs in our area have very large "billboard-style" signs prominently displayed at their fields.  These signs basically list, by year, team achievements (league titles, playoff results, etc) and they also list, by year, graduating seniors who moved on to JC and 4-year college programs, as well as drafted by MLB.  If you are a fledgling program with fewer things like this to promote, you could list by year, team MVP's and players who made all-league, etc.

This sounds like a fun thing your son's coach has tasked you with.

In addition to those ideas suggested by others, I have a few ideas that I've seen with my three high schoolers that were part of different programs:

1) Create a connection between former players and current and future players.  Request some players in the minors or former college players help the current players with open gym or winter instruction.  If you do this every year, you'll get former players showing up at high school games to see how their understudies are doing.  This creates a bridge between the past and present players and it works wonders.

2) Take pictures at senior day and post them on a board somewhere.  This will reward the players who stuck with the program through its entirety.  Also, using chalk, write the senior players number in the dirt next to the backstop and take a picture of player and parents.   

3) Invite a baseball announcer that has ties to the programs history to call games and events associated with the games.

Good luck and feel free to PM me if you'd like details.

My son's Senior day included a post game BBQ. There was a match the baby picture with the current player contest. It was funny as hell. The kids/players had a great time razzing each other about their baby pictures along with being embarrassed about their own.

Fun stuff.

Having community sponsors helps. Invite local little leaguers to the games. maybe they can meet the team after the game. Let them see HS players.

Have the team do some community service to help out in the community. That gets the community involved.

Run a camp with the players and young kids on a Saturday.

Have a work day. Painting, cleaning up. Dads and players. Puts pride into the program.

The announcer idea sounds awesome. Have fun music playing between innings. Make the games up beat and fun.

Talk to the principle and announce games so the student body comes. Baseball is not always the most popular.

we had senior day and love it. In HS and college. moms got flowers and jerseys.

Pre season pot luck.

post season party.

my son had the best ever HS experience. We will never forget it.

We had signs made from wood for titles, Section championships and they were displayed on the fences and around field.Banners in the gym for league titles,section etc.

Son's HS had a Meet the Team potluck before the season. Team provided chicken and pizza, families brought sides, desserts and drinks. Each coach would stand up and introduce the players on his team (freshman, JV and Varsity). The players would introduce any family members in attendance.

During the season, we had a great announcer who had been with the program for years. We also had senior night (the only time I ever got to actually step onto the field), and youth clinics before the season started.

The clinics were great bonding time for the players. There were 2 separate clinics - hitting and pitching. Younger kids were in the morning, older players in the afternoon. It was also a great way for the coaches to interact with the players outside of the field or locker room.

We also had a post season banquet, which was catered. Players receiving league, regional or state awards were recognized. A parent would put together a video with photos of the season from all levels. The highlight was the senior section, which would begin with baby pics and youth baseball pics and end with senior pictures. Not a dry eye in the house by the end.

When my son was a soph the coach ran a preseason clinic for 7-12s using the varsity players as assistant instructors. My son was amused to be asked for his autograph. But it builds a connection to the little kids to want to play for the high school someday.