Is baseball declining?

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Originally posted by azallan:
Were do you go to see if a card has been turned in for a specific player within ea. club?

OK, that would be a good question to ask in Going Pro, this topic is taking too many turns!

Has anybody really answered the question whether or not Baseball is declining (in the US that is).

I find it hard to believe that it is. There are a gazillion kids playing on fields all over the country.

Maybe the topic title should be rephrased to something more to do with scouting and being discovered.

From what I can see baseball is NOT declining--not at all

There are more teams and leagues than ever before

Baseball has been on the decline for years in urban centers and more recently in middle class communities, where you are losing athletes to a growing lacrosse population in many parts of the country.

Baseball not on the decline as far as organized leagues go but as far as kids playing baseball on their own at a field without adult supervision has been on a huge decline for years. You don't see fields where kids play unless it's being run by an adult.

Most of my ballplaying as a kid was unsupervised and teams were kids only. That is almost non existent today. For a gang of 20 kids to grab balls, bats and gloves and meet at a baseball field is foreign to today's kids. Of course part of it is lack of decent fields to play on but then again as kids, we found places to play. Another thing today's kids have no concept of.

Zomby, I think your comments (accurate observations, by the way) are more about the evolution of American society than they are about baseball.

Baseball is alive and well at so many levels. What I think you're seeing has always been going on, only in the past the people who fell out didn't have an internet to figure out what was happening or why, nor did they have a forum to tell the world how wrong it is for those who keep moving along the path toward the next levels while their kid hit the end of the road.

It's been mentioned before, but the reason you don't see kids playing on ball fields by themselves anymore is they can't. Most counties/cities lock up their fields when they're not in use anymore. They are to worried about being sued for injury or whatnot.

I know when I was playing a game of pick up baseball and I broke my ankle, I walked home, my mom rolled her eyes and that was it. No talk of how can I sue the county because my son broke his ankle. It's getting ridiculous out there, and it's effecting the kids IMO.

As a lawyer, I don't see suits like that. I hear lots of bureaucrats wringing their hands over fear of them, but I don't see anything really to fear. I think it's largely driven by insurance company audits of business practices, and often by irrational fear.

These suits seldom happen because they have such a low success rate. Plus, in Virginia, governmental entities often have at least some degree of immunity from suit.

The real problem is that kids just don't play in the street any more. But then, if they did, they'd probably get run over these days, by somebody texting while driving 50 mph in a residential zone.

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Originally posted by Mid-Atlantic Mustangs:
It's been mentioned before, but the reason you don't see kids playing on ball fields by themselves anymore is they can't. Most counties/cities lock up their fields when they're not in use anymore. They are to worried about being sued for injury or whatnot.

I know when I was playing a game of pick up baseball and I broke my ankle, I walked home, my mom rolled her eyes and that was it. No talk of how can I sue the county because my son broke his ankle. It's getting ridiculous out there, and it's effecting the kids IMO.

While your statement may have "credibility", I think there a 2 other reasons those gates are locked.

1. Field maintenance is a big dollar ticket thus there are fewer fields that are "playable" for public use. It's the day of the budget cut and is very easy to slice some "open park" maintenance if there is proof that it is not being used. Also, many kids want to play on competitive fields where the mounds are raised, fields are groomed, and there's an outfield fence. In my day, if as long as no picture windows not in play, there was a backstop and baseline of some type, it was considered a regulation field.

2. There are more and more kids out there that think vandalism is a form of exercise. If it were my park, and I put time and money into it so those who pay to use the field had a premium facility, I'd also lock the gates.

Midlo Dad, I remember a certain urban football field where the first part of pre-game warm up was for each team to line up on opposing end lines and walk toward each other, all the while picking up shards of glass from broken beer bottles. A few drills later, it was 'game time!'

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PWREDS, welcome to high school baseball web, it's a great site, one where you can exchange ideas and opinions with many experienced people from all walks of life who have a passion for baseball. That said, I don't think you're going to find a lot of sympathy for your viewpoint, or Coach Milburns. Are you one and the same, or brothers? The impression I get is that the grapes taste pretty sour to you.

I've been playing and managing baseball for the past 45 years so I guess I have a well formed opinion about baseball. And I have also been a parent who has had players go through the current baseball process locally in Northern Virginia and unfortunately in my opinion it is all about the money.

If you're in California you're definitely in a better environment for baseball than me. If Coach Milburn is from Virginia then I suspect that he has seen the same things that I have seen over the past few years.

Maybe it sounds like sour grapes to you, but then you are just lucky to have not been exposed to the craziness of Northern Virginia baseball.

In the suburbs of chicago there are plenty of fields that are maintained pretty well and not locked. I like most here do not see many kids just doing a pick-up game on their own, however as a kid I never played the number of organized games these kids do today. So they might be missing on some of the fun I had but there abilities are much better.

They throw better, hit better and certainly are stronger and faster then in my day.

I do see on occasion games of running bases, home run derby, but never my favorite, strikeout against a school wall.

As a kid I used to play lob all the time at the local park. That was probably 8-10 years ago. Nowadays I never see the games going on and most any baseball I see is organized.

Way back in the 1900s, Little League didn't start until kids were 8. Unless you were a swimmer, that was pretty much it for sports, until middle school. Now, with 4 year-old tball and such, kids don't get the chance to play anything without dads, uniforms, coaches and umpires.

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Maybe it sounds like sour grapes to you, but then you are just lucky to have not been exposed to the craziness of Northern Virginia baseball.

It is crazy up here and it can get political at times as well. Show me a place where that doesn't happen in this day and age. I for one think it's refreshing to see so many different options for our youth. They can play Legion, Travel, Showcase, or even rec league. Greater Loudoun Babe Ruth actually fields some competitive teams at the higher age brackets. All of these programs have their merits and I'm sure drawbacks. It's just a matter of what you're looking for from you baseball experience.

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Originally posted by PWREDS:

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PWREDS, welcome to high school baseball web, it's a great site, one where you can exchange ideas and opinions with many experienced people from all walks of life who have a passion for baseball. That said, I don't think you're going to find a lot of sympathy for your viewpoint, or Coach Milburns. Are you one and the same, or brothers? The impression I get is that the grapes taste pretty sour to you.

I've been playing and managing baseball for the past 45 years so I guess I have a well formed opinion about baseball. And I have also been a parent who has had players go through the current baseball process locally in Northern Virginia and unfortunately in my opinion it is all about the money.

If you're in California you're definitely in a better environment for baseball than me. If Coach Milburn is from Virginia then I suspect that he has seen the same things that I have seen over the past few years.

Maybe it sounds like sour grapes to you, but then you are just lucky to have not been exposed to the craziness of Northern Virginia baseball.

PW, way back when my son was 13, I wanted him to have an opportunity to play 'better baseball.' I couldn't find what I wanted, so I naively thought I could do a better job and started a new team. Just like a lot of teams, early on we were just another team. It was never by plan or design, but over time we evolved to become a pretty good regional program that has helped a lot of fine young man along in their path toward college and/or pro ball.

Perhaps you should step up and do what I did. All it takes is some effort and having your intentions in the right place. You can make a difference, if you choose to.