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34 replies

LIST... How'd We Get On It?

P PGStaff10,000+ posts
How did I end up getting that in the mail or email? Why am I getting a phone call?

This can be a great situation for some young players and annoying for others. It can be a genuine opportunity or it can be totally misleading.

In other threads the question is often brought up about lists and how a certain player got on that list. Most often the question relates to a player receiving an invite or brochure to a camp or showcase.

Some people have assumed there are lists for sale that college coaches and showcase people buy and use to invite players.

Thought I would give one persons perspective on all of this.

In the past 16 years we have never purchased a list of players unless we purchased it at an event we were scouting. Also, in that time, we have never sold a list to anyone other than those who attend our events. Some might sell mailing lists to anyone, but we just haven’t ever done that. Yet we still are the primary source for player information and people can get that information without much work or paying us directly. We know this because of the many times people have told us, once we attended a certain event we started getting lots of invitations to things.

We (Perfect Game) maintain, by far, the largest database anywhere of high school age players. We also have the most players attending events. Our list is compiled by our people and other associates around the country. Many on that list have a file on www.perfectgame.org or www.pgcrosschecker.com or even on www.baseballwebtv.com

This is not meant to brag, but to explain how players can get on a list and invited to so many things. Our main objective is to provide scouting information. We are not perfect, but most of those involved in scouting or recruiting follow our stuff closely. Many people know this and therefore our lists become a valuable resource to many including competitors and to colleges that hold camps. It doesn’t bother us that colleges use our lists to invite players to camps because we feel we actually do work for colleges as well as the players. It doesn’t bother us if anyone in professional baseball uses our lists for the same reason. However, in some cases, it does bother us when showcase operators or even tournament organizers use our lists. If it were done with permission it would be OK because among other things we know which events are capable of helping young players and which events are all marketing with no substance.

I’m often asked by those who have attended our events whether or not they should attend certain other events. There are events, other than ours, that I have supported 100% of the time, telling people they should definitely attend. Some of these events include East Coast Pro, Area Codes, Tournament of Stars (USA), Texas Scouts Association, and several others.

Often we actually end up seeing the invites sent to people. It is very obvious who is telling the truth and who is not when promoting themselves. To be honest, there is a lot of LYING going on! We have even seen invitations that have made an attempt to downgrade what we (PG) do. Sometimes our name isn’t used but the reference is very clear, being it could only be us. This despite the fact that this player is receiving the invite because he was at a certain event of ours.

Here is a good one… At some of our bigger events, the ones we know the players will somehow end up being on a mailing list… We place names of people we know on the list who are not even at the event. For example, my grandson at 10 years old has received invitations to many showcase type events. He has received well over a dozen invites and brochures and has never been to one of our events, let alone played in one. Yet, here come the invites, many claiming they saw him play and are impressed with his ability. One particular letter claimed his ability assured a promising future in college or professional baseball and the company has the ability to make sure that will happen. This particular grandson doesn’t even play baseball! He just happened to be on a player information list of players from a couple Perfect Game events.

We sometimes provide college coaches and scouts a CD with all the player info in Excel format. It is clearly stated that the information can not be reproduced, shared or sold to anyone else. What is not known is that each CD is numbered and each has a different non player on it. This is so we can track what is happening to our lists. When a person we have planted in the list gets something in the mail from anyone other than the purchaser of that CD, we know who has either given or sold our list and we no longer provide them that information. We have actually caught a few, but most colleges and scouts are not into sharing information about players. Of course, we expect the colleges who have this information to use it for their own camp purposes.

So it seems that we might be the #1 source for putting together a list for others. Not because we sell the information, but because of what we do. Anyone can subscribe to pgcrosschecker and get mailing addresses and other contact information. It’s a scouting service and that information has to be included to provide scouts and college coaches what they want and need. It’s also important to the player that scouts and recruiters can know how to get in touch with him.

Here is a question that many can answer. I would even like to know, even though I’m pretty sure I already know the answer. Any player who has attended the big events that are put on… ie. The upcoming National Underclass Showcase… Do you end up getting invitations to other events? How many? What do these letters have to say? If they say they saw you at a certain event, there’s a very good chance they’re lying! Remember, there are names of people who weren’t even in attendance and don’t even play baseball, who are getting the same exact letter or brochure.

Marketing

People sometimes get upset when we mention the number of players that attended our events who have been drafted or playing at a high level college. I guess that is marketing, but what’s most important is that it’s actually true. Others might do the same type thing except without the truth.

How many times have you read that so and so company has accounted for $150,000,000 (or whatever number is used) in scholarship money. Listen, no one tracks things like this closer than we do and we have found it is absolutely impossible to come up with anything even close to an accurate dollar amount. We would have to hire a fulltime staff that did nothing except track this and then that information would still be secondhand, incomplete and inaccurate. Scholarships are awarded one year at a time, you would have to recalculate every year for every player. So when anyone claims they have accounted for some astronomical amount of scholarship dollars they are doing one of two things… They are estimating/exaggerating or they are once again “lying”. In our case, we couldn’t give an accurate number, but we could honestly claim to be #1. This just means we have had a lot of talented kids attend our events. They are the ones who account for the scholarships. Bad players who come to our events, don’t account for much if any scholarship money.

In the end… Here is the best advice I can give someone. Do not trust anyone you don’t know, including us. Don’t spend money if you feel uncomfortable, that includes us! Do some homework and use common sense. Pick up the phone and search for honest answers. Don’t just read and believe. Do not make a decision based on what any one person has to say, that includes me. You will hear and read many things that sound good. Don’t believe any of it! If you’re not sure about something, save your money! And always remember, there are no guarantees that you will create lots of recruiting or scouting interest. We send out lots of invites during the course of a year. Lots of these players don’t end up being drafted or getting college scholarships.

For those who might be interested in asking questions here. I will try to keep up on answering what I can as honestly as possible. However, I will not mention any names in a negative way. I might mention some names in a positive way. This is meant to help some people, but do not take everything I might say as the Gospel!
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TRhitTRhit10,000+ posts
Another thing to keep in mind: showcases can get you seen by schools you never thought about. It is not necessarily about a scholarship but more about getting seen by school or schools.

Lists can also raise awareness about the player

Having the Baseball Coach in your corner may make a difference in your admissions standing
P PGStaff10,000+ posts
Bobblehead,

I didn't start this topic for any other reason that people always ask the question and I actually know the answer.

If you read the entire initial post, you will see there is a whole lot to read into it. Especially from an honesty standpoint. Much of which most people are being fooled because they are unaware of how it happens!

Our particular lists are probably the most used by people we did not sell them to. Most who have attended these events will soon be getting invited to other events. Nothing wrong with that, but sometimes the literature received is far from honest. The problem is... In order to give a player the most possible recognition/exposure you must give scouts and college coaches as much information as possible. This is done best in post event reporting. Unfortunately, this same information can be secured by others outside the scouting or recruiting communities and used for other things. Some of these other things can be advantagious to the player, some can be very misleading.

There was a complaint here recently by someone who had spent a lot of money to attend a showcase/camp and that camp was cancelled. Problem seemed to be that the parent was told there would be no refund. I'm sure the original brochure or letter made several claims about how wonderful they are. This is a list that I'm pretty sure the party who lost all the money wishes his son would not have been on. He probably even wonders where they got his son's name!

So this topic is more important than to simply say...
quote:
Most lists come from tournaments and camps. Many of these sell their list of participants to get some extra revenue.
This is not necessarily a bad thing but don't read too much into it.

There's a lot more involved than that. I think people should ask more questions when someone says they saw your son. They should ask what it is they saw that they liked so much. And other questions that should be easy to answer if they truly saw him play. Then listen very closely to the reply!

My daughter did that when she received a call about our grandson. She knew what to expect and let the guy tell her how much he liked her son and all the things they could do to help him. He was 10 years old and does not play baseball, but we put him on a list to expose exactly this kind of thing. He got one invite to a college camp and many invites to showcase type events. The plan talked about on the phone was very expensive, thousands of dollars. My daughter said the guy sounded very professional as he talked about her son's bright future in baseball.

Do you think that is not necessarily a bad thing?
Last edited by PGStaff
ClevelandDadClevelandDadHSBBWeb Administrator
quote:
Do you think that is not necessarily a bad thing?

Interesting question. If you are asking me, of course it is not right to misrepresent, lie, or be disingenuous.

What is worse, the over-reaching salesman or the gullible person who believes them? Should there be laws to protect against gullibility? I believe the hsbbweb is a pretty good tool to cure the gullible btw Smile

Some car salesman (or other types) say things that are not true all the time. Most of us just put up with these type of things as part of doing business.

These event people (making the misrepresentations) could argue that is the cost of doing business. In other words, they could argue that they have a pre-defined sales pitch and don't have the resources to determine if each person on the other end is a "legitimate" target of the pitch. I am not saying that is right as in the case of your grandson it is definitely not. On some of the other sales "targets" however, it (the sales pitch) may in fact be true. Please don't interpret that I condone the practice however.
Last edited by ClevelandDad
P PGStaff10,000+ posts
OLDSLUGGER,

I deleted both.

HaHa, I never said you were wrong, just seemed like it should have been posted in a different topic.

Shep,

I answered your PM on the other site. Have to admit that I don't check those PMs as often as I should.

How does where someone goes in the draft become a reflection on our business. If you mean we might be wrong, that's nothing new. We will still be right on most of the others. Besides it's still a long way until the draft. Maybe we will change things by then.

Sorry, I know this has nothing to do with this topic either.
TPMTPMHSBaseballweb Member since 2003
PG,
I read over your post and understood your intent and thank you for answering the age old question, how did we get on the list.

I really not sure why people even ask this question.

I work in sales and people are asking all of the time how they got onto a list. Uh, we went to the better business bureau and got your name from a list, or your business generates x amount of dollars each year, you have x amount of emplyees and we got you from that list. I am not sure where they get the names but obviously they got it, examples can be just one or two from the above. Funny, they don't realize that their name is listed somewhere else that was generated to our list. My husband spends lots of money each month paying for names with certain criteria, it's called leads and that information comes from a database compiled by people who sell lists and make lots of money doing it. This is how business is done all over the world.
My fav I hear everyday, I am on the no call list, which doesn't exist for businesses, after all if you are on the no call list how can you get customers? Roll Eyes

This is not to say this is a practice for your organization. But people need to understand that lists are generated somewhere and that doesn't mean it might have been bought or sold. If my son was in hS, I would want him to be on PG's list and give it out to everyone. I don't care the important thing is that the person receiving the information (camp, showcase, tournament) generated by a list needs to do their homework and understand what the list is intended for. Unfortunetly, many times we get these invites and the wording makes us think that our players deserve to be on that list or that sons can't live without going to that invite that was generated by someone, maybe 10 lists ago.

Put it in perspective, perhaps the most important person in your son's life (his college coach) got his name from a list, an invite was extended and a scholarship resulted in taking up that invitation.

BTW, PG, if you ever sold sons name to KO, you're forgiven. Wink
Last edited by TPM
OLDSLUGGER8OLDSLUGGER81,000+ posts
quote:
Originally posted by PGStaff:
OLDSLUGGER,

I deleted both.

HaHa, I never said you were wrong, just seemed like it should have been posted in a different topic.


Let's try again.

I really don't feel your organization needs to be explained. You benefit many.

How? By simply providing a venue for player comparison, and to me that benefits pro baseball more than anyone because they are paying bonuses.

How did I get this mail, email, solicitation, how did I get on this list?

Simply answered..........the power of electronic media.

I wanted to stress that the lists a player gets on by having identified baseball production is far more important than a mass mailing, and that the good lists relate more to getting a bonus in pro baseball than it does getting a small college baseball grant.

The tournament aspect with what you do(WWBA) far exceeds a 1-10 rating in any showcase. If anyone can say that, I can, and you know that.

When it all gets added up, the field of play dictates the results. I said that 3 years ago and got chided for it, but I will say it again, and hold my ground.

As long as the player keeps producing, opportunities will arise.
Last edited by OLDSLUGGER8
3rdgenerationnation3rdgenerationnation100+ posts
PG:

I've been in Sales and Marketing for quite a long time. Some of that time was in sports and event marketing. Now I am a consumer and observer of your services.

You are in the fortunate position of being a market leader, or even a market maker. My advice would be to ignore what your competitors are saying and focus on your company's vision and what your clients, (players, parents, college coaches, pro organizations, sponsors?) are telling you. Bring even more value, find ways to assist under served portions of the baseball community and what other companies say about their services will matter less and less.

Thanks for everything your organization has been doing and good luck in the future.
P PGStaff10,000+ posts
TPM,

I'm betting KO did buy a list from us with your son's name on it. Doubt if it made any difference, though in your son's situation. Only reason I say that is because KO attends a lot of our events and always gets the list. We don't ever sell lists other than at the event the list pertains to. We try hard to not sell the information to anyone outside of scouting and college recruiting.

I think there is a big difference in baseball as to whether the list was picked up at an event someone scouted or attended vs picking it up and telling players they were seen at that event, when they were not.

KO, would be able to answer the questions about someones son because he was there. If he was there and didn't happen to see a certain player, he would answer the question accordingly and honestly.
NewcomerNewcomer100+ posts
I think people keep asking this same question just out of curiosity. Parents have a natural interest in who is interested in their children not to mention a son who is a serious baseball player. You DO want to know who is watching your kid..even knowing that you may never really know ALL the people watching. It's probably a rhetorical question..particulary from parents who have no idea where their kid ranks amongs the hundreds or thousands of other kids on the baseball radar.
P PGStaff10,000+ posts
3rdgeneration,

Thanks for the compliment and suggestions.

I think people would be very surprised by what we do behind the scenes to help players. You see, it's never been about money to me. It's hard to explain, but we can't publicize everything we do, but many of our future goals are geared towards helping those who need the most help.

Here is a problem and it is one that has bothered me for a long time. People talk about helping the less privilaged and I agree. We would love to help every kid that simply can't afford to attend events. In fact, I can say in all honesty, we would do that in a heart beat and set records for doing it. Problem is the NCAA has rules that punish young athletes for accepting anything that is not given to everyone. If we give a poverty stricken player at our event a baseball glove, we must give the same thing to the son of a billionaire at our event. We do not have large sponsors that allow us to do that and stay in business. The odd thing is... guess who stands to get punished... the poor kid we give the glove to.

It's one of those things that just aint right!

Also, just to be clear, I'm proud of what we do, but I've never considered us to be market leaders or market anything. When it comes to business, I've learned a few things the hard way, but I don't even like being called a businessman. I really enjoy being called a baseball man. There are people who are good businessmen that could probably triple what we produce. I'm just glad we can still stick around. This aint the Big Leagues, it aint business, it's baseball!

To be honest I don't really care how others see it. I just know what makes me happy! and it aint business!
3rdgenerationnation3rdgenerationnation100+ posts
PG:

First, I want to comment on something you said. Going back to my Grandfather and Great Uncles who played semi-pro baseball and down to my two best friends' dad's who played minor league best ball, the highest thing you could aspire to was being a good family man and a good "baseball guy". I've always thought of it as understanding what your seeing on the baseball field, enjoying when the game was played well and not over reacting when it was played poorly.

Second, even if your not trying to be a market leader, you are. Many, if not most market leaders, get there by being passionate about what they are doing rather then having some master plan for market domination. Stay on your purpose, and keep getting better.

Now about 4thGen's evaluation at the West Uncommitted Showcase................. Smile
TPMTPMHSBaseballweb Member since 2003
PG,
I was teasin' you!
Big Grin
Looking back I figure that maybe, KO got his name from BA prospect ranking list, I do believe you guys were involved at that time in putting together those rankings, which as we all know are paid subscriber lists. Coaches do their homework, watch the rankings, watch the tournament schedules. You folks do yours too!

My point was what does it matter, the coach saw a name, did his homework, and came to watch the player. The player performed, and then he became a name on that coach's list. SmileWhether that was how it went down, or he was scouted here in fL by someone he knew as a sophmore, that list obviously added marketing exposure for the player.

I agree with the honesty, no one should tell a player that they have seen him play when he actually has not. If you receive recruiting letters, read them all and compare, you may see the statement "we have recently seen you play", or "you have been identified" as a (fill in the blank, D1, top prospect, etc.) That language right there should be the answer to the question. And we all know those lists just tell a part of the story for the player, now they have to provide the info that will fill in the rest of the story for the coach (grades, etc).

I find it fascinating that no one questions anything when their sons get recruiting letters from top programs, yet don't understand where someone got their name for an invite to a top college camp.
I think that perhpas the coach keeps seperate lists?
Big Grin
Last edited by TPM
CM Coach May1,000+ posts
The fact is most people are so excited they got that letter from that school that they really dont care how they got the name just that they got it. They may be curious as to how they got it. But the fact is they are just happy they got the letter or the email etc.

I really dont like the fact that some people say "We saw your son at ********* and we were very impressed with him. We would like to invite him to our ******XX so we can better evaluate his talent and get to know him." This happens and I dont like it for obvious reasons. There are people in every business that give every business a black eye. Its one reason I jumped all over a certain thread when one of our posters was being taken to the cleaners by a certain group out there.

I have been a big fan of PG I make no bones about it. I tell kids all the time that they need to do a pg event. Need to play in a wwba event etc etc. Why? Because of my experiences I have had with PG. And I steer people away from other venues if I have had a negative experience or know they are bogus. Thats how life works. So if you dont want to get a bad rep and get the bad word put out on you do the right thing. Treat people's kids the way you would want people to treat your kids. If not you get what you deserve.

Jerry your where you are as a business because of the reputation you and your staff have built over the years with "Baseball People". And baseball folks are the best people there are.

I still remember a young man that flew from Cali to the PG underclass a few years back and got sick and stayed in his motel room the entire event. You took it on yourself to offer a full refund and attend another event. You didnt have to do that. But thats just the kind of people you guys are. You had kids that played and you are not just a business man. Your a father as well.

Im not sure how much this post has to do with this thread. Ive never been good at staying on point with this stuff. I just wanted to add those thoughts.
Rob KremerRob Kremer1,000+ posts
quote:
When it comes to business, I've learned a few things the hard way, but I don't even like being called a businessman. I really enjoy being called a baseball man.

Jerry - it seems to me that it is precisely because you run your business as a baseball man that you are successful as a businessman.

Bottom line, you are in the trust business. Recruiters and scouts have to trust what you tell them about players, otherwise you are gone. And parents have to trust that your showcases and events are on the up and up, or they won't spend the money.

You make business decisions as a baseball man. Therefore people trust PG, and that is why your business is working.

I'm with Coach May. Although my son didn't do a lot of PG events (his two sport schedule got in the way of it) I've always been a fan of PG. It sets the standard for integrity and value.
Dad04Dad045,000+ posts
quote:
Originally posted by Coach May:
The fact is most people are so excited they got that letter from that school that they really dont care how they got the name just that they got it.

I just assumed the invites came from playing in other tournaments and a showcase or two, never really giving it a thought.

Jerry your where you are as a business because of the reputation you and your staff have built over the years with "Baseball People". And baseball folks are the best people there are.

...and because they are baseball people. Their folks at showcases, and behind the scenes, are baseball professionals, who understand the game and quickly earn the respect of the players who attend.
Last edited by Dad04
P PGStaff10,000+ posts
Thanks everyone,

I'll be honest and say I love hearing stuff like that, even if it is a bit off the topic. The real secret to anything we have achieved goes to several people within our organization who don't post here. They are "real" people with real emotions who care about players, scouts, college coaches, etc. There are very few Big Shots around here.

You guys don't have anything to gain by saying nice things, yet you take the time to do it. Just proves my point about this site and how special most of the participants are. Many people around here who have seen their sons reach high levels, yet they still hang out around here as just normal "real" people. I only wish bbscout was still here because no one was more "real" than him!
B BillBill100+ posts
You guys at PG do a great job, no doubt. My son attended one of your showcases in 2006 and hasn't attended another once since then. We would have liked to attend a few but the timing didn't work out. He participated in several of your summer tournaments the next year. Interestingly, he received a letter in the spring of 2008 telling him that they had seen him play at an event he had never even been to! It was similar to the letter you described your grandson as receiving. We laughed and threw the letter away.

I do have a question. How do you compile your list of where HS graduates are playing college baseball? I'm sure you use several sources but are the colleges involved on a large scale as well? That would seem the only way you could get such up to date information. I was surprised to see my son's committment listed just 2 days after he made it. We didn't mind, it was great seeing it 'in print'. I had assumed that the school had to provide the information because he had only told a few people at the time.
P PGStaff10,000+ posts
BillBill,

Thanks for telling your story. Was hoping someone had experienced what I was talking about.

Our information comes from several different sources. Mostly from the players and/or college, but we also receive info from summer coaches, agents/advisors, high school coaches and parents.

In your son's case, I'm guessing it came from the college.

We try not to make any mistakes, but every so often we either got some bad info (which we consider our fault) or the player changed his mind (decommited) without anyone letting us know. On rare occasions we have received inaccurate info from the college.

Best of luck to your son.
P PGStaff10,000+ posts
mike,

My sniffer is out with your first post, but I will be happy to respond. And I never have a problem with being honest.

In addition to scouts, college coaches, non PG events that we cover, agents, and others involved in the game...

We have a full time staff that gathers information each and every day. We also have fulltime staff in many parts of the country. We also have 100s of people from coast to coast that report to us. And thousands of former players and parents who understand what we do and report players to us. And we get many from the Recommend a Prospect feature on our website. Do to our resources we actually can check out a promising player very quickly. We maintain the largest database of high school age players (now over 100,000 players) of anyone in baseball.

There are no "organizations" that supply names to us. The largest sources are college coaches, scouts, and Summer Team coaches. We do get some information from high school coaches, but not that much. However, if someone pops up that sounds like a prospect, chances are very good that we will hear about it.

All that said, it is very possible that we could have some inaccurate information in our database. This in spite of trying to be as accurate as possible. This could include the wrong grad year, or wrong Ht/Wt, etc. Even the wrong address or phone number. We do not always know when someone has quit playing baseball or concentrated on another sport. If they get anything from us its because we have them listed in our database. Many of those players we have never seen. And we don't tell them that we have seen them if we haven't.

I do think it would be very odd, if we have many players in our database who have never participated in a baseball tournament or don't play baseball. We certainly don't buy mailing lists.

So now that we are going to be honest... I would like to ask... Of the volumes of interesting topics, why would this be your very first post here and do you have an agenda? How do you know players that have not participated in any tournaments, showcases, etc. (some who don't even play anymore) who get solicitations? Not saying that has not happened before. Only in the interest of being open and honest, of course! So that we can both be honest!
Last edited by PGStaff
shortstopmomshortstopmom1,000+ posts
mike.black66
quote:
We, as colleges do the same trick when building databases (send mass mail to players based on rosters, etc.) so there are plenty of reasons for us to be, and stay skeptical about what others are doing. I agree with those parents out there who just accept that their son will be on lists, and treat it as a good thing. Do your research, and sort through the garbage. Pretty simple. Whomever sent you the mail could be a great resource, it might not be. Take the time to find out. It doesn't matter how they got it, what matters is they did get it.


quote:
I am a natural skeptic and my goal is decipher the good from the bad.


How ironic.


MN-Mom quote from another thread:
quote:
With several members expressing skepticism above, I thought I should do a little investigation.

I did some cross-checking of the IP number and e-mail addresses for "mike.black". I suppose it's possible that he is involved in DIII recruiting, but it also appears that he is listed under his real name (not Mike Black) on the Staff page of a competitor of the company he is trying to disparage. I won't mention the name of that competitor, but it is one that has been the topic of discussions on our site before.

"Mike", it looks like you have been here under a couple of different names this year with a similar agenda. Please don't use this site for that purpose any more.



quote:
The IP address and some e-mail evidence match a Representative listed on the Baseball Factory site.


Roll Eyes
Last edited by shortstopmom
06catcherdad06catcherdad1,000+ posts
To answer the question that Jerry originally posed, getting bogus invitations to other events, college camps or showcases, happens more often than many people realize.

There are times when I've entered my teams in tournaments or showcases, be they Perfect Game tournaments, the Jr. Olympics, Fall Classic, Summer Series, Connie Mack stuff or just sending individual players to things I think will help them, where for various reasons I've entered my own email, home address or phone number instead of giving the actual players information for certain individuals. I often begin getting phone calls, emails and USPS mail for these players, and some of it is legitimate but more often than I wish it is garbage. This past summer/fall I entered my contact information about some of our players and I've been inundated with emails and phone calls from other showcase promoters for these players, telling them how impressed they are with his ability and how they want him to attend their event and how it'll help them. Only problem is, the kids in question weren't able to travel with us, so were never at the tournaments or showcases in question. If I hadn't used my email, cell phone or home address for these players, I'd have never known it was going on. And, it goes on way too much.

Just today, I got emails for almost a dozen of my players from a well known ACC university's baseball program, promoting their camp. While they didn't say they'd seen the players, ask yourself how likely it is for players from Northern California to be recruited by universities on the east coast. For the few players of ours who are interested in attending east coast universities, we help them by contacting the coaches and making sure they are aware of the player and where they can see him. Too often, student-athletes who have almost no opportunity to play for a program are getting solicited to attend their showcases and camps where the likely return on the parents expenditure is almost guaranteed to be zero before they ever show up. But hey, the promoter makes out anyway if he can reel them in.

I try to be careful in what we recommend our players do in the summer, be it showcases, tournaments or camps. The few things that we always recommend for our players include Perfect Game tournaments and showcases, USA Baseball's Jr. Olympics & Tournament of Stars, the Arizona Fall Classic, Area Code tryouts and Games, and individual college camps where the player is interested in playing and where he has a legitimate opportunity to be condidered a prospect.

Travel baseball is way too expensive to waste even more money where the liklihood of getting anything positive out of the event is small. Parents need to spend their money wisely on behalf of their sons. Finding the right program to play for, attending the right showcases and things along those lines will go a very long way toward ensuring that your son has the maximum opportunity to earn a college baseball opportunity if he's a good fit for a program that he wants to play for, at a school he wants to attend.
Last edited by 06catcherdad
2Bmom2Bmom1,000+ posts
quote:
Great post!



We're pretty new to all this, but I'll pass along some advice given to me last summer by the mom of a superior player who got noticed really early. She said that when those random camp flyers and emails and phone calls start coming, it feels really good at first, but when there is a dollar sign attached, that's what its usually about - money. Buyer beware.
H Homerun041,000+ posts
quote:
Originally posted by 2Bmom:
quote:
Great post!



but when there is a dollar sign attached, that's what its usually about - money. Buyer beware.


with the great post!

As for the dollar sign, I was playing last night on a groups web site to see the actual cost of an College Recruiting Program, it was interesting how effective their site was in drawing the player in and not letting them know what the cost will be until 2-3 pages into the regristration process....kind of like the old days of going to the parade and having the vendors wave toys in front of your kids or actually putting them into their hands and then looking to the parents for the money Smile
B BobbleheadDoll5,000+ posts
I thought my statement answered the question. You guys have gone on to create a new line of thought. Is it legite of just a mass mail out from an acquired list.
They are all legite. Simply they want you to pay a fee for a camp or showcase. They attach their showcase to a pro ball players, college etc to make you think it is worth going to . It is just as legit as any add on TV etc. 9 0u6 0t 10 doctors recommend or this will grow your hair back. We are subjected to this line of promotion every day. Some of it works qand some dosen't. Some you need and most you don't.

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