something to consider besides scholarship amount

04

Hate to tell you what I went for when my guy left for school--of course he wanted new cleats, glove, bats etc--- I got it all for him only to find out the school had deals in place

04and10,
I agree, money is money. But you'll have to agree that it’s also a great feeling to look at something your son has and to know he’s earned it instead of you having to buy it. Of course I don’t know what different colleges do for their athletes but I’m sure there are a couple of factors that make a difference. A financially sound college can obviously provide more in the way of “perks” to their athletes. I would think the reputation of the program would also be a factor in equipment manufactures providing their equipment to the colleges. During my son’s three years of playing in the Southeastern Conference, everyting was provided at no cost. Some pretty cool stuff too. I have framed a couple of his jerseys and have put back some of his equipment as memorabilia that his children might enjoy. Some day I would like to do a “trophy” room with large pictures, newspaper articles, jerseys, cleats, gloves, bats and other baseball things. I can tell you ahead of time he wouldn't want me to do it though. It seems these “trophies” mean a lot to the parents but aren’t a big deal to the players. They get their satisfaction knowing they can step on the field and compete. I might add that the size of the school or the size of the conference is a “non-factor” to the player standing in the batters box or the pitcher on the mound. I've noticed that most players look at baseball in the same way no matter where it’s played.
Fungo

Interesting topic. Let me present the DIII side. Those players are not entitled to receive any special privileges/items as part of sports participation. So, they pay or fundraise and the items are still pretty sparse compared to what is available at the DI level. Mine used to love the Summer leagues because they would trade T shirts and other items. Came home with an entire T shirt collection and was in awe of what the DI's did provide.

infielddad - Do they pay for their own stuff in the minor leagues?

justbb, very interesting question. The players who have agents end up getting them bats/gloves/shoes and the like. Teams do not provide anything but bats. I think they start with 4-6 and then they replace them up to 2 per month if they break them. Bats are standard issue and many kids use their own through sponsor/agent. If you don't have an agent, then you buy your gloves/bats/shoes/batting gloves,eye black and the like out of that $1,150 per month less deductions/rent/phone/internet and the like.(or Mom and Dad buy them) The Jays 2004 #1 pick used to get a locker full of items everyday and he was such a great kid he offered a lot of them to my son. Problem is David is 6'5", size 19EEE shoe and a lefty and mine is...not those. Any agents want to sign up a real nice kid?????

Thats about what I thought. Thanks.

justbaseball,
infielddad is right on. I think the agents do help a lot in this area. My son has already signed a contract with an equipment company for all his catching equipment ..... all handled by his agent. He gets two full sets of catching equipment per year with gloves. One agent trying to sign my son told me he represented a number of big leaguers and always gets additional equipment in the big leaguer's deal and then he gives that equipment to his minor league players.
Fungo

my 2 cents

re: the agent & equipment contract for minor league players -

after ther draft, we had a a "prospective" agent/advisor forward us manufacturer reps contact numbers to "DIY" the equipment contract as needed

we contacted & they were easy to work with, tho as it tured out we didn't need,
but he (advisor) sure caught my son's attention with that offer of info

ps- 04&10 . . No Oakleys??
.

Bee,
Have not been informed about Oakley's

If he has them he is keeping it to himself as he knows I might try to borrow them from him.

That would just not be right as I came from an era where everyone on the team shared the same two wood bats and we had a team equipment bag that everyone shared. No one brought anything but there glove to the game as everything else was in the team equipment bag.

Somehow we always made it thru a season with a couple of bats. The most pressure we felt was not the fear of striking out or making an error or giving up the game wining hit it was the fear of knowing if we broke a bat we were doomed.

infielddad,

David Purcey was my son's former teammate and road roommate when he was at OU...he is indeed a great young man and it's nice to know that his recent financial success hasn't changed him any. One of my son's prized possessions is a pair of workout shorts with the mlb logo that David sent him.

Ann

Ann,
David and Josh roomed together during fall instruxs in FL. He also talked about how much he liked David and what a good person he was.
Small world.
Fungo

Fungo,

Just as in your Josh's case, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree....David was blessed with super parents who raised him well. He was a great role model for Ryan and his parents were very supportive of all of the players as well. I really miss visiting with them at the games. David came to the OU preseason baseball banquet last January and hopefully he will be able to make this year's on January 27. If I see him I will be sure to pass along to him the compliments that you and infielddad have expressed here.

Ann

Ann

Yes, having the school pay for equipment is definitely a bonus.

My son's PAC 10 team provides all bats and gloves and team logo clothes. Uniforms, practice and casual clothing. Plus cleats and several types of shoes. PLUS they wash all his logo clothes for him. They give him a bag and he hangs it at his locker and it comes back all washed and folded.

My son gets the same. I have to think that most do this. The only thing he bought was a Rawlings Pro 200 glove with his syalized signature stitched on the thumb. I believe he got it at cost. He wore a beautifull pair of sweats with the team logo on the plane when he flew home.

It really seems to vary by program, and budget of course. Our son came home last year with 2 pairs of cleats, polo shirt, work out clothes, warm-up suit for traveling, and a travel bag. They were given a web-site to use to pick out what glove they wanted. None of this came until Spring practcve began. He had friends at Pac-10 schools who had been sent gloves, cleats, bats, etc during the Summer right after High School!

When our oldest was playing HS Freshman Baseball he started the season wearing his football cleats. He had grown to a size 18 and the largest size available retail then was a 16. After lots of calls to our local sporting goods store, where they had been special ordering his basketball and football shoes for a couple of years, they finally talked with their Reebock rep. He was given a pair of "market research" cleats that they usually gave to Minor Leaguers. All he had to do is log on a card each time he wore them and any comments. 2 years later Nike started selling size 18's and he got them under the Christmas Tree. His Sophomore year we waited too long to order football cleats. They were all out of 18's except for one pair they found in a warehouse. The most godawful ugly white "Pumps" that had been sitting around for about 5 years. They gave them to him just to rid of them.