What is good for BASEBALL?

With Pitt, one HR per 20 at bats
With SF, one HR per 10.7 at bats

For Barry, it must have been the hitting instructor for the SF Giants?

OS I take your answer (#2) as being bad for you, but good for baseball.

1) B. Metal bats create a false sense of accomplishment in the early years with the high drop weight bats. I could also add the flip side it kept very average players in youth ball longer.

2) B. His success tells kids cheating and abusing your body with illegal drugs will make you a stud player. I remember seeing a survey a few years ago asking kids if they would take steroids if they knew the results were they would become pros and die in their fifties. Sixty-something percent responded, "Yes."

3) None of the above. When rec ball went warm and fuzzy and allowed weak players kids who can't play, to make teams at the highest levels, the need to establish travel ball was created. I'll answer A in regards to showcase ball. It gives players more visibility.

4) A&B. The NCAA reminds me or the government. Their intensions are good (maintaining academics) but don't know what they're doing and provide questionable procedures (ex: transfer rule for cut players)

5) A. A great way for players to get exposure.

6) A. Same as 5

7) A. It's fair market competition.

8) B. I believe they're taking hundreds, if not thousands from players and parents when the process can be done by the player.

9) A&B. The positive is access to the world. The negative is for people who don't know to log off and get out the door.

10) A&B. My son learned a lot from the analysis on video games when he was little. The negative is kids who don't turn it off and get out to exercise.

1 – A & B
2 – A & B
3 – A & B
4 – A & B
5 – A & B
6 – A & B
7 – A & B
8 – A & B
9 – A & B
10 - A

PG ... I hope it's not a picket fence you're sitting on.

They are all GOOD for baseball, except Barry Bonds's records (and all the others who used PED and influenced young kids to do this also).

I waivered on the metal bat but I hit so few homeruns with metal I know it would be 0 with wood so those 3 memories have just got to stay!!! (1 in HS and 2 in college)

1. A - Technology is evident in every aspect of our lives. Helps kids of all skill level have a chance.
2. B - Helped pave the way
3. A - Give opportunity to play more competitive ball
4. Undecided
5 & 6. A - Gives a lot of kids the opportunity to become players or fans. The game needs both.
7. A - Many of today's star would be not be here if foreign players were elimiated.
8. A - Helps people who have the money but not the time or motivation.
9. A - No internet, no HSBBW
10. C - I don't think video games enhance baseball talent.

1. The aluminum bat has been good for an introduction into baseball. Little ones can swing an aluminum bat with no problem. There may well be an economic issue all the way through hs (we've debated that one often enough), but I'd like to see their use end at hs age. latest. But I'm an old traditionalist. Or at least old.

2. Barry Bonds records have been bad for baseball. None of us enjoy seeing our sport shown to be a cheat, and he is the Poster Boy for the steroid era. In general, I'm not a fan of Arm and Hammer baseball, so a Jerk On Roids holding the HR title doesn't say 'good for baseball' to me.

3. Travel Baseball has been good for baseball, but perhaps not good for certain individuals, or even groups of players. The obvious questions of expense and time enter into it, and (for all I know) the quality of the teams may be so diluted in some areas as to make them indistinguishable from a good hs team. When my son was first starting in travel baseball, it saved his interest in playing the game by giving him a challenge ---- he was very close to quitting baseball to try other sports just because it was too easy to be a 'star' in our LL.

4. I was unaware the NCAA knew or cared enough about baseball to have an impact.

5. Local showcases have been good for baseball, giving the players, coaches, and scouts a central opportunity to meet. I would imagine more than a few diamonds have been mined there. Further, they allow players and their parents to get a more realistic view of where they fit in the talent pool.

6. National Showcases (A) See above. One is more affordable than the other; national are more competitive and better attended, but the principles remain the same.

7. Foreign born players have been outstanding for baseball, what with my son being a foreign born player and all. Hey, if we want the sport to grow, we gotta allow the audience to increase.

8. Recruiting Services, I believe, are a drain on parents' finances. Most of what can be done by them can be done with a little guidance from Right Here. To me, they're an extention of what Mom & Dad can buy the kid in the way of experiences.

9. The internet has been good for baseball. Well, without the internet, we might have all needed those recruiting services. Academics, financial, roster, record, & coach research, medical/injury information, good old-fashioned baseball discussion, and (most of all) the hsbbweb!

10. Baseball video games have been a bit of both. Two-dimensional ball doesn't help your game, but there is a bit of situational thinking that might help. And a quality video game can make more baseball fans.

quote:

How can the NCAA be bad for baseball. Not a good question????!!!??? ITS GREAT!!

The question isn't about NCAA baseball. It's about the NCAA organization. How can it be bad?

Let's start with if a college over recruits and cuts players to get to a 35 man roster, in order to transfer to another college the players have to sit out a year.

How about suspending a player because he posed free for a calendar to be sold to raise money for a charity? The NCAA said the player's image was used for financial gain for someone (the charity).

How about if an athlete has a death in the family the college or any of it's boosters can't help pay for the athlete to get home?

We could have a thread that never ends on what's wrong with the NCAA.

quote:

Dumb Question.!!!?!

Fungo, how did your son ever get to pro ball with you asking dumb questions?

IMO ---

1. Aluminum bats. Good for baseball. I think aluminum has been good for baseball because it adds charisma to the game for the very young player. Bats have names like "Beast", Titan, Voodoo, Omaha, colors are brilliant. Creates more offense to the game. Aluminum is bad for players as they mature.

2. I think Bonds has tainted the image of baseball. Bad for the game. Many may watch and read and talk baseball/Bonds today but in the long run baseball is the loser.

3. Travel baseball is good for baseball if they don't travel far. If they travel over 50-75 miles (depending on areas) the fans base dwindles to basically families of players. If they stay closer to home they build their fan base and promote baseball within the community. Elite travel baseball --- Good for individual players --- bad for baseball.

4.NCAA. Good for baseball. Without the NCAA baseball and other college sports would be unorganized. While we disagree with their actions. No action would be chaos.

5. Local Showcases. Good for baseball and good for players. Allows college coaches to evaluate local talent to fill their rosters. Local press covers many of these events with readers reading about local players. Helps the community establish a rapport with different teams and the better players.

6. National showcases. Bad for baseball --- good for individual players and top college programs. Pulls the better players away from local teams. The much heralded exposure that players get does nothing for baseball. It actually competes with baseball.

7. Foreign born players. Good for baseball but bad for American players. It increase the fan base and further represents the global environment we live in.

8. Recruiting Services. Has no bearing on baseball whatsoever. It may help some individuals and not help some individuals but that has no impact on baseball.

9. The internet. I think the internet has brought more awareness to the game. Games are streamed and more fans can watch and listen. Players and teams are more accessible building their image and rapport with the viewer/listener/reader.

10. Baseball video games. Slippery slope here but I say Good for baseball. No doubt video games compete with sports but video games are here to stay. They compete with ALL sports. Therefore baseball is fortunate it can be played as a video game maintaining as a viable sport. If there were NO baseball video games today, baseball would be pushed further back in the minds of young players. Baseball would become less popular.

Wish I hadn't peeked at PGStaff's answers...cause I probably agree with them for the most part. But I didn't peek at the others...and I'll try to be a little pickier than I would've been.

1. Aluminum bats - Good at first, might have kept a few more kids interested over time with the success, may have helped "build" the college and HS games. But its time to go back to wood HS-and-above.

2. Bonds' records - While I watched them develop, good...but I was in denial. In retrospect, bad, very bad. Worst of all is the bad press recently, despite all the developing fan base during the HR binges. Hard to know anymore what was real and what wasn't? I long for purity...we'll won't have it again for a very long time.

3. Travel ball - Mostly good. But it has stretched too far IMO. Having run a youth baseball league for a while...one that we grew from 400 players to 1,100 players...I know it tears at the fabric of community baseball at younger and younger ages. It tears away kids that shouldn't be torn away. My son was the very first player in the league to do both at one point...today there are around 100 who have left (too many!) and another 50 or so trying to do both (not necessarily good for the player long term). Its just grown too much with too many dads thinking they've got something special when they don't.

4. NCAA - Mostly good. I wouldn't trade our family's experience with our older son for a million bucks...but I really think the NCAA is messing up the "student-athlete" equation with the new rules. For the past 2 years, bad.

5. Local showcases - Some good, most bad. We utilized one with our older son to learn what it was all about. But there are too many now pulling too many dollars out of too many pockets for kids who aren't even close to beyond-HS quality.

6. National showcases - Good, I guess. For us it was good. As long as they're truly "selective," I think its good.

7. Foreign-born players - Mostly good. But I wish MLB would invest in the inner cities the way they do in Latin America. Need fields and proper skill development. I fear that the days of Oakland area baseball with Frank Robinson, Joe Morgan, Willie Stargell and Vada Pinson are long gone.

8. Recruiting services - To me, bad. I have seen no benefit in them nor do I have any positive stories about them. I'm sure there are some, just don't know any.

9. Internet - Mostly good...some bad, some very bad. Too easy for a fly-by-night operation to take someone's money promising the moon. Too easy for anyone to publish nonsense without the casual reader knowing its accuracy. But for the wise reader, a wealth of information and we used it heavily.

10. Video games - For "the game of baseball?" Neutral impact. Probably increases interest for some...but the inactivity in general it promotes/allows is not good for our kids. Mostly gone are the days of pickup games at the park.

quote:

Originally posted by RJM:
The question isn't about NCAA baseball. It's about the NCAA organization.

We could have a thread that never ends on what's wrong with the NCAA.

I have good friends whose kids have played NCAA volleyball, football, basketball, rowing, hockey, and sokker in various divisions. Everyone of them have NCAA issues. Many of them are the same as our baseball family.

As a career I am a facilitator, negotiator, and problem solver. In my environment not everyone is happy at any time. With the NCAA I see a necessary governing power who is in a no win situation. When you have so many sports, multiple divisions, gender/race issues, academic hurdles, extreme budget differences between schools, conference/team power trips, media, eligibility issues, National government, drugs, rankings, and the list goes on, there's too much to balance. Now, with everyone of those issues that the NCAA fights, their institutions are also have in-fighting with other conferences/schools/divisions on the same topics. The NCAA is big business, but seldom with big business do you have no cooperation with all the factions you have under you. We as parents and fans have issues with the NCAA but so do the schools, and those same schools have problems with many of the other member schools.

I see the NCAA has a highly paid babysitter for the many children they represent where the mom/dad never came home after the movie and the sitter now makes rules as they go along and tries to make the bullies stay in their own corner. IMO, their job is to set rules that don't break the crystal collection.

IMHO, It's a no win for everyone. I don't think the NCAA wakes up in the morning looking for ways to screw things up. Enjoy the dream that exists and hope the kids come out with the education they went in for, and the athletic experience of a lifetime.

btw- I'm not a NCAA groupie, I have the same negative issues as others but maybe look at the picture from a different perspective.

quote:

Originally posted by EastsideEagles22:

quote:

Originally posted by RJM:

quote:

Dumb Question.!!!?!

Fungo, how did your son ever get to pro ball with you asking dumb questions?

That was a great comeback??? Video games have nothing to do with baseball. Try not to be smart. His son going pro in baseball has nothing to do with this. I dont think you know what your talking about.

I think punk kids should stand back and learn rather than mouth off. I guarantee you haven't been where I've been as a player and a coach. And learn how to communicate in a grammatically correct fashion. This isn't an IM chat room. This is a group of adults.

Well, I'd answer but after reading justbaseball's reply, I see no need for duplication.

As for the 'what's wrong with the NCAA' topic, we could see if that'd get more posts and views than the club vs. high school ball one recently did.