When Did You Stop Paying Attention?

I still follow kids my 2022 son played with (+/- 2 years). I had the good fortune of watching them play LL through college and some I even *gasp* coached. I expect that will end in the next several years so I will go back to following professional baseball closely, in fact I will be part of the majority demographic for MLB. 

Francis7 - It is just one of those things in life where you switch gears.  I still follow some of the players my son's played with and against and a few others on HSBBWeb.  But as you get older the "old hard drive on my shoulders" needs to archive some of that information and make room for other things going on in my life (planning for retirement), travelling and being a part of my kids lives.   My 3 sons have moved on from baseball and are focused on their careers and building their families.  I still love baseball but it isn't part of my everyday life as it used to be because there are more important things going on that I want to be a part of.

Just my experience......

@fenwaysouth - it's going to be interesting for me. I have probably "thought" about baseball everyday in my life for the last 46+ years. Maybe it was just as brief one day as remembering one time when my dad and I went to a game because the memory popped into my head while driving because a familiar song was on the radio? Or maybe it was as intense as spending 3 hours on the computer another day looking at video clips of my kid. But, I am a baseball addict. I can't imagine that changing now since it's been that way since 1973.

Now what will it be when I am in my 60s? That's unknown. Part of me wonders if my kid will coach when he is done playing? He says he wants to do it. Maybe I will just still be following what he does?

@2022NYC posted:

I expect that will end in the next several years so I will go back to following professional baseball closely, in fact I will be part of the majority demographic for MLB.

I just hope there will be MLB at that time or at least a version of it that we like. The way the game is trending scares me. The gambling association is very troubling. And the other stuff - robo umps, advertising on uniforms and the playing field, pitchers leaving no hitters in the 8th inning, ghost runners in extra innings, etc. - almost makes the game unrecognizable.

Francis, are you obsessive? Is it possible you need more interests outside baseball?

To answer your question I followed players on my son’s teams in classes below him. However, when he graduated out of those levels (high school, college) I didn’t follow the other players in those leagues. Once those players passed through my level of interest receded to a “the team won that’s nice or the team lost that’s too bad” level. Any of the players he played with or against on a regular basis that went on to pro ball I’ve followed.

Given my son is now twenty-eight most of the pro players I’ve tracked have ended their careers or are likely close to it. Covid finished several careers given they were on the cusp beforehand. A few have made it to the majors.

I was never interested in fantasy baseball. Once through playing in college I picked up two man beach volleyball. I played year round. Plus I went to grad school at night.

I returned to playing baseball in an adult league at forty-four. I still had it. The problem was playing with mostly guys (former D1’s, some had gone pro) in their mid twenties winning baseball games was still life and death with them. I was in another place mentally. I competed hard. But when the game ended winning and losing didn’t seem like a big deal

@RJM - did you play any baseball from 23 to 44? I find it incredible that someone could go that long and start playing again at such an old age. Softball? Maybe! But baseball? Seems incredible.

@Francis7 posted:

@RJM - did you play any baseball from 23 to 44? I find it incredible that someone could go that long and start playing again at such an old age. Softball? Maybe! But baseball? Seems incredible.

I had played in a co-ed adult softball league for a couple of years at the urging of my wife. I liked the people. But I didn’t like losing most of the games. Like I said it mattered during the game. But not when it was over. Once I adapted to slo-pitch pitching I was afraid I was going to kill someone. I still had quality bat speed. I badly injured a pitcher and a second baseman when I didn’t elevate pitches. When the concierge at our CC clubhouse said her brother was looking for one more baseball player I tuned it out. After she bugged me and then her brother asked I caved.

I went to the cages and started hitting. I hadn’t hit off a pitching machine in ten-plus years. I still had decent enough speed to play outfield until I pulled a hammy. After college every three of four years I hit in a cage. I stopped when my oldest was born. After a round of getting my swing and timing down I would be hitting line drives in the 80’s lane. Four years after that one year of playing at forty-four I had my 9/10 team at the batting cages. I went in the 80’s cage and put on a line drive exhibition. At that point I was timing the pitches a little. But my mechanics were still good. I guess it was validation to the parents watching I knew something about hitting. I played D1 ball. I was drafted. But it was in a round so late it hasn’t existed for years.

I’m still reasonably athletic. I could dunk a basketball until I was 42. I’m only 6’1”. I’m still fit. At 66 I weigh 180 and have a 33 inch waist. I usually bike fifteen to twenty miles a day and up to forty to fifty once or twice a month. A few weeks ago I did the sixth-four mile Pan-Mass route for charity. I’ve always been in better shape than a lot of guys significantly younger.

I had an aortic dissection and four strokes in 2013. I beat one in six odds of survival. I’ve completely recovered. While I found people who had dissections whining on a discussion board I decided to push my doctors to allow me to push myself to their approved limit. Three months after getting out of the hospital (five week stay) I was biking five to ten miles a day.** When I woke up five days after surgery I had to learn to walk again. My cardiologist commented she had to find a medical term for “freak’n miracle.” There’s some innate athletic ability in me.

I come from an athletic family. My father played football in the Big Ten until he got injured and switched to baseball. He was lightning quick. At sixteen (he was forty-seven) I took a swing at him. Somewhere in the middle of the swing I ended up on my back on the floor. I had no idea what happened. He was a combat trained Marine.

His twin was a NASCAR driver until he decided it was a lot safer to be a NASCAR official. My son was the fifth generation of college baseball players.

** I couldn’t drive for two years. The meds occasionally made me dizzy. With a bike I could feel the dizziness coming on, stop and put my foot down. A few times the dizziness came on too quickly. I Benny Hill’ed on the bike. Or off the bike. I stopped. But I couldn’t get my foot down. It hurt.

I'm still involved via umpiring although not where my boys grew up, but as for following it's waned tremendously... For the first couple of years, beyond my own boys I'd keep up with their HS/Travel teammates in their college careers (at least from a distance)...  Once they all graduated those schools, it was primarily only checking in every once and while to see how my sons' former college teams were doing.  It goes away, you develop other interests or rekindle those that you didn't have time for while following so closely.  Crazy thing is they grow up too - trust me when they have kids, that will grab your attention like nothing else.   

With my 2022 done with travel, I am going through my social media accounts and removing a lot of baseball accounts. Between my 2020 and 2022, I knew/know a lot of the local 2019-2023 kids. I follow some of my kids' teammates but not much.

When my 2022 goes off to college I'll probably help out with a local team in the spring.

@RJM - wow. That is incredible.

@JohnF posted:

trust me when they have kids, that will grab your attention like nothing else.   

I'm sort of looking forward to it...but not rushing it. I believe that you never appreciate your parents fully until you are one yourself.

@nycdad posted:

With my 2022 done with travel, I am going through my social media accounts and removing a lot of baseball accounts. Between my 2020 and 2022, I knew/know a lot of the local 2019-2023 kids. I follow some of my kids' teammates but not much.

When my 2022 goes off to college I'll probably help out with a local team in the spring.

I'm probably just going to delete my Twitter because it's all geared to HS and college baseball. Just easier to delete and start a new one.

Crazy thing is they grow up too.

My son lost interest in his high school and college teams once he didn’t have teammates still on the team. Now he’s more interested in the college’s basketball team. Same with my daughter. She’s more interested in her college’s football team than the softball team.

@Francis7 posted:

I just hope there will be MLB at that time or at least a version of it that we like. The way the game is trending scares me. The gambling association is very troubling. And the other stuff - robo umps, advertising on uniforms and the playing field, pitchers leaving no hitters in the 8th inning, ghost runners in extra innings, etc. - almost makes the game unrecognizable.

I'm right there with you Francis7. Nice topic, too.

I wonder how many fans were added after MLB's public political pronouncements. I barely watched the 2020 season; totally lost interest. This year was a little better until the ASG mess.

Fortunately my son found the CPBL last year after MiLB was cancelled and I found breakfast baseball. That was fun! (CHEERLEADERS! and SabaBoy.) Following my son's new teammates is going to be rather difficult. I still occasionally check into MLB these days to see some of his old teammates, though that's about it.

I'm still undecided on the extra innings situation. Some of the other experiments they are trying in the Atlantic League really don't seem right. I don't want to see them go further. MLB has faded somewhat in my lifestyle. Kind of like how NFL lost me years ago when they started throwing flags on every kickoff and nearly every other play thereafter. Instant replay is killing both sports but it seems to be a necessary evil with the advancement of recording everything.

I would like to follow more sons of HSBBW. I keep losing or forgetting the notes I take when I finally connect a player's name to posters.

I would like to follow more sons of HSBBW. I keep losing or forgetting the notes I take when I finally connect a player's name to posters.

The three I’m aware of from the board are Nick Bush, Riley Gilliam and Cullen Large.

This guy is not doing too badly:

https://community.hsbaseballwe...612#2982475074877612

Check out his dad's angst in 2009:

https://community.hsbaseballwe...sity-for-hs-freshman

One of the things I absolutely detest about our current culture is the ridiculous child celebrity phenomenon that revolves around youth sports. You would think that there were 25 Bronny James kids in every town.

I can’t even begin to tell you how many kids from around here who were hyped to the moon ended up at D3 and low level junior college programs.

so, yeah, I never stopped paying attention because I never really paid much attention to it at all. I guess my first clue was six years ago when a local All State, PBR hyped conference player player of the year Hit some thing like .143 in his career in D3, and Barely played until his junior year of college.

@anotherparent - that's pretty funny. I have a close friend who is a childhood friend of that poster. Small world! My friend was always telling me about the player because his friend (the poster you mentioned) kept him in the loop as his son was progressing. My friend and the poster grew up together in Brooklyn before the poster moved to the west coast.

There's actually a lot of fathers of major leaguer who frequented online boards when their kids were younger - especially this board.

@3and2Fastball posted:

One of the things I absolutely detest about our current culture is the ridiculous child celebrity phenomenon that revolves around youth sports. You would think that there were 25 Bronny James kids in every town.

It is amazing. Personally, I think it's going to lead to an onslaught of future adult Al Bundys talking about how they hit dingers when they were 12 or how they once struck out "Insert Major Leaguer" in Fort Myers when they were 16 in a PG tournament.

@anotherparent posted:

This guy is not doing too badly:

https://community.hsbaseballwe...612#2982475074877612

Check out his dad's angst in 2009:

https://community.hsbaseballwe...sity-for-hs-freshman

Pretty bizarre how some people reject the advice passed around on here. The kid was going to be the first overall pick had he not had elbow issues his senior year. And his dad was still on here asking questions and looking for feedback. He ended up doing alright.

@3and2Fastball posted:

One of the things I absolutely detest about our current culture is the ridiculous child celebrity phenomenon that revolves around youth sports. You would think that there were 25 Bronny James kids in every town.

I can’t even begin to tell you how many kids from around here who were hyped to the moon ended up at D3 and low level junior college programs.

so, yeah, I never stopped paying attention because I never really paid much attention to it at all. I guess my first clue was six years ago when a local All State, PBR hyped conference player player of the year Hit some thing like .143 in his career in D3, and Barely played until his junior year of college.

What amazed me is the adult idolization of young kids. Some of the talk about how great certain kids were at seven amazed me. I nearly choked when someone told me I won’t have to pay for college when my son was seven. I smiled and thanked the person for the compliment knowing the parent was clueless.

I remember asking the mother of a nine year old where he might go to high school. I was only curious because the dad was on the high school’s Wall of Fame and the kid was in Catholic school. The mother had drank the KoolAid. She told me whichever private high school offers the best athletic scholarship. The issue ended up being the dominant nine year old wasn’t good in any sport by thirteen. The kid had the mother’s build and slow feet. It wasn’t hard to predict his athletic future.

Another parent referred to four players on a 9u and 10u travel team I coached as the Fantastic Four. Only two of the four made a high school team. One made his high school team only because his parents put him in a 150 enrollment private.

But, even going back to my high school days I remember being in a mall and a parent pointing me out to his young son and saying, “Do you know who that is?” My parents would have responded, “Yes, the kid who forgot to take out the trash this morning.”

Probably after he was drafted out of Clemson.....i guess my attention was directed towards other players drafted and how they were doing in the minors etc.