Play Ball

[warner]

How many of you guys go and watch little league baseball games or for that matter some of the adult leagues ? My son has been playing baseball for Rubicon ( small town in WI) for several years now, had a game last night again and they retained their undefeated title. what a great evening for a ball game with great friends cheesey fries and dollar beers, yup that's right you can still buy a 12 oz can of beer for a buck in Rubicon at a ball game! Gallons and Gallons get consumed each Sunday.
Pure American fun, Baseball , Friends and BEER. Party on, it's Summertime!

 

[pclark]

How many of you guys go and watch little league baseball games or for that matter some of the adult leagues ? My son has been playing baseball for Rubicon ( small town in WI) for several years now, had a game last night again and they retained their undefeated title. what a great evening for a ball game with great friends cheesey fries and dollar beers, yup that's right you can still buy a 12 oz can of beer for a buck in Rubicon at a ball game! Gallons and Gallons get consumed each Sunday.
Pure American fun, Baseball , Friends and BEER. Party on, it's Summertime!

What a great time, back to the simple things in life, carry on!

 

[indy_500]

I coach my boy’s 10u Rec and travel teams here in Greenville (West side suburb of Appleton). Our travel team, the grizzlies, are Currently 15-3-1 on the year with tournaments in Shawano and Plover left to go. He has turned into quite the (not so little) ballplayer! Currently batting .740, hitting dingers, and often gets the Bonds treatment of getting intentionally walked at the plate.

 

[gary_in_neenah]

Indy, what the heck are you feeding that kid? And with those numbers, another 10 years and the Yankees may come calling!

 

[indy_500]

Indy, what the heck are you feeding that kid? And with those numbers, another 10 years and the Yankees may come calling!

Pizza, chicken nuggets, mac and cheese, cheeseburgers, and tacos! If you’re looking for a size comparison of him and his teammates, here’s a good laugh for ya!

 

[matti]

I live in Duluth and have gone to several Duluth Huskies games this summer. They are in a wooden bat collegiate league and it's super fun and pretty cheap.

 

[jonesin]

My son plays 14U, we went to Nebraska for the college world series and the youth tournaments, there were 670 teams or something, they got creamed by teams from texas, california, oregon, florida, it was humbling but fun!

hes a freshman next year so for us with travel ball 2 nights a week and most weekends, 2 weeks of basketball camp so far cramed in there and just as baseball is winding down he has football camp everyday next week and a tourney the last weekend of july and then the summer starts for us!

lol

 

[warner]

great memories and fantastic pics Indy...i love watching my son and his buddies play ball.

 

[rph130]

Intentional walks at that age is so wrong. Let the kids be kids and play. I played park district baseball from the early 70s until high school. Intentional walks didn't exist. I don't remember but I don't think they were "intentionally" allowed.

 

[indy_500]

Intentional walks at that age is so wrong. Let the kids be kids and play. I played park district baseball from the early 70s until high school. Intentional walks didn't exist. I don't remember but I don't think they were "intentionally" allowed.

I wholeheartedly agree. He might be big but he’s a big teddy bear and is definitely an extremely sad 10 yr old when he has to trot down to 1st. Hard to argue with the philosophy though as he is a bit of a liability on the base paths, he’s lucky that he tends to get extra base hits and not singles.

Funny story, last year in the Pulaski tournament he got intentionally walked by Bay Port. Next at bat he got his revenge and hit one out of the park. This year we were playing Bay Port in Oconto and 1st at bat he hit one out of the park, so of course they intentionally walked him his next trip to the plate.

 

[rph130]

I wholeheartedly agree. He might be big but he’s a big teddy bear and is definitely an extremely sad 10 yr old when he has to trot down to 1st. Hard to argue with the philosophy though as he is a bit of a liability on the base paths, he’s lucky that he tends to get extra base hits and not singles.

Funny story, last year in the Pulaski tournament he got intentionally walked by Bay Port. Next at bat he got his revenge and hit one out of the park. This year we were playing Bay Port in Oconto and 1st at bat he hit one out of the park, so of course they intentionally walked him his next trip to the plate.

Like I said indy, wrong! Doesn't teach 10-year-olds basics, fundamentals or sportsmanship. If the kid is a stud and can hit it a country mile, move your outfielders deeper and teach them to run and hunt the long ball. If it goes out of the park, congrats. My dad was always the manager of my little league teams and I was a pitcher. (We didn't get along for about 10 years) When the big dude came to the plate my dad would come and have a chat with me at the mound and tell me to throw junk. Of course at 10 years old, I was already smarter than him and knew I could strike the guy out. When the guy creamed my pitch and I was on the bench for the next batter, oh well, no regrets.

 

[ICT Sledder]

I almost feel bad for kids with what has happened to children's sports. Feel bad for moms and dads too. Bank accounts, weekends, summers, vacations, and childhoods drained for what? An extremely slim chance at a D1 scholarship, and laughable odds at a professional career?

Probably going to get flamed for that take, but oh well.

 

[gary_in_neenah]

This is a Flame-Free Zone. What you posted is mostly accurate. If the parents want to drive all night to get to the next tournament, so be it. It's their time, their money, and their kids. As for aspirations for D1 and the Pro's, I would opine that somebody's kids are going to get a chance. The odds are slim but someone is going to be in the spot that so many strive for. Somebody's kid is the next Pitcher, the next Quarterback, the next Shooting Guard, as long as the kids are happy with what they're doing I say, "Play Ball."

 

[warner]

we have a rather large left handed batter on my sons team that can hit...yup they intentionally walked him, didnt even throw the ball 4 times to the catch like i remember they used to, just gave him the base.

 

[indy_500]

I almost feel bad for kids with what has happened to children's sports. Feel bad for moms and dads too. Bank accounts, weekends, summers, vacations, and childhoods drained for what? An extremely slim chance at a D1 scholarship, and laughable odds at a professional career?

Probably going to get flamed for that take, but oh well.

Understand your view. But like Gary said, it’s the parents decision to travel and spend the money. They don’t have to, and I can tell you every last parent (on our team) WANTS to. The boys on our team are all best friends and love hanging out together like a big family all summer long. We even took it 1 step farther a year ago, and broke off from our local youth sports program, so the boys don’t have to tryout for the youth sports travel team, and we could keep the same 11 kids together for the next few years because they all get along so well. We now have to independently fund ourselves via sponsorships, but it’s been a great adventure so far and we got confirmation this morning that all 11 are returning for next year.

As far as working towards D1 scholarships go, I personally have never heard of any parent talking about college yet. Most of them just hope their son still has the drive to play ball in high school. What I like about travel ball, is if the kids work hard and work together, good things can happen. The life skills they learn trying to compete every weekend on a high level, is bigger than baseball.

 

[pclark]

Part of being a kid and growing up is dreaming that it's "Bottom of the ninth, bases loaded, a swing and drive, deep!, deep!, deep! it's gone!" or playing golf and you have a 10ft putt to win the US Open! Anyway, you get the drift...

 

[ICT Sledder]

I'm not saying kids sports are bad. I played them all too, but before the whole every weekend traveling thing became, well, a thing. It was just one of the things I did as a kid, not the ONE thing I did as a kid.

It's just a part of our "busy" culture. If you're "busy" then you're important or successful. If you're not "busy" then you must be a laggard. It's infected everything. Getting away from that is one of the primary components of my wife and I making a major life change and moving from a metro area where everyone is "busy" all the damn time to a semi-rural area of the northwoods of Minnesota. Kids are still kids up here. My wife is a teacher and talks about the stark comparison to where we came from. It's a drastic contrast in cultures.

Everyone at some point figures out that "busy" sucks. Just depends on how many years you have left when you figure it out. I was lucky enough to avoid the "busy" nonsense as a child, but this topic is one of the main drivers in kids experiencing it basically after they figure out potty training.

 

[skiroule]

I commend you parents out there that are coaching or helping coach their kid’s teams. Years from now they will still remember that you took the time to coach their team and are maybe a little more inclined to continue the tradition when they have kids of their own.

While it’s true that only a tiny percentage will ever play pro ball or even college level for that matter, as Warner mentioned, some will make their way on to “town ball” teams. In Minnesota, I think there are more than 300 amateur town ball teams. No money, maybe a little local following, but mostly just playing for the love of the game.

 

[indy_500]

Well, we came home with another first place trophy in the Shawano tournament this weekend! Went 2-0-1 in pool play (tied against a tough Fond du lac team). Then, Beat De Pere in the first round of bracket and beat Shawano in the semis to ironically face off against Fond du lac again in the championship! Held them off 4-2 for the win, and got a cool pic with our grizzlies and the Fondy team together! 20-3-2 on the year going into the Plover finale next weekend.

 

[jonesin]

hey flamethrower, lol
i understand your point and agree somewhat

in our case it was my son that asked if he could do travel baseball and we as parents sacrificed to give him the opportunity to hone his skills. The difference in his middle school team and the travel team is like night and day. On his middle school team he was the standout and feared by other teams where as on the travel team he is more like average to be honest but competing against so many good teams has made him so much better (and taught him humility) but the chance to play against the best is what he was looking for...

At this point he has decided not to play travel baseball next year, playing 3 sports and then summer ball for the last couple years has made him re-evaluate what he wants