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Field of Dreams
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Re: Field of Dreams
I applaud you and the work you put in. I fully agree that there are kids that are gifted and can just show up and play high school, but they are far and few. Again, thanks for your dedication to such a great sport.Yossarian wrote:This may be true for the borderline players, but if a kid can play - a high school coach will put him on the team. Especially if he can hit. It doesn't matter if he didn't play travel ball from age 7 - if the kid is a superstar and wants to play, he'll play.FeartheFro wrote: ↑August 13th, 2021, 11:33 am1000% agree. Baseball was the original “America’s Game”. It kills me to see it headed in the direction it is heading. I just left the world of “travel ball” and could not agree more. If you are not able to participate in a comp/travel team you have basically a zero percent chance of playing high school baseball.Floppy Hat wrote:This is cool and I enjoyed it. I'd like to see more of it.
I would also like to see MLB use their resources to better support the lower levels of the game. The proliferation of "travel ball" has cut so many youth out of any hope of playing even high school baseball let alone any higher levels. The conditions minor league players are living in can be pretty atrocious as well. To me MLB is the worst run out of the four major sports.
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I coached a travel ball team when my oldest was 13 through age 16. We didn't do a lot of "travel", per se. We were in Northern California and had a team full of kids with "modest" means. I talked to one dad that had his kid on a travel before he got on my team and they were spending over $10K a year in travel, lodging, and fees for the kid. He was playing 120 games a year - as a 12 year-old. That is insane. We kept our costs down to just paying umpires and buying baseballs and a modest uniform. Very minimal.
For my team - we had a field and I had a key to the lights and use of the field from Friday through Sunday. We would just put the word out to all of the travel teams in the area that if they didn't have a tournament that they were going to and needed a game or two on a weekend, they can come and play us. We would have Sunday afternoon double headers on the regular. Some weekends we would get two or three teams that wanted to come and play and would have a round-robin type mini-tournament. It didn't mean anything. There were no trophies. There was just baseball and player development. It was great. And there was zero travel for me. If we didn't have a game scheduled - I would tell my team I would be at the field on Friday night and they could come by and take some batting practice or I would work some infield/outfield drills with them or catch for them if they wanted to take a bullpen session. It was great. I even had kids that weren't on my team show up to work out with us and get some instruction and hit some baseballs.
It was a ton of work for me. I did all of the grounds keeping - I would drag the field, chalk the lines, water the infield between games, keep the scorebook, while I coached third base. I would also pick up the trash and clean up the place so I didn't lose my privilege with the city. Once in a blue moon one of the parents would offer to help, but that was rare. I don't know how many hundreds of hours I spent at that ball park (or how many thousands of batting practice pitches I threw).
I miss those days.
By the way -- I still have my fungo ready to hit some fly balls if anyone is interested.
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- Floppy Hat
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Re: Field of Dreams
I naively thought travel ball ended with 14U...nope...now in addition to the high school team he is on a "scout team" that plays tournaments in the summer and fall.FeartheFro wrote: ↑August 13th, 2021, 11:49 am
I loved the experience of travel ball and wouldn’t trade it for anything. I just feel bad for those that don’t have the opportunity to participate.
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Like FeartheFro mentioned the travel ball experience has been positive and given me some awesome times with my son. That said, there have been several good ball players we've played with who were left behind.
- brownjeans
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Re: Field of Dreams
Has to be a Deere for the field of dreams. There's a John Deere factory in Waterloo Iowa.Yossarian wrote: ↑August 13th, 2021, 12:59 pmJohn Deere or Kubota? Buy American.brownjeans wrote: ↑August 13th, 2021, 12:55 pmI could extend the outfield in an afternoon with a tractor and some sod.Yossarian wrote: ↑August 13th, 2021, 9:50 amThere certainly would have been more homeruns that way. That field is small compared to a big league field. They did play a 14-15 year-old youth game on that field the day before, if that counts. The fields are on the same property - probably 100 yards from each other.brownjeans wrote: ↑August 13th, 2021, 8:38 amI guess it's unrealistic of me to have wanted them to play ON the field of dreams - not build a totally new field.
- AGinNEIowa
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Re: Field of Dreams
I work right on US 63 about 60 miles north of downtown Waterloo. I can see the big greens being hauled on semi trailers northbound past my window and on commute almost every daybrownjeans wrote: ↑August 13th, 2021, 3:00 pmHas to be a Deere for the field of dreams. There's a John Deere factory in Waterloo Iowa.Yossarian wrote: ↑August 13th, 2021, 12:59 pmJohn Deere or Kubota? Buy American.brownjeans wrote: ↑August 13th, 2021, 12:55 pmI could extend the outfield in an afternoon with a tractor and some sod.Yossarian wrote: ↑August 13th, 2021, 9:50 amThere certainly would have been more homeruns that way. That field is small compared to a big league field. They did play a 14-15 year-old youth game on that field the day before, if that counts. The fields are on the same property - probably 100 yards from each other.brownjeans wrote: ↑August 13th, 2021, 8:38 amI guess it's unrealistic of me to have wanted them to play ON the field of dreams - not build a totally new field.
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- sam tingey
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Re: Field of Dreams
I will add that the game was good. i was digging the Sox uniforms. Fun ending. I liked the shot of the players coming out of the corn field.
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