When it was more than a game

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Apr 28, 2014
2,316
113
Two years ago on a warm spring day I asked my kid who was 12 at the time if she wanted me to email some of the parents of the kids she played with to get together a little pick up game. She said "sure".
I emailed the parents in the area (15 families) and heard back from 4-5. Common questions were:

Who will umpire the games?

Did we get permission from the park service?

Who is picking the teams?

How much are you charging?!!!!

End result? No one wanted to come and it didn't happen.

Sad, as we have some great kids in the area but no one wanted to come. If it's not travel. USSSA, ASA or no one will come?

watch this video that shares the sad state of baseball


https://youtu.be/fa7BbPuMDcE
 
Last edited:
Oct 11, 2010
8,337
113
Chicago, IL
When DD was younger we used to go to the park almost every Sunday morning, it was usually really quite unless there was a tournament.

Random people would just sit in the bleachers and watch for 1/2 an hour or so. Occasionally random players would ask if they could join us and run home and get their stuff.

We have not done it in a while for some reason.

A lot of people out there like the game to like the game.
 

ian

Jun 11, 2015
1,175
48
Organized unorganized baseball!

When I was a kid my brothers and I would call our friends and we would all meet at the Central College softball field. We would hop the fence and play for hours. No coaches or parents were needed for emails or texts.
 
Oct 11, 2010
8,337
113
Chicago, IL
This is rec. a few years ago.

We have 5 fields and it rained a ton, we only got 2 of the fields playable.

Player on our Team's younger sisters game was canceled, we played our game.

Our coach ask opposing coach if younger player could play on our Team, sure.

We won.

After game some of our parents were complaining to our HC that she played with us.

She batted last in a continuous batting order and played 2 innings in RF.

Some people need to get a life. (Am I allowed to say that or does it date me.)
 
Jan 30, 2018
252
0
SE Michigan
We have 2 perfectly good baseball fields in my neighborhood, which is huge. Backstops, bases, etc. No one ever uses them except for organized games or a dad bringing their kid to practice. When I was a kid there would have been 25-30 of us there to play. My daughter would love to be able to play with kids from the neighborhood but that will never happen.
 

ez_softball

Life at the diamond...
Apr 14, 2017
158
28
We have 4 baseball fields and 2 softball fields with a batting cage at a local park. Outside of organized practices it is VERY rare for us to see anyone outside of my kids using it. LOL
 
Jun 20, 2012
438
18
SoCal
Somebody much wiser than me once wrote, "Adults ruin the game. If we were to roll a ball onto the field and walk away, they'd figure it out for themselves." I think I might have read that here several years ago.

Anyways, that gave me an idea. Shortly after reading that, DD1's rec season was on Spring Break. DD1 was 12u at the time, and I was managing her team. I called up the other team's manager and together we hatched a plan. We got both of our teams to the park and let them do their normal warm-ups. While they were warming up, we called the main pitcher from each team and told them they were going to pick teams "school-yard" style. After they were done warming up, the girls all got together and picked teams. Amazingly, the most talented weren't the first ones picked as both "captains" had friends on the opposite team they wanted to play with. The other manager and I just walked away and sat in the stands with the rest of the parents. They figured out their own lineup, settled on who played what position in each inning. A couple of girls who had never pitched before decided they wanted to try pitching and did well enough to continue the rest of the season and for a few more after that. Catchers called balls and strikes, base coaches called the outs on the bases. They played for over 2 hours. It was fun and refreshing to just let them play and try to show off without the fear of making mistakes. It was just kids being kids. It also helped to reinforce that despite being on opposing teams, they are still friends.

They're all HS juniors and seniors now, and got split up between 3 high schools. When they play against each other, those games are some of the most entertaining and exciting games to watch.
 
Oct 3, 2009
372
18
Love that YouTube link. Thanks for sharing and wouldn't it be great if we could get back to even a little "unorganized" sports.

Andy
 

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