Does it ever just amaze you?

[TMoney]

Equally tough when your DDs a pitcher and gives up an "inside the park" grand slam.

How about a dropped 3rd with the bases loaded and 12year old catcher has a mental lapse and throws down to first and it makes its way out to the 300 ft fence line which scores 4.

 

[dbronstein]

I played LL Baseball until I was 15 and never owned a helmet or bat. Always used the team gear.

Yup, nobody had their own helmets back then, and we used the wood bats the league gave to the teams. A couple kids had aluminum bats that weren't much lighter than the wood ones. Our baseball team played in a wood bat tourney a couple of weeks ago and it was the first time I've ever had to tell kids to choke up.

 

[coach james]

I played LL Baseball until I was 15 and never owned a helmet or bat. Always used the team gear.

Yup, nobody had their own helmets back then, and we used the wood bats the league gave to the teams. A couple kids had aluminum bats that weren't much lighter than the wood ones. Our baseball team played in a wood bat tourney a couple of weeks ago and it was the first time I've ever had to tell kids to choke up.

I remember my LL coach having an old Army duffle bag with about 6 dirty helmets in it. We would just grab one and put it on.
I see kids sharing helmets occasionally and now I just cringe with fear of head lice!!!!
I was in HS before I had my own bat, it was a garage sale special my grandma bought me for like $20. I thought I was Babe Ruth with that old thing. My 10yr old has about 6 composite bats totaling about $1000 aquired over the last several years.

 

[PEPPERS]

We played at Linwood Grammar School we would show up an hour before the game, borrow the metal mat from the front door to drag the field than pick up rocks, every one used the same bat, because we only had one. The baseball may have leather and stitches or rapped in tire tape if it had been used for several games. Sometimes a kid would bring a new ball, cheap cottonseed ball, one hit and it was warped. Ages ranged from 12-25+.

I guess I'm showing my age, but it seemed like a lot more fun back then.

 

[Ken Krause]

I played LL baseball in the '60s. As I recall I owned a bat but didn't use it in league games. We used the team bats instead. I think we had three ratty old team helmets - probably a small, medium and large. Maybe a couple of extras. But once you got on base you had to trade the full helmet for an earmuff-type thing so other batters could use the helmet.

Don't recall ever picking up rocks before a game. But I also don't recall playing with chalk lines unless it was All-Stars. (None of my teams were ever good enough to play in a championship game.) The Park District probably came out and dragged the fields once a week, if that. Definitely no fences. Most of the fields were the type they have at elementary schools, so no pitching mound either.

Uniforms were cotton (I think), handed out at the beginning of the year and turned in at the end. If you were lucky you got one without any tears in it. Always white with an accent color, and a big sponsor logo on the back. You didn't choose your number - you got whatever would fit. We got to keep the hat. The hats were different colors, but all had a W on them for the town name. I don't remember them having any pro team names on them either. Your team was named for your sponsor. I played for L.B. Anderson, a local real estate broker, a few times.

None of that mattered, of course. We loved it and looked forward to it every year. Years later I can run into someone I played ball with (or against) and there is still that camcorder of having played ball together. It's like a permanent mark of approval. Gosh, those were good times.

When my sons played LL baseball I was in awe of the fields they played on. They were like palaces, relatively speaking. Grass infields (ours were sand), fences, bleacher seating around home. Before the season I'd get my volunteer hours in doing field maintenance. Different world.

 

[PEPPERS]

I also remember this we did not have uniforms unless the family purchased one for the kids when we played LL, my parents did not have the money and a guy who played for the Atlanta Crackers, a one time miner league team out of Atlanta, donated his old uniform to me. My mom took off the Atlanta Crackers name made new letters to match the team's name and although it was real baggy I wore it with pride. With all the flashy uniforms of today we looked like a ragged bunch, but to us it was like the Yankees uniforms.

Bet that old uniform would be valuable now.

 

[maddball44]

What I do remember about being an umpire is that the parents and coaches really haven't changed in 40 years.

They may have been as passionate, but there were far fewer then. I rode my bike to my games and alot of kids parents never came to the games.

 

[Il softball fan]

Andy I had one of "those moments" you are talking about last year. At a beautifully manicured softball field one cool Saturday morning, I am sitting there looking around at the freshly chalked field, the outfield grass cut just perfectly and all the players and parents just going about their normal tournament morning routines.....putting up the sun canapy, unpacking the softball bags, starting their warm up drills, etc, and I was sitting there and just had tears come to my eyes out of the blue by just the whole experience. I called my daughter over there and gave her a hug, and was just like thanks for doing this, and letting me be part of it. She of course, typical 14 year old girl was like, dad must be loosing it or something.

 

[BobInMadison]

Andy I had one of "those moments" you are talking about last year. At a beautifully manicured softball field one cool Saturday morning, I am sitting there looking around at the freshly chalked field, the outfield grass cut just perfectly and all the players and parents just going about their normal tournament morning routines.....putting up the sun canapy, unpacking the softball bags, starting their warm up drills, etc, and I was sitting there and just had tears come to my eyes out of the blue by just the whole experience. I called my daughter over there and gave her a hug, and was just like thanks for doing this, and letting me be part of it. She of course, typical 14 year old girl was like, dad must be loosing it or something.

It's OK. I've told my kids that my job is to embarrass them. If you never embarrass your kids, you aren't doing your job.

 

[dgfred]

Haha, about 15 years ago I was coaching my daughter's 10U team. We played on basically a plowed field. I would go out there the night before we played and drag the field with my Chev Lumina. I went and looked at the field(s) recently... they are manicured, with dugouts and even fences. Now umpires... that is another story.