@Hillhouse : How often would you face the same batters?
It seems to me you would have come up against the same guys over and over and over again.
It seems to me you would have come up against the same guys over and over and over again.
Hey Bill...how many times did you face the same batters?
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- Aug 21, 2008
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Ray before I write out a detailed reply... I'm curious why you'd think that? why the same guys over and over?
You played at the top of the men's fastpitch game. There are a lot of men's teams out there, but there are few that competed at that level.
In Aurora, they had a men's fastpitch league for years. There would be some new players, but a lot of guys played year in and year out,
It seems that you would have faced the same batters several times--which would make pitching much more difficult.
- Aug 21, 2008
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Ahhh, I see. Well, at the beginning of my career, the annual World Championship was 48 teams (and another 148 that didn't qualify and mad that they didn't get in). These days, there is 32 or 36 if they're lucky and many of them are local tavern teams that are "fill ins" because they can't get the actual bracket filled. Keep in mind, whether you're talking men's fastpitch, slow pitch, girls softball, etc. when a host city and committee bids to hold a National championship, the is a contract written with a GUARANTEE of "x" number of teams participating so the tournament knows if it will be profitable. The organization holding the tournament is responsible for making sure that minimum number of teams participates.
Anyway, during MOST of my career, I didn't have to play the same teams over and over like you may think. There was a lot more of them. Later in my career, as teams dwindled down the same teams would appear tournament after tournament. Teams started to load up with 3-5 pitchers per team so they wouldn't have to throw the ace against the same team multiple times, knowing they'd face them in the World or National championship. This meant teams were paying 3-5 pitchers to be on a team, which would deny another team a chance of having a good pitcher. But, money talks. And also why the disparity between the rich teams and the poorer teams has never been so great as it is now. Imagine the Yankee's payroll vs. the Royals and multiply that by 10. Thats what you have no when the NY Gremlins (2x defending world champs) play Pueblo Bandits of Colorado (for example).
By the end of my career, there were actually lists created that would prohibit teams and pitchers from playing. My team would not be allowed to play at some tournaments for example because if we showed up, other teams would refuse to play. So, the top teams have nobody to play but each other. There are very few sponsors and low ranked teams that want to go play the Gremlins (for example).
I could go on and on about how other things have changed from the Aurora teams you're talking about to the champs of today but it's just a different world and a different game in many ways. Aurora had some DOMINANT teams up through the early 1990's. They still have a single team there that tries to compete against the top clubs but they are WAAAAAY out gunned. I still respect them for playing and not caring who the opponent is.
Bill
Anyway, during MOST of my career, I didn't have to play the same teams over and over like you may think. There was a lot more of them. Later in my career, as teams dwindled down the same teams would appear tournament after tournament. Teams started to load up with 3-5 pitchers per team so they wouldn't have to throw the ace against the same team multiple times, knowing they'd face them in the World or National championship. This meant teams were paying 3-5 pitchers to be on a team, which would deny another team a chance of having a good pitcher. But, money talks. And also why the disparity between the rich teams and the poorer teams has never been so great as it is now. Imagine the Yankee's payroll vs. the Royals and multiply that by 10. Thats what you have no when the NY Gremlins (2x defending world champs) play Pueblo Bandits of Colorado (for example).
By the end of my career, there were actually lists created that would prohibit teams and pitchers from playing. My team would not be allowed to play at some tournaments for example because if we showed up, other teams would refuse to play. So, the top teams have nobody to play but each other. There are very few sponsors and low ranked teams that want to go play the Gremlins (for example).
I could go on and on about how other things have changed from the Aurora teams you're talking about to the champs of today but it's just a different world and a different game in many ways. Aurora had some DOMINANT teams up through the early 1990's. They still have a single team there that tries to compete against the top clubs but they are WAAAAAY out gunned. I still respect them for playing and not caring who the opponent is.
Bill
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