Bowling Green 35 Warren Central 0 (3 Innings)

[DearToday]

“The Bowling Green HS @PurplesBaseball team scored the 7th most runs in a game and the 2nd most runs in an inning tonight as they beat Warren Central 35-0 in 3 innings. All 35 runs were scored in the 1st inning. That was 35r on 14h with 20BBs & 5HBPs. @NateInSports @ChadBlue83”

[DragonFire]

Warren Central will likely consider it a victory if they manage to finish the season this time. Last year they had to forfeit out the back half. But it’s very rough. To say this will be their worst season ever is a huge understatement. 
 

They’ve won only two games post covid. Things were terrible before but it seemed to hit overdrive after covid. 

[theguru]

Sad.

[The Double Deuce]

A 35 run first inning?  Woof...

[gchs_uk9]

10 hours ago, DragonFire said:

Warren Central will likely consider it a victory if they manage to finish the season this time. Last year they had to forfeit out the back half. But it’s very rough. To say this will be their worst season ever is a huge understatement. 
 

They’ve won only two games post covid. Things were terrible before but it seemed to hit overdrive after covid. 

We've have these conversations before. I know adding South Warren adjusted some boundaries, but Warren Central has had success in baseball in the past. They're still excellent at basketball and soccer, and at least appear to be moving forward in football (after some very lean years). What has caused such a drop in baseball?

[rjs4470]

55 minutes ago, gchs_uk9 said:

We've have these conversations before. I know adding South Warren adjusted some boundaries, but Warren Central has had success in baseball in the past. They're still excellent at basketball and soccer, and at least appear to be moving forward in football (after some very lean years). What has caused such a drop in baseball?

I'm not sure what the exact issue is at Warren Central, but baseball in general has been on a path to becoming a very expensive, elitist sport. The specialized training, extensive travel ball  schedules, high end equipment, etc are pushing the sport beyond the pocketbooks of even average income households. Travel ball has also caused the death of community based baseball leagues. So while the elite players are getting better training, coaching, and are performing at higher levels than ever, the "average player" is not getting those same benefits and the gap between these players is getting wider and wider. Baseball is almost dead at more urban/inner city/rural/lower socio-economic schools. The days of every able bodied kid playing baseball in a town are long gone, and there are fewer "baseball" players to go around because true access to the game is dwindling at the youth level.

[bulldog77]

On 4/26/2023 at 9:38 AM, rjs4470 said:

I'm not sure what the exact issue is at Warren Central, but baseball in general has been on a path to becoming a very expensive, elitist sport. The specialized training, extensive travel ball  schedules, high end equipment, etc are pushing the sport beyond the pocketbooks of even average income households. Travel ball has also caused the death of community based baseball leagues. So while the elite players are getting better training, coaching, and are performing at higher levels than ever, the "average player" is not getting those same benefits and the gap between these players is getting wider and wider. Baseball is almost dead at more urban/inner city/rural/lower socio-economic schools. The days of every able bodied kid playing baseball in a town are long gone, and there are fewer "baseball" players to go around because true access to the game is dwindling at the youth level.

100% on point.  I'd add a few more things but you hit the nail on the head.  Access is killing interest, not the other way around.  Great post.

[Breds82]

I am totally on board here. When I was growing up there was a ballfield by our Junior High we called the "Hole" because it was about 20 feet below street level. If we weren't playing baseball there we were playing tennis ball in my yard, my neighbors yard, the street and another neighbors yard combined. I didn't even play baseball after D-Ball, but every other kid in the neighborhood did so we all had gloves and shared bats. 20 years ago they tore down the part of the neighborhood that had the baseball field and the only two left in walking distance belongs to Newport High School. My dad coached my older brother from T-Ball through A ball in knothole. He refused to make it a traveling team becuase it was already expensive enough just to play, he didn't want to burden the parents with hotel rooms and weekend tournament expenses. Now my son started off on his school team, T-Ball, but joined another one in 4th grade, we played locally until 7th grade. Then we were in a weekend tournament every other weekend (still some what locally) and then 1-2 travel tournaments that we needed to get hotel rooms for 3 days. Things like this do put a burden on me financially, a cheap hotel room is like $100 a night, not including gas and food. Starting in 8th grade (last year) we played in a regional tournament every weekend (pay to get in, concessions etc.) plus twice a week during the week. He made the Freshman team this year and his new bat cost $400 plus team fees $110, plus new cleats $100 (don't match his summer teams colors). To say baseball has priced itself out to the lower income families would be an understatement, it's almost become as elitist as golf (I hate golf). Anymore if you stick with your knothole team you're considered a bad player regardless of skill level. 

[DanvilleFan]

On 4/26/2023 at 9:38 AM, rjs4470 said:

I'm not sure what the exact issue is at Warren Central, but baseball in general has been on a path to becoming a very expensive, elitist sport. The specialized training, extensive travel ball  schedules, high end equipment, etc are pushing the sport beyond the pocketbooks of even average income households. Travel ball has also caused the death of community based baseball leagues. So while the elite players are getting better training, coaching, and are performing at higher levels than ever, the "average player" is not getting those same benefits and the gap between these players is getting wider and wider. Baseball is almost dead at more urban/inner city/rural/lower socio-economic schools. The days of every able bodied kid playing baseball in a town are long gone, and there are fewer "baseball" players to go around because true access to the game is dwindling at the youth level.

Excellent summation of lots of the issues with baseball at the moment.  Not to mention the wear and tear on players from constant play (same can be said for basketball).  And meanwhile the MLB kind of twiddles their thumbs.

[gchs_uk9]

1 hour ago, DanvilleFan said:

And meanwhile the MLB kind of twiddles their thumbs.

I'm not sure what the MLB should do here, though. I do believe their "speed up the game" plan has been effective, but as others posted, can it overcome the high costs of playing at a young age? In the major leagues, 70% of the players are from the United States. The Dominican Republic (11%) and Venezuela (7%) have the next most. What bothers me - but I also don't know how to fix it - is that so many players from dirt poor places across the globe can produce MLB players but in America you have to be flush with cash. If Hispanic players in foreign countries play baseball, why aren't more Hispanic kids in the US playing? Soccer has a very similar problem.

[rjs4470]

17 minutes ago, gchs_uk9 said:

I'm not sure what the MLB should do here, though. I do believe their "speed up the game" plan has been effective, but as others posted, can it overcome the high costs of playing at a young age? In the major leagues, 70% of the players are from the United States. The Dominican Republic (11%) and Venezuela (7%) have the next most. What bothers me - but I also don't know how to fix it - is that so many players from dirt poor places across the globe can produce MLB players but in America you have to be flush with cash. If Hispanic players in foreign countries play baseball, why aren't more Hispanic kids in the US playing? Soccer has a very similar problem.

Travel ball has been the biggest blessing and the biggest problem facing organized youth baseball. The high levels of training and competition elite travel players enjoy are producing highly skilled players. It however has shrunk the base of players by destroying community based baseball. Players who don’t make or don’t have a travel team to play for, end up exiting the game at an early age. Baseball has always been expensive, but community ball used to make baseball accessible to everyone, by providing bats, balls, catchers equip, and by offering a closely located field to play on. These community leagues have either disappeared or become rec leagues that because of lack of participation have also become expensive to play in.  Counties like the DR and Venezuela still have these community based programs, some of which are funded by MLB. For whatever reason, MLB attempts to do the same in the US haven’t worked.