Mone Davis - SI cover

The world championship LL team would get ass-whipped by most representative. .500 high school varsity teams. Who cares?

 

Apparently twice as many fans as last year, according to the ratings.

 

Are there any high school varsity teams that would lose to a Little League World Series team?

 

Absolutely. A really good varsity team would crush them, but I would bet average to below average varsity teams might not fare as well. There are a lot of bad HS teams out there.

 

Not only is there a 12-year-old black chick throwing LLWS shutouts, but an all-black team -- aptly named Jackie Robinson West -- is thriving in Williamsport, too. That's the bigger story in relation to MLB's attempt to grow the game in urban communities.

 

The NYT had that angle today. (link below) Unfortunately for the Chicago team, they used their best pitcher last night so he's ineligible to compete in the US championship tomorrow (to determine which team will play the international champ for the title). I'm not sure Chicago can beat Nevada.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/22/sports/baseball/as-black-participation-dwindles-2-teams-buck-trend.html?_r=0

 

Chicago can't beat Nevada. If that game goes five innings it will be a moral victory.

 

I'm always surprised when a team from a cold climate fares well in baseball against teams from California, Texas, Florida (or other southern states), (parts of) Nevada, Arizona, etc.

I know cities that have indoor baseball leagues, but they're expensive as fuck and so much of getting good at baseball is being able to play in the street with friends.

The dad of one of my son's friends played in college and either a rookie or independent league and he has a batting cage in his basement. They don't use real baseballs, but it's some kind of rubber ball that is the same size and weight of a baseball. I'd never seen anything like it. Naturally, his kid is one of the best in the area, but how many people have the means and the time to do something like that?

 

Just to clarify: JRW's story isn't bigger than Mo'ne's story. I meant both stories as a whole make it cool.

Watched some of the Reds game last night on MLB and they had one of the Reds' higher-ups in the booth (sorry for being vague, I just don't remember his name but he's well-regarded) to talk about the Reds' Urban Youth Academy vis-a-vis Cincy's 150-year pro baseball history and why it's important that the organization helps foster a love of the game within urban areas. It's the seventh such facility around the country. It'll be cool to see how this all plays out 15-20 years from now.

http://cincinnati.reds.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130123&content_id=41118902&vkey=pr_cin&c_id=cin

 

That does not happen anywhere, ever, anymore. Those kids from Nevada and California aren't good because they play in the street with friends. They are good because they play travel ball year-round (including tournaments in December and January).

There is no such thing as sandlot baseball.