What do you hate more: Mitch Williams or 10U travel ball?

The answer is not "Mitch Williams" to this question. It's 10U Travel.

We were 100 miles from home all weekend for four 12U baseball games. Watched the parents of the two teams before our opener on Saturday get "this close" to throwing down in the stands over a toss-up call at home plate. So much so that the tournament director had to show up and threaten to kick out both teams (and their parents) before "order was restored".

We play one of these teams later in the day, with parents bitching about every high strike called or low strike not called (the strike zone was a bit "untraditional" but it was the same for both sides). I never gripe about balls/strikes, I simply tell our hitters to adjust here and there. I make a point to commend an opponent who gets a solid hit or makes a clutch pitch and a sharp defensive play. It's rather see a clean game with us losing 4-3 with no errors and solid pitching than some sloppy slugfest that we win 17-12 because of passed balls.

On Sunday, we're in our third game of the weekend. Bottom of the first. Our team is in the field and on the second batter, one of the opposing parent's screams, "BALK!! THAT'S A BALK!"

The umpire didn't rule a balk.

Fan keeps on yelling for a few seconds before sitting down.

I finally say, in my broadcast voice, from the dugout to "our" parents sitting 15 feet away. "Why did they put us in the division with all the Crazy-Ass Parents Teams? Good lord. Play the game."

Upon which, the first base coach of the Latest Crazy Ass Parent Team - about 25 feet away from me as our dugout is on the first base side - goes ballistic, walking towards me and barking that I'm being disrespectful.

"TIME!" the umpire yells.

First base coach insists that I get kicked out.

Umpire waves him off and comes over to me.

"Look," he says. "I heard what you said. This weekend has been full of crazy ass parents. They're everywhere. Doesn't mean you can say it though."

"Won't do it again."

He laughs. "Don't worry about it. I'm just walking over here to cool off that jackass about the balk."

"Need a Gatorade?"

"Actually, yeah."

He takes a chug, "thanks, buddy," and gets back out there under the 85 degree sun.

90 minutes later, the son of the first base coach hits the walk-off home run to beat us. Fair enough. It happens. Great moment for him and he absolutely tagged it. In the handshake line, I take an extra few seconds to praise the kid for his rocket shot to win the game. His dad is still "hot" about my comment earlier and won't participate in the line.

I don't mind being the Vince Vaughn in Swingers mouthy jackass in youth baseball. Very slow to get angry but very quick to try and inject humor against those who are way too intense. It's my downfall.

 

Damn right. You did good.

 

Very well played exmediahack. And the ump sounds just as cool.

 

With it being Ripken baseball, this is more organized that many travel tournaments. Ripken is an actual national organization -- basically, what used to be called Babe Ruth.

But, yeah, a lot of times travel "elite" play is a big scam. No matter how much money you spend, and how much coaches your kid gets, if he or she is not physically capable enough of playing well, it's cash and time wasted. Well, not for the team organizer, it isn't. I recommend George Dohrmann's "Play Their Hearts Out," a look at a California baskeball travel team, in which the coach/organizer makes sure to recruit one player with a wealthy, free-spending parent desperate to turn his kid into a star. The coach got him, and all that money went toward a kid who grew up to be 5-foot-8 and has transferred from one small college to another in desperate hope of playing.

 

Little Leaguers in DC got a nice surprise yesterday.

 

Did he buzz a fastball off their batting helmets if they crowded the plate?

 

A thread-jack but on the subject of travel youth baseball...

I've been coaching my son's various teams off and on the past six years and I'm pretty mellow now.

At 12U, it's apparent before each game whether we will win or not. We beat the crummy teams and lose to the teams with year-round players or more physically developed boys. All I can do is encourage clean defense (fewer than 3 errors) and smart swings. My only "punishment" is if our team totals more than 11 bad swings (either golfing or swinging at pitches near the eyes), everyone runs one field length after the game - win or lose.

The mellow part comes in that my son already has the "big trophy" (a state title from two years ago). Yet I saw the bad side of youth baseball hit almost immediately. The day after they won the state title, the head coach booted four of the 11 boys so he could make "upgrades", including my son. (You win a state title and, all of a sudden, the top players on the other teams suddenly show up at tryouts). However, the team that won it all had the perfect mix: alpha dogs, big hitters, relief pitchers, bunters, a pinch runner who couldn't hit nor field but could always steal third base. All the intangibles.

With an all-star caliber team in 2013, it was a quagmire. With 12 talented kids, some were sitting for the first time in their lives or playing out of position and the whole season flamed out. No repeat. Lost in the round of 16 and we all just wanted the season to be over. Parents were pissed, kids were frustrated. Then it all broke up, the nucleus splitting off and joining other teams all throughout the city.

Now the kids from two years ago are all spread out on four mediocre teams in the metro area, each about .500. Whenever we play each other, there is this sad sense of quiet regret each time we shake hands at the captain's meeting of, "damn, why did he F up such a great team that really seemed to get along?"

So now I just focus on trying to provide the best experience for the boys, trying to light a fire under the less-skilled hitters and making sure the ADD kids get their Ritalin 45 minutes before first pitch.

This is probably the last season I think my son will play AAA/major youth baseball on a formal team before high school. He's a kid much more into robotics, architecture and engineering...and I absolutely love it. We've talked about just working on drills the next two years, cage work and some private lessons. That way he won't spend his spring and summer playing 65 baseball games. That's a lot of standing around.

 

Ex, at least you and your son appear to be doing travel ball for the right reason -- because you both enjoy it.

 

We absolutely love it, Bob -- and I respect your thoughts on this.

It's also apparent, as he's in sixth grade, that his future is academic and social. He's very good at baseball but he's also probably going to be an Ivy-caliber student. Next summer, if he wants to go to robotics camp instead of standing around some field for 65 games playing first, that's a check I'll be happy to write. Hell, I'll get free time as well if he does that.

I'll keep his stats and we talk about his OBP (he likes doing the math) and the other stuff but we're now at a point where I stress leadership when he plays first. Encouraging his pitchers. If he strikes out, to be the first one yelling encouragement to the next hitter.

My hope now is that he looks back on these years, in five years, and remembers the little things. The "Nutty Bar" ceremony we share before each game, the provolone/bacon/egg Subway on flatbread after each game as we rehash whatever happened. Or talk about architecture...

 

Dang mobile device...

 

Is there such a thing as an "elite 10-U" baseball player?

 

Shit yeah. There's something called the Elite World Series at the end of the summer. Kids get "sponsored" -- i.e. PAID -- to go. It's also the kickoff to the selection process for what eventually becomes the 12U Team USA.