re: The case against Travel Ball by Dr. James Andrews

But he really likes it!!!! It's been dumb to play 100 games a year since the day they started doing it .mDumb I say

Damn, this thread blew up.

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These travel ball parents need to realize if their kid has it he has it. Practicing hard is important, but the sheer amount they do is ridiculous. They should go look at LSUs national champ team of 2009. 8 of those players on that team played High School QB. They were well rounded freak athletes that played more than one sport. Hell, most mlb players were studs on their high school football and Basketball teams as well. The only sports that truly take 100% focus to go D1 are tennis and golf. The rest are usually the athletes that played multiple sports in high school

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With baseball, I'm not so sure this post is all that accurate. Everything is becoming so specialized that you sorta need to focus on what it is you want to do if you have really high hopes.

I could have been a position player in college at one point. But it was very obvious that I was going to be a pitcher if I wanted to accomplish my goals...I'm 6'5'' and left handed. A couple seasons of focusing on pitching and there was just no way I had the skill to be a sufficient hitter anymore. Could have messed around at a less talented school for a bit but baseball is a craft, rivaling golf, tennis, or QBing. You ignore it and you WILL fall behind.

Once I figured out I was serious about the game, my parents did everything possible to help me get to where I needed to be. If they would have been more heavy handed I have no doubt that I would have rebelled from all that shite.

Saw a few posts about scholarships in Louisiana and in general. Can kids in Louisiana not receive both sports scholarships AND academic scholarships? I ended up signing with UCF, then a JUCO(3 years is WAY too long to have to stay in school if you're a pitcher). Staying in Florida made the most financial sense but there were definitely other options.

Recruiting budgets for baseball are a joke. And it's harder than the other big sports to narrow down who to recruit. Coaches will typically stay pretty close to their own turf to find players. I made a list of my top 50 schools and my dad emailed them to let them know I was interested. We made a schedule of everywhere I'd be pitching with dates and times. Words can not describe how ecstatic 90% of these coaches were. Every single one, in one way or another, told me how much easier and cheaper it was to recruit me this way. I stayed in contact with them and as they saw me the offers started coming in. Got the list down to about 10 and then started talking numbers. I won't get into it but baseball scholarships are a damn joke. Thanks title IX? I'm not sure. Anyways, my dad and I took all the info we had and I made my final decision. I found that coaches were blown away by the process we took. Depending on their situation, many were even willing to wave out of state tuition. I've contemplated a business designed around a process for young baseball players finding schools but haven't ever gotten too serious about it.

My point with all this is you don't need to ship your kid all over America and wear him down in order to be seen. Make it easier on yourself, your kid, and the coaches trying to find them. Hell, teammates and I would have requests to attend showcases in Arizona and pretty much everywhere. My dad and I would go play golf while they were spending a fortune busting their arse out west. It's pointless and causes more harm than good.

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Regarding cost of travel ball for parents...

I used to shoot the action photography for a hockey complex. We would have four or five major tournaments each year. These teams would come in from all over the southeast and east coast.

One weekend, one of the teams was in from Atlanta playing in the tournament (only certain age teams). It really strikes in my memory because Tom Glavine had a kid on the team and he was there. Anyway, was talking to one of the parents, and I was just asking about the travel hockey process.

He said that he had two boys of different ages. This week, he was in Alabama with one son, and his wife was in Tampa at a hockey tournament with the other son. He said they swap up every other weekend for tournaments, adn that two weeks later, he would be with the other son in Dallas and his wife would be with this son in Chicago.

I asked him how in the world he could afford it, and he just joked, "I have two boys and one daughter - the girl is an equestrian and jumps competitively in shows. Compared to housing, feeding, and driving around a horse for a year, travel hockey is pretty cheap." He said that he spent over $50K/yr on his kids sports and had done so for the last several years.

Jeez, that's insane.

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It would be much cheaper for him to just move to Minnesota for hockey. Travel hockey costs that much in the south/southeast because the teams are so far apart and you have to travel to the major urban areas each weekend for games. The costs of the travel and hotels is more expensive than the hockey itself. Up here you can have 40-50 high level town teams within an hour drive.

Funny part is about those teams you watched down there, alot of those parents probably think they are really good. Then they travel up to a big tournament up in Fargo or Minneapolis and their regional all-star team gets smoked by a some small town team like Roseau or Warroad, MN (populations under 10,000 easily) that play the game for a fraction of the cost and the kids spend their free time on the free outdoor ice just playing around all winter. That's just Minnesota, I'm not even talking about some of the teams/players I've seen playing against Canadian teams.

Like I tell my son, as good as you think you are there is always somebody out there who is better, so you better practice hard if this is what you want. I'm under no delusions though, trust me.

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Funny part is about those teams you watched down there, alot of those parents probably think they are really good. Then they travel up to a big tournament up in Fargo or Minneapolis and their regional all-star team gets smoked by a some small town team like Roseau or Warroad, MN (populations under 10,000 easily) that play the game for a fraction of the cost and the kids spend their free time on the free outdoor ice just playing around all winter.

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So, it's sort of like when they try to bring their baseball, or football, or track, or golf, or tennis all-stars down here to play?

How 'bout those Hawkeyes?

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These travel ball parents need to realize if their kid has it he has it. Practicing hard is important, but the sheer amount they do is ridiculous. They should go look at LSUs national champ team of 2009. 8 of those players on that team played High School QB. They were well rounded freak athletes that played more than one sport. Hell, most mlb players were studs on their high school football and Basketball teams as well. The only sports that truly take 100% focus to go D1 are tennis and golf. The rest are usually the athletes that played multiple sports in high school

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It's always kind of amused me that Pedro and his friends in the slums of Santo Domingo have like a 20X greater chance of playing professionally when their parents make as much in a year as these travel parents do in a week. A lot of times, either you got or you don't.

Not sure if this has been posted........

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Plain Dealer: The most complex surgery you've ever done?

James Andrews: Marcus Lattimore, running back from South Carolina -- his leg. Drew Brees' shoulder. I'll say this about Drew: It's amazing that he's been able to come back and throw a football, let alone play at the level he does.

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It's always kind of amused me that Pedro and his friends in the slums of Santo Domingo have like a 20X greater chance of playing professionally when their parents make as much in a year as these travel parents do in a week. A lot of times, either you got or you don't.

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here's some useful info re Pedro's baseball development in the DR. Some of these MLB sponsored teams are pretty amazing.

Pedro's Slum Baseball

Lol I