• Hi Guest, want to participate in the discussions, keep track of read/unread posts access private forums and more? Create your free account and increase the benefits of your eGriz.com experience today!

American Legion Baseball

Zirg, with all due respect, the Mavs didn't "dominate". The Scarlets beat 'em and GF lost by 1. I know they won by 20 or so their 1st game but any one of the 3 teams left Tuesday could have won it. Scarlets left the bases loaded vs GF and lost by 1.

I'm glad Missoula beat GF, Hathaway is a class act and I wish them well @ Regionals.

Also, Great Falls went from having 2 teams to fielding just 1 this year. Might have a little to do w/ their run. I see their "A" team made it to State which starts today in Billings. I think I read their record is 50something-20or so. Pretty good at the "A" level, too, it sounds like.

Speaking of "A", I like Laurels chances to repeat. They have 5-6 pretty decent bats and are real strong pitching/defensively.
 
Zirg- if you don't like Hath and the Mavs, there are other options available. Perhaps the Mavs are successful because of Coach Hathaways methods.

I see some of the other rag tag programs out there and I am glad he runs his program like he does. The kids are held to a very high standard on and off the field. Not sure how that is bad.
 
grizpack said:
Perhaps the Mavs are successful because of Coach Hathaways methods.

I see some of the other rag tag programs out there and I am glad he runs his program like he does. The kids are held to a very huh standard on and off the field. Not sure how that is bad.
Click to expand...

Nice. :thumb:

And TRUE! :thumb: :thumb:
 
GRZFTBL said:
Also, Great Falls went from having 2 teams to fielding just 1 this year. Might have a little to do w/ their run. I see their "A" team made it to State which starts today in Billings. I think I read their record is 50something-20or so. Pretty good at the "A" level, too, it sounds like.

Speaking of "A", I like Laurels chances to repeat. They have 5-6 pretty decent bats and are real strong pitching/defensively.
Click to expand...


Well, Laurel beats GF to win the "A". Laurel down 9-4 in the 8th, tie it and win 11-10 in 10. :clap: :thumb:
 
Mavs AA run ended tonight in Spokane. They took 3rd in Regionals. Congrats to the staff and team. What a great year!!
 
Obviously Hathaway's methods work (for the few,the proud). I've just have heard a lot of negative things from past players (star players, not some bums that sat on the bench) and past potential players that didn't want to play for him (and didn't) and I have watched many games over the years. Yes Hathaway has been pretty successful over the years. Anyone coaching the largest city with only 1 Legion program in the state should have lots of wins. Shouldn't the main decision be:Do we have enough kids who WANT to play Legion provided the opportunity is there? I think overwhelming, the answer is Yes. There are several kids (former Missoula youth Little Leaguers), THIS YEAR, that went and played for Hamilton and/or Bitterroot because they knew they weren't good enough to make the Mavs. Would the over-all quality of the teams drop with a second program? Of course. But currently it seems Missoula would rather have one powerhouse program and make the second-stringers go play for Hamilton or quit the sport? That is ridiculous. What is really important:winning or more kids playing? I'm not lobbying to get Hathaway fired. I just think there is a glaring need for a second program, irregardless of who the coach is. In Idaho, similar-sized cities (CDA,Lewiston, Twin Falls) have 2 A teams feeding 1 AA team. Idaho Falls (pop. 50,000) has 2 AA teams, and 4 A teams. Maybe Missoula, pop. 60,000 (you can argue about the numbers, but I am using the same source) could add a second A team at least. You can't tell me that there aren't enough interested players, and that should be the major factor, not "can we still be successful?"
 
First of all, you can't just decide to go play for Bitterroot or Hamilton. If you are in the Missoula Legion boundaries, you have to play here. The only way you can go to the other towns to play is if you get cut from the Mavs, or you get a waiver. Currently, to the best of my knowledge, there are only 2 kids who play for the Bitterroot Bucs that are in the Missoula boundaries.

Judging from the numbers of kids that are coming out for baseball, I am not sure Missoula could support a second AA team. I do think they would benefit from a second A team, or possibly a Legion "B" team for the 13-14 year olds.

And as for the numbers, you can check with other leagues in the state. From Little League to Cal Ripken through the Legion programs, numbers are dropping. It is unfortunate, but that is a fact. There are just so many other options available to the kids, other coaches who want their players (sports) attending summer camps, summer workouts, etc., that it is tough to get kids to commit to a 4-5 month sport that takes up most of their summer.

The kids who play Legion ball and also play football literally have about 2 weeks of summer. There are some kids and families who just aren't willing to make that commitment anymore.

Finally, I am not sure what is wrong with having a very competitive program anymore. Missoula little leagues are a prime example. Missoula used to have some of the strongest in the state. However, we cannot compete with Billings anymore. Billings has some great players. I don't want to take anything away from those kids. However, the size of the leagues makes a big difference. Missoula has diluted their little leagues down to where it is difficult to even field an all-star team. Several divisions don't have enough kids.

For example, Billings Heights is almost twice the size of Missoula's biggest little league. Boulder-Arrowhead is smaller than Heights, but is significantly larger than any other league in Missoula.
 
grizpack said:
The kids who play Legion ball and also play football literally have about 2 weeks of summer. There are some kids and families who just aren't willing to make that commitment anymore.
Click to expand...

Depends on what you consider summer. When I played for the Helena Senators I considered playing ball the best way to spend my summer...now if you want to say selfish parents are the reason why kids don't commit to playing anymore than I can believe that (unless they just plain and simple cant afford it). But how else would a kid want to spend their time than hanging out with 18 of their closest friends and playing a game that they obviously love.. You practice 2-3 hours a day when you don't have games and you get the rest of the time to motor over to the lake or do whatever. Its busy but its fun as hell.
 
For Shizzle - I agree with what you said 100%. And it is (mostly) the parents I am talking about. I have coached for a lot of years, and parents as much as kids have changed. I hear it all the time now at the level I coach that parents don't want to commit their entire summer to baseball. They (the parents) would rather be free to do what they want to do. I know of 2 kids this year that were pulled off of youth baseball teams by their parents because it was too time consuming. That was after they had already committed to it.

It is sad, but I see it a LOT. Glad my parents weren't like that.
 
That is just sad in my opinion....People these days live until they are 80 years old...A kid plays competative baseball like that 3-7 years of his life and then that time is gone forever. Parents cant give their kids 7 years of their 80 years. My daughter plays travel fastpitch at 10 years old...Is it difficult? Yes. But I do it because I did it and those were some of the best times of my life...The kids that don't want to commit to the schedule is a different story and you really don't want them on your team anyway. However to take that away from your kid because you as a parent have better things to do just sucks. And i agree I am glad my parents were not like that.
 
It's a generation thing, too. My folks farmed and stayed home a lot/didn't do much! I had a 21 mile drive to Scobey EVERY day (practice or game). I came and went as I wanted as long as the grass was mowed, summer-fallow was done, oil all changed on equipment, etc. They would show up for games and go home again.

Nowadays, everybody has a camper/boat/cabin and people don't like to be tied up in town.

But when I was a kid, I played outside whether it was 20 below or 105 in the shade. To get my kids outside takes an act of God, almost. They get away w/ it w/ their mom but they scatter when I come home for lunch/after work. :twisted: :thumb:

I agree, there is less commitment from kids & parents these days.
 
Quite simply, there's just less commitment from both kids and adults about most anything today: teams, organizations, marriages, etc. It makes me sad. And, in some ways, I feel sorry for those folks who will never know the satisfaction of earning/surviving/achieving something that was a huge struggle to accomplish. My daughter was "too little" to be a thrower, yet threw discus (shot and hammer, on occasion too) for four years of high school and four years of college -- at the conference championships her senior year in college, she had the best throw of her life and proudly stood on the podium with a medal around her neck, a smile from ear to ear. I cried! Few people knew just how hard she had worked for that moment, and how much it meant to her.
 
Zirg you can start the second team. Find the sponsor, get the coach, figure out where you will play, and figure out transportation.

Quit complaining and get it done. Or maybe you will sit on the sidelines and take pot shots at a program you clearly know nothing about.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Back
Top