Our National Pastime Needs Tweaks

Is baseball dying?

I’ll never forget the 2014 Summer of Legends Camps… 

At the heels of 3 San Francisco Giants World Series Championships, every kid would show up to camp decked out in their Giants swag, their Buster Posey jerseys, the Pablo Sandoval Panda Hats. 

Every kid knew every player on the Giants.

Most kids attended camp for 2-3 weeks. 

We had around 130 kids across 2 camp locations… 

…the Peninsula, and the Bay Area in general, was baseball crazy!

5 years later the baseball scene in the Bay Area is very different. 

Even before the pandemic, numbers show baseball participation and engagement across the country is declining. 

You can see it with the empty baseball diamonds on hot summer days. 

You can sense it with the rise in video games and technology usage. 

You can feel it, as most youth ball players cant name the best players in the game. 

Listing out all the contributors as to why baseball is declining would take far too long… economy constraints, lack of quality coaches, bad marketing by MLB, Fortnite, eSports and the slow, challenging nature of baseball itself… There’s many more as well. 

That said, it’s pretty clear our national pastime may need some tweaks in order to appeal to the 2020 child. 

Changes are happening at the MLB level with numerous rule changes every year to speed the game up… 

BUT what are we doing at the youth level to make baseball more inclusive, exciting and engaging for the kids of today? 

Over the last 6 months, the pandemic has forced me to rethink the entire youth baseball experience. It’s been a constant trial and error process dating back to June with our summer camps. 

Here are a few thoughts as to what has worked and how we are tinkering with the youth baseball model to make the game more fun for the modern youth ballplayer, all while keeping in mind Covid safety. 

First off, our 12 man intrapod games, where teams split into 3 teams of 4, has a ton of advantages to having 2 teams of 12 compete… 

With 12 kids on the field at a time, nobody ever “sits the bench”. That’s right, you NEVER sit. With 12 players, in a 2 hour game, everybody can have the opportunity to pitch 1 inning. Instead of 2-3 at bats, you can sometimes get 8-10 at bats in a game. 

If baseball is a “game of failure”, why dont we figure out how to give the kids more opportunities for success? 

The advantages of 3 team, short roster baseball are endless… (not to mention smaller teams/pods means decreased Covid exposure) 

Additionally we are modifying the game in other ways: for example, 5 run limits, no playing the same position 2 innings in a row, moving in the home run fences to a distance that kids could actually hit. 

Why shouldn’t a 9 year olds be able to hit an “out of the park” home runs!? Talk about making memories!? 

This December and January, the Legends Winter Academy program will be experimenting with additional modifications which we believe may only improve the experience, making it more action packed, inclusive, fast paced and competitive.

Here are a few modifications that we may be experimenting with:

• No foul ball lines
• Stealing first base
• Starting the inning with runners on base
• Kids manage their own teams and coach at 1st and 3rd base
• Players can run to first OR third base
• Putting targets on the field to hit/defend
• Using a soccer ball as the ball (on occasion) 
• Everyone bats every inning instead of 3 outs 
• Every inning counts for 1 point instead of keeping track of runs 

Of course I’m biased, but I believe that for the developing brain, there is no better sport than baseball for teaching kids how to handle failure, work with others and ultimately to be the best human beings they can be. 

While I consider myself a baseball purist and love the history and traditions, I believe that in order for baseball to appeal to the masses in 2020, the playing experience for children needs to evolve. 

What do you think?

What have you observed when it comes to youth engagement with the game of baseball? 

Hit reply and let me know what you think!

Would genuinely love to hear from you and will get back to every email.  :) 

Lastly, have a relaxing and SAFE Thanksgiving!