OklahomaSports
New Member
- Joined
- Aug 14, 2011
- Messages
- 18
LongTimeListener said:albert77 said:jr/shotglass said:Williamsport is not a "small minority" of the youth baseball world. It's a "small minority" of where you are.
Look, we're 70 miles away, and about 35% of the local leagues are not LL-affiliated. That does not make Williamsport a "small minority."
It may not even be the majority. But there's nothing bigger out there. So "small minority" does not quite describe it.
I wouldn't say it's a small minority, but I'd be pretty confident in saying that LL is a minority of all the youth baseball associations out there. It may well be the largest, but by the time you get through counting all the Babe Ruths, Cal Ripkens, Dizzy Deans, Dixies, Pony Leagues, American Legions, etc., I can't imagine that Little League has anywhere close to a majority of the kids age 9-17 playing summer baseball.
I bet LL does; it has that marketing force and place in the culture.
I also bet that if you take that California team that won the LLWS and convene a 32-team tournament of the best teams of 12-year-olds in the country, the California team would finish in the lower half and would probably finish 32nd. That's how many kids are being siphoned off to travel ball, Pony, academies, etc.
This. A thousand times this. Not only are they 12 year olds playing rec ball on ESPN, but they're not the best 12 year olds playing rec ball. Look at Dylan Bundy and Archie Bradley (4th and 7th overrall picks in this years MLB draft and both Oklahoma highschool graduates). I can say with 100% certainty that niether of them played in the LLWS but also that they were probably the best player on their respective teams growing up. In fact, you can find Youtube videos of Bundy working out and it's clear that he's been a stud for a very long time, but never played in the LLWS.