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American Legion Baseball vs. Travel Baseball

Posted: Wed Jun 14, 2017 9:29 am
by Nuke LaLoosh
Have at it...

Re: American Legion Baseball vs. Travel Baseball

Posted: Wed Jun 14, 2017 1:57 pm
by hilljack
As long as your playing quality baseball at a high level, it doesn't matter.

Re: American Legion Baseball vs. Travel Baseball

Posted: Mon Jun 19, 2017 4:22 pm
by Watson40
Depends on the team. Legion ball seems to be making a comeback. I am glad. Travel ball is full of little Johnnys dad's new team because he didn't play short stop and bat clean up. If some if these travel ball teams truly cut mediocre talent and team downers you can have elite baseball. We do travel ball. But any legion team we have played is top level talent. So I agree with the last post. As long as you play high level ball you will learn and get opportunities to be seen.

Re: American Legion Baseball vs. Travel Baseball

Posted: Tue Jun 20, 2017 8:28 am
by se-alum
Travel ball is extremely watered down these days, especially summer travel ball.

Re: American Legion Baseball vs. Travel Baseball

Posted: Tue Jun 20, 2017 11:51 am
by mrwonderful
Travel ball is all about the money for the most part.....If your family doesn't have money your not going to be on team...How many families can afford 1000 to 1500 dollar fee plus tournaments basically every weekend to Cincinatti ,louiville, lex, the smokeys , to the beach.... ends up costing thousands of dollars....Like the above poster said a lot of mediocre players......iv'e seen parents spend hundreds of dollars to these teams on private pitching and hitting lessons..Of course these kids are going to make the team... Not all but a few of these travel teams are basically a business.. their about making money.. you pay your on the team.. American legion teams are more talented overall

Re: American Legion Baseball vs. Travel Baseball

Posted: Tue Jun 20, 2017 12:29 pm
by Watson40
mrwonderful wrote: Tue Jun 20, 2017 11:51 am Travel ball is all about the money for the most part.....If your family doesn't have money your not going to be on team...How many families can afford 1000 to 1500 dollar fee plus tournaments basically every weekend to Cincinatti ,louiville, lex, the smokeys , to the beach.... ends up costing thousands of dollars....Like the above poster said a lot of mediocre players......iv'e seen parents spend hundreds of dollars to these teams on private pitching and hitting lessons..Of course these kids are going to make the team... Not all but a few of these travel teams are basically a business.. their about making money.. you pay your on the team.. American legion teams are more talented overall
Imagine if all that talent went back to legion ball. Travel ball usually runs quite a bit longer then legion ball. Which, now after 3 generations of travel ball, I don't think is really needed. Kids at this age really burn out and need that break. I know a few years ago we played 80 some games between spring to late summer. That was too much by far. Of course there was a lot of talent due to age. No legion ball yet. Now at U16 we have a team that is better then most. But the rest of the pool is watered down. We usually go to a tournament and run rule 2 or 3 teams in pool play and first round. Then we don't see the real talented teams until late bracket play. Most of the time. And directors usually know which teams are strong and don't pool them together.

Where travel ball is strong is the bigger tournies that mist legion ball teams don't attend. Kids can get a lot of exposure from them, if they are thinking about college level ball. For instance we were just at the Worthington wood bat and there were almost as many scouts in the bleachers as parents, for some games. If you are thinking about travel ball I would recommend an established program with a coach you trust. Most elite programs don't allow fathers to coach their kids for obvious reasons. Yes it does cost but most teams will have some form of fund raising.

However as I mentioned, the recruiting process is mainly done, these days, by reaching out to a coach. Find a school or schools you like and contact them. Go to their camp or let them know what your game schedule is so they can see you. Send them video. You don't need to spend 5K a year on travel ball.

Re: American Legion Baseball vs. Travel Baseball

Posted: Tue Jun 20, 2017 1:08 pm
by se-alum
Watson40 wrote: Tue Jun 20, 2017 12:29 pm
mrwonderful wrote: Tue Jun 20, 2017 11:51 am Travel ball is all about the money for the most part.....If your family doesn't have money your not going to be on team...How many families can afford 1000 to 1500 dollar fee plus tournaments basically every weekend to Cincinatti ,louiville, lex, the smokeys , to the beach.... ends up costing thousands of dollars....Like the above poster said a lot of mediocre players......iv'e seen parents spend hundreds of dollars to these teams on private pitching and hitting lessons..Of course these kids are going to make the team... Not all but a few of these travel teams are basically a business.. their about making money.. you pay your on the team.. American legion teams are more talented overall
Imagine if all that talent went back to legion ball. Travel ball usually runs quite a bit longer then legion ball. Which, now after 3 generations of travel ball, I don't think is really needed. Kids at this age really burn out and need that break. I know a few years ago we played 80 some games between spring to late summer. That was too much by far. Of course there was a lot of talent due to age. No legion ball yet. Now at U16 we have a team that is better then most. But the rest of the pool is watered down. We usually go to a tournament and run rule 2 or 3 teams in pool play and first round. Then we don't see the real talented teams until late bracket play. Most of the time. And directors usually know which teams are strong and don't pool them together.

Where travel ball is strong is the bigger tournies that mist legion ball teams don't attend. Kids can get a lot of exposure from them, if they are thinking about college level ball. For instance we were just at the Worthington wood bat and there were almost as many scouts in the bleachers as parents, for some games. If you are thinking about travel ball I would recommend an established program with a coach you trust. Most elite programs don't allow fathers to coach their kids for obvious reasons. Yes it does cost but most teams will have some form of fund raising.

However as I mentioned, the recruiting process is mainly done, these days, by reaching out to a coach. Find a school or schools you like and contact them. Go to their camp or let them know what your game schedule is so they can see you. Send them video. You don't need to spend 5K a year on travel ball.
Yea, there are, without a doubt, legitimate travel programs out there. The key is "programs", not one of these fly by night organizations that runs for a couple years, and goes defunct. I know of a young lady playing travel softball, where 8 or 9 of the girls have already been offered D1 scholarships, and are only at the 16U level I believe. Those programs are out there, but they are very expensive. By the time it's all said and done, IF the player gets a D1 schollie, the parents have basically already paid college tuition in travel ball costs.

Re: American Legion Baseball vs. Travel Baseball

Posted: Sun Jun 25, 2017 7:25 pm
by The Flush
What travel teams do kids from southern Ohio play on if they are not playing Legion ball?

Re: American Legion Baseball vs. Travel Baseball

Posted: Mon Jun 26, 2017 1:55 pm
by se-alum
The Flush wrote: Sun Jun 25, 2017 7:25 pm What travel teams do kids from southern Ohio play on if they are not playing Legion ball?
Ohio Generals and OBC(Ohio Baseball Club) are probably the 2 biggest around Chillicothe.

Re: American Legion Baseball vs. Travel Baseball

Posted: Thu Jun 29, 2017 11:13 am
by Watson40
se-alum wrote: Mon Jun 26, 2017 1:55 pm
The Flush wrote: Sun Jun 25, 2017 7:25 pm What travel teams do kids from southern Ohio play on if they are not playing Legion ball?
Ohio Generals and OBC(Ohio Baseball Club) are probably the 2 biggest around Chillicothe.
Be careful. Some programs are under fraud investigation. One I know of for sure.