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Imagine Baseball...In Baseball Weather
We can't do it here, but other states are doing it...starting the baseball season later and playing past the end of the school year to allow for more fair competition in tolerable conditions.
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04/22/09 - Sonny Fulks/1570wptw.com
Tuesday afternoon I spoke with a friend and high school baseball coach from central Ohio.
“How’s your baseball team?” I asked.
“How would I know?” he countered. “We’ve been rained out six of our first 12 games.”
I wasn’t surprised. A lot of area coaches would tell you the same. Sunday night at 5/3 Field in Dayton, Ft. Loramie’s Bill Sturwold shared this sentiment about his 5-5 Redskins.
“How do you get into any kind of flow when you play a game on Tuesday and then you may not play until the next Tuesday?”
Those of you who have read me in the past, or read me often, know my passion for the game of baseball…and in particular, high school baseball. It’s pretty special when compared to the other sports for the fact of the opportunity that it provides for each of the nine players on the field. You can’t hide in baseball. Sooner or later someone’s going to hit the ball to you, or you’re going to come to plate with runners on base and the game on the line.
Yes, I love the game of baseball, but I have one “gripe” with it that I continue to air.
I think it’s a shame that kids who prepare for it all year have to play high school baseball in the conditions of March and April weather in Ohio. And I say this because unbeknownst to most high school sports fans and supporters, there’s more on the line than they realize. For many kids there's more at stake than the fact of winning more games than they lose. More high school athletes (boys and girls) get money to play college baseball and softball than those who play football and basketball combined. That’s a fact, according to recruiting services like College Prospects of America.
So given that there’s so much at stake, doesn’t it make sense that we at least give kids better weather in which to perform. After all, we all say that sports and the benefits therein are for the kids. They grow from the experience, the competition and the values of teamwork.
The OHSAA, in its official statement, says that we should all respect the “game”. But how can you respect asking kids to run, throw, slide, catch and risk injury in rain, snow and 38-degree weather?
High school football teams play 10 games over ten weeks.And, we wouldn’t ask football players to play a doubleheader or four games in the span of a week for fear of getting hurt. Yet, we think nothing of letting 16-year-old pitchers throw as hard as they can in frigid weather.
High school basketball teams play 20 games over twelve weeks. But you wouldn’t ask them to play outside in the middle of January. If you did someone would say that’s preposterous.
But the average high school baseball team has to schedule 25 games just to be assured of play 2/3rds that many in what amounts to be six weeks. That’s the length of most high school regular season schedules when you factor in rainouts and postponements.
Football players are assured of playing ten games in a pre-determined length of time. Basketball players are assured of playing their twenty. But baseball athletes have no such assurances. And if it rains to the point of having games stacked up at the end of the schedule, to determine a league champion you simply play more games in less time…more than most high school players can physically endure. And knowing it, administrators and state officials simply shrug their shoulders and say “that’s high school baseball.”
Well we can’t change the weather. But for years I’ve advocated doing what states like Iowa and other bad-weather states in the Midwest do. Start the high school baseball season on May 1st and extend it through graduation and on into the summer. In Iowa, they play their state championships on the 4th of July weekend.
School officials in Ohio wring their hands and say that it’s impossible to do here. School calendars, contracts and the expense of busing, coaches and administrators go beyond the limits of current athletic budgets.
But yet, we think nothing of sending area teams into the state tournament process having played less than 15 regular season games. We risk injury to arms and leg muscles by asking kids to play in rain, snow and freezing temperatures. And officially, we say we do it “for the kids.”
I’m tired of the lies…of claiming we do all we can do for the sake of high school baseball, when we don’t. I’m tired of the verbal posturing of saying that it’s all about the kids, when we could do more and do it better…and actually do something for the kids who play the game.
I recently brought the issue to the attention of OHSAA commissioner Dan Ross, and did it publicly during an interview at the state basketball tournament.
“I’m well aware and we’d all like to see a better situation available,” said Ross. “In fact, we just met this week to consider the fact of spring baseball schedules and how they might be impacted if the governor gets his asked-for 200-day school year. In that event, it might actually facilitate such a change whereby high school baseball and softball seasons could be pushed forward into more favorable weather conditions of May and June.
“But there are a lot of factors to consider. There are issues you mention, like school calendars, schedules, contracts and budgets. But trust me, we’re all aware of the game and the conditions under which those kids who enjoy baseball and softball are forced to play.”
Brave words. Encouraging words. And words from one who, above all, stands for and respects the fact of fair play. But before the responsibility for change is mandated by the governor and the state athletic commissioner, I’d like to see area coaches and administrators who work on behalf of “the kids” to take on the responsibility themselves…to get the game of baseball moved to May and June and the kind of weather in which it’s fair to ask kids to play.
After all, if they do that they can at last pat themselves on the back and say…that they did it for “the kids”! |
