Columbus City League Baseball

C

ColinHebert

New member
Hello everybody! I was wondering if anybody on this board follows baseball in the Columbus City League? I know that it's tough to get info coming out of schools as most devalue the sport, and only a couple are even competitive with schools outside of the league, but I've always been intrigued by the league.
 
 
ColinHebert said:
Hello everybody! I was wondering if anybody on this board follows baseball in the Columbus City League? I know that it's tough to get info coming out of schools as most devalue the sport, and only a couple are even competitive with schools outside of the league, but I've always been intrigued by the league.
Click to expand...
Isn’t it always just Whetstone and then everyone else? Some years Northland has an O.K. team? Some years Centennial?
 
The Dock said:
Isn’t it always just Whetstone and then everyone else? Some years Northland has an O.K. team? Some years Centennial?
Click to expand...
The North Division is the more competitive. It's always bouncing between Whetstone and Centennial with Northland lurking. In the South, Briggs seems to have a hold on it, with West having some decent teams.
 
ColinHebert said:
The North Division is the more competitive. It's always bouncing between Whetstone and Centennial with Northland lurking. In the South, Briggs seems to have a hold on it, with West having some decent teams.
Click to expand...
West won the Class AAA state title in 1975. Incredible what a difference 30-45 years has made. I know Briggs has a hold on the South, although I’m not even convinced the bottom half of the South has ever actually played each other (hyperbole.)

Makes sense if the Hilltop schools are the neighborhood with some baseball activity in that part of the league.
 
The Dock said:
West won the Class AAA state title in 1975. Incredible what a difference 30-45 years has made. I know Briggs has a hold on the South, although I’m not even convinced the bottom half of the South has ever actually played each other (hyperbole.)

Makes sense if the Hilltop schools are the neighborhood with some baseball activity in that part of the league.
Click to expand...

Busing, White Flight and the popularization of Basketball among the black community can kill a baseball program. Columbus East won a baseball title not too many years prior to West winning one. The white community ran to the burbs and the black community embraced basketball. In the end urban baseball suffered.
 
scbuckeye99 said:
Busing, White Flight and the popularization of Basketball among the black community can kill a baseball program. Columbus East won a baseball title not too many years prior to West winning one. The white community ran to the burbs and the black community embraced basketball. In the end urban baseball suffered.
Click to expand...
Yup. Still curious how Start in Toledo did it.
 
The Dock said:
Yup. Still curious how Start in Toledo did it.
Click to expand...

Toledo didn't experience white flight the same way Columbus did. Up until the mid 90s (Start's peak) TPS was still predominantly white with Start, Bowsher, Waite and even Woodard boasting greater than 50% white enrollments and Rogers and Libbey still between 40-50% white enrollments. Scott had long since fallen into the traditional inner city public school role.

The other key component with Roy C Start High School was Rich Arbinger. Arbinger was a math teacher at Start (being in house helps) who was committed to making baseball at Start a priority and a key player not just in the city, not just in Lucas County, not just NW Ohio but a major player in the state and nation. Arbinger's presence and impact was felt so much that even after he retired the Spartans were not a state force but still very competitive because Start was the place to be if you played ball in the city.

Just like any other sport in the inner city you have to have a coach who is willing to take the time necessary to build their vision of what can be, make that school the mecca of Toledo, Dayton, Columbus, Cleveland city school baseball,

FWIW Arbinger I believe played college ball at BGSU and well its RARE that a city school gets a head baseball coach who played D1 college ball and is a teacher in the building and is committed to sticking around for years to come.

But yes, you're absolutely right. Toledo Start stands out as that lone urban public school who competed at a very high school in the more recent modern history of high school baseball. Unfortunately Start as fallen off big time lately.
 
In the Columbus City League Whetstone has won the City League Championship 9 straight years (A record). Last year they sent three pitchers to college, two D3 and one D1. They are have a solid program , they usually beat 3 -6 non city schools a year and head South for spring break to the Ripken or Cocoa. It helps that they have a JV and Freshman team as no one else in the city is even close to them in numbers. I think last year only 2 or 3 teams in the entire city league were going to have a JV team, none have a freshman team. Whetstone has a solid team but unproven pitchers, they have a good catcher who is committed to D3 Thiel College. The Whetstone coach has been at Whetstone since 1994 and has 30 plus years as a coach. Not sure of any coaches in the city league that have been the head coach at one school that long currently (Any sport)

This year Centennial should be very good. Their #1 pitcher who plays for Bo Jackson 18U Elite is headed to UC (D1) next year to play baseball, he has a teammate going to Seton Hill University (D2) to play baseball. It should come down to Centennial and Whetstone in the North Division again this year. Centennial defiantly has the edge with two pitchers

Northland is ok, they haven't won the North Division since 1997, so it's been a while. Briggs and Eastmoor will battle it out in the South Division. Two years ago Briggs beat Eastmoor in a one game playoff to determine who wins the South Division, Briggs won then got 2 hit run ruled by Whetstone in the title game. Briggs seems to always have a solid team, but struggle against non city schools and the north division top teams.

There's your City League Baseball info:
 
New to this forum. I loved JJHuddle years ago. Does anyone know if the little league teams (Brookshire, Georgian Heights, Findland, etc...) still exist on the Hilltop? Believe it or not, Columbus City League baseball was legit for a long stretch of time. Has a team from the city made it out of sectionals recently?
 
WishIWasGolfing said:
New to this forum. I loved JJHuddle years ago. Does anyone know if the little league teams (Brookshire, Georgian Heights, Findland, etc...) still exist on the Hilltop? Believe it or not, Columbus City League baseball was legit for a long stretch of time. Has a team from the city made it out of sectionals recently?
Click to expand...

Those were some solid West Side baseball programs back in the day, don't forget Riverbend those teams were pipelines to Briggs and West. I doubt those those communities have any type of travel teams anymore. Kieth McGrail was a coach for many years of a few of those teams. Good memories playing those teams back in the 90's.
 
Iroquois said:
Those were some solid West Side baseball programs back in the day, don't forget Riverbend those teams were pipelines to Briggs and West. I doubt those those communities have any type of travel teams anymore. Kieth McGrail was a coach for many years of a few of those teams. Good memories playing those teams back in the 90's.
Click to expand...
Curious enough if the west side Catholic grade schools and their CYO programs ever played any local teams in the Hilltop.
 
The Dock said:
Curious enough if the west side Catholic grade schools and their CYO programs ever played any local teams in the Hilltop.
Click to expand...

I'm sure they did. Those Westside communities that he listed above had several kids that ended up at Bishop Ready also. The Catholic diocese isn't what it used to be that's for sure.
 
That is a shame. I played in the South Division during the early 90's. In any given week we could have faced Tom Shearn (Briggs, Astros, Cincinnati Reds), Tronnie Keaton (Marion Franklin, not sure if he qualified, but he could huck it) and Looney from Walnut Ridge. That was a hitting slump bound to happen. I believe Independence had a lefty that could hurl it too...maybe found his way with an Indians minor league organization??? Riverbend is a great call, too. I could be mistaken, but if memory serves me correctly, those three teams (Briggs, MF and WR) had some success outside of league play on a consistent basis. The same can be said for Whetstone, Northland and Centennial. I don't follow enough to know what those programs have been able to accomplish outside of CCS. Who remembers the tournaments in Grove City and Hilsboro? Good stuff...there were some amazing prospects on the Westside.
 
Iroquois said:
I'm sure they did. Those Westside communities that he listed above had several kids that ended up at Bishop Ready also. The Catholic diocese isn't what it used to be that's for sure.
Click to expand...
I remember playing CYO in the 2000's, and the only time we ever played on that side of town was OLPH in Grove City, and at St. Mary Magdalene on Roys. Except I don't remember specifically playing SMM there (???), but it might have been St. Cecilia on Norton who we played. Played St Mary of German Village at Sills (think that is the name) at Groveport & Watkins Road junction.

Even Ready's baseball has hit the skids lately. Unfortunately, that still might be the best baseball offering in the Hilltop today. The best program in that side of town, although not the Hilltop, would obviously be Grove City. Central Crossing has had some good teams. Heights and Westland haven't had hardly anything. D4 Grove City Christian is respectable.
 
WishIWasGolfing said:
That is a shame. I played in the South Division during the early 90's. In any given week we could have faced Tom Shearn (Briggs, Astros, Cincinnati Reds), Tronnie Keaton (Marion Franklin, not sure if he qualified, but he could huck it) and Looney from Walnut Ridge. That was a hitting slump bound to happen. I believe Independence had a lefty that could hurl it too...maybe found his way with an Indians minor league organization??? Riverbend is a great call, too. I could be mistaken, but if memory serves me correctly, those three teams (Briggs, MF and WR) had some success outside of league play on a consistent basis. The same can be said for Whetstone, Northland and Centennial. I don't follow enough to know what those programs have been able to accomplish outside of CCS. Who remembers the tournaments in Grove City and Hilsboro? Good stuff...there were some amazing prospects on the Westside.
Click to expand...
I would be curious to learn when the city's talent began to leave the City Schools and instead heading into the Catholic schools or suburbs. Very cool to learn about the talent to be had on the Southside in the early 90's.

This isn't city league what I'm about to say (but it is City of Columbus), 1985 Class 'A' title game is sometimes considered one of the best played small school state title games in Ohio baseball history. Battle of the south-paws: Hartley vs Dublin. Kent Mercker was on the mound for Dublin that game!
 
I have been told Ready has a frosh or soph. that can sling it. It would be nice to see a HS baseball program from the Westside get going.
 
WishIWasGolfing said:
I have been told Ready has a frosh or soph. that can sling it. It would be nice to see a HS baseball program from the Westside get going.
Click to expand...
I want to say 5-10 years ago they had a couple individual kids go D1. One went to BG. I think their problem specifically is getting the type (and numbers) of kids to round out the bottom of a batting order, and in positions like outfield, to get them to the level of competitiveness necessary to survive in the CCL. It also goes for them out-of-conference, as well. I imagine with Ready it is just a matter of general enrollment decline over the years + some shifting demographics (compare how many kids were coming from outside of 270 into the school 10-15-20 years ago to today?) which corresponds to depth and abilities (as cultivated with experience playing the game.)

(I also wonder if there will be an attempt to move Bishop Ready HS out of the Hilltop, and closer toward 270, down the road.)
 
The Dock said:
I would be curious to learn when the city's talent began to leave the City Schools and instead heading into the Catholic schools or suburbs. Very cool to learn about the talent to be had on the Southside in the early 90's.

This isn't city league what I'm about to say (but it is City of Columbus), 1985 Class 'A' title game is sometimes considered one of the best played small school state title games in Ohio baseball history. Battle of the south-paws: Hartley vs Dublin. Kent Mercker was on the mound for Dublin that game!
Click to expand...

The City league started losing HOF coaches and top notch players when busing and middle school sports was cut in the 80's. The 90's were the last time that the city league had teams that could make a run in the district. There have been very good city teams since then , but not on the level to challenge in post season, especially at the D1 level.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top