JV Team a Dying Tradition ?

Yappi said:
I'm in my early 50s and not sure we ever played a pickup game on a baseball diamond. We always played in a backyard. Started with a baseball but changed to a tennis ball when we got older...too many broken windows. When we played with a tennis ball, we threw some wicked curveballs. Everyone in our neighborhood could hit.

My kids have played in a couple pickup games on the local diamond and people were amazed. Someone even made a post about a bunch of kids playing the game on social media because they were so surprised.
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In a lot of communities kids playing a pick up game would be chased off the field by city workers getting it prepped for a travel game later that evening.
 
Yappi said:
I'm in my early 50s and not sure we ever played a pickup game on a baseball diamond. We always played in a backyard. Started with a baseball but changed to a tennis ball when we got older...too many broken windows. When we played with a tennis ball, we threw some wicked curveballs. Everyone in our neighborhood could hit.

My kids have played in a couple pickup games on the local diamond and people were amazed. Someone even made a post about a bunch of kids playing the game on social media because they were so surprised.
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I’m in my early 30s and there’s only kids who play for a team ever on our fields, same with basketball… all the kids who actually play the sport run together but we don’t have many kids who just do it for fun. As my son’s aau coach said “ kids aren’t going to the parks anymore to play, it’s become almost exclusive to travel leagues.” If your kid wants to play, you have to pay. A couple cities near by play amongst themselves which is really weird because they never play their league opponents until damn near high school unless they in a travel league as well.
 
green_genes said:
In a lot of communities kids playing a pick up game would be chased off the field by city workers getting it prepped for a travel game later that evening.
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The funny part of this is most City Parks and Schools don't allow people on them for insurance and liability purposes. Not sure that was ever a worry or concern 20+ years ago.
 
EyesOnThe419 said:
The funny part of this is most City Parks and Schools don't allow people on them for insurance and liability purposes. Not sure that was ever a worry or concern 20+ years ago.
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I’ve never heard of that. Our facilities where I live have always been open for public use outside of games. Only problem is few kids play on it. Xbox killed all that
 
EyesOnThe419 said:
The funny part of this is most City Parks and Schools don't allow people on them for insurance and liability purposes. Not sure that was ever a worry or concern 20+ years ago.
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When I was a kid, the Team(s) has to get a “Permit” from the City Park(s) for certain days and times. For Games the City would drag the Field and if we were lucky mow the grass. The Coaches usually lined the Field and any other “work” they thought maybe necessary. If there was little bit of rain day or so before Gameday Coaches and some Dads would see what they could to get the Field playable. Not sure insurance had anything to do with this then or now but I do know video games has crushed many kids playing outside!!
 
Smarty2022 said:
When I was a kid, the Team(s) has to get a “Permit” from the City Park(s) for certain days and times. For Games the City would drag the Field and if we were lucky mow the grass. The Coaches usually lined the Field and any other “work” they thought maybe necessary. If there was little bit of rain day or so before Gameday Coaches and some Dads would see what they could to get the Field playable. Not sure insurance had anything to do with this then or now but I do know video games has crushed many kids playing outside!!
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I think one of the biggest reasons that kids don't play pick up baseball as much these days than when they did back in my day is that people don't live in walkable towns anymore. If my kid wants to play pick up baseball, he'd have to walk 2+ miles to get to the closest field on a busy, busy road with no sidewalks. When I was a kid, most of my friends all lived close by within a short walk/bike ride on sidewalks to get to the field.

Another factor is that with the proliferation of travel baseball along with soccer and lacrosse, all my son's friends all play different sports. Kids who don't play baseball don't want to play pick up baseball. They want to play pick up whatever sport they primarily play. In my day, everyone played baseball. That is what we did. Then we played pick up football starting around August.

I do agree that video games play a role. I know I wouldn't have played outside nearly as often if I had Madden or MLB The Show instead of Pong.
 
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