Growing America's Pastime

New Grassroots, Professional Programs Ensure Fun & Accessibility

BY SELENA CHAVIS

The statistics speak for themselves. According to a 2009 participation survey by the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association (SGMA), more than 15 million people in the United States currently participate in the sport of baseball, and more than 12 million people participate in slow- and fastpitch softball.

Baseball and softball have long been mammoth mainstays in the U.S. amateur sports arena, offering wide appeal and influence for youth and adults participants alike. It’s no secret in the industry, though, that the marketplace has become much more crowded and competitive in recent years, prompting many national organizations to increase efforts to grow the sport on the youth level.

“Most of the initiatives you see happening are on the grassroots level,” said David Perkins, COO of USA Baseball, the national governing body for baseball, noting that declining numbers among youth are driving efforts to grow exposure, availability and options for players. “We certainly hope it’s turning around. We expect that more athletes will get back into baseball due to these efforts.”
Another recent SGMA report, U.S. Trends in Team Sports, revealed that participation numbers in slow- and fastpitch softball have declined since 2000. And while baseball still remains one of the top four team sports for participation, the numbers are not as strong as they used to be.
Chris Downs, media relations manager with Little League International (LLI), attributes a slight decline in participation to diversity in sports and social economic impact. Recent statistics suggesting that the peak participation age for baseball occurs very young has also prompted a renewed urgency for youth initiatives. A recent study by SGMA revealed that the peak participation age for baseball occurs around age 8 and softball peaks around ages 9 or 10.

Growing The Game

Hosting its inaugural event in 2008, the
2nd Annual National Youth Baseball Championships were held in Memphis, Tenn., this past August amid a nationally televised broadcast. Representing a large-scale effort to introduce new excitement for the sport on the national level, the New Era National Youth Baseball Championships event represents the initial effort of the Major Youth Baseball Alliance LLC (MYBA).

The MYBA is composed of eight major youth organizations, consisting of more than 8 million participants in the sport. It includes the American Amateur Baseball Congress (AABC), Amateur Athletic Union (AAU), Babe Ruth Baseball, Dixie Youth Baseball, National Amateur Baseball Federation (NABF), PONY Baseball, Super Series Baseball of America, and U.S. Specialty Sports Association (USSSA). “It’s all about the kids,” said Eddie Einhorn, interim executive director of the MYBA. “We are about inclusion, participation and competition. Organizations with different philosophies have agreed to participate because it’s about kids playing baseball.”
The National Youth Baseball Championships were showcased as part of the Major League Baseball (MLB) Network’s “Youth Baseball Month” in August, which kicked off with the Breakthrough Series Championship, a joint effort between MLB and USA Baseball that is gaining traction, according to Perkins. “It’s a very proactive effort to grow the game. It’s been a growing program for us, and it’s been very successful,” Perkins said, pointing out that the Breakthrough Series complements other initiatives such as MLB’s Urban Youth Academy and Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities (RBI) programs. “It’s really designed to showcase the skills of urban baseball players not involved in travel ball.”

The 2009 Breakthrough Series, hosted by the MLB Urban Youth Academy in Compton, Calif., featured players selected by the MLB Urban Youth Academy, the Major League Scouting Bureau, the Chicago White Sox and a scouts’ organization called Mentoring Viable Prospects.
 
Also part of the events held during Baseball Month, the RBI World Series continues to be a major initiative of MLB to reach inner-city youth. RBI is a youth outreach program designed to increase participation and interest in baseball, encourage academic participation and achievement, increase the number of talented athletes prepared to play in college and minor leagues, promote greater inclusion of minorities into the mainstream of the game and teach the value of teamwork. Former scout and Major Leaguer John Young developed the RBI concept in Los Angeles in 1989 and MLB assumed administration of the program in 1991.

The LLI World Series continues to be the organization’s largest showcase event, according to Downs. “It’s our single greatest opportunity to educate people about what our program is all about,” he said. The organization held its 63rd World Series event in 2009, having grown from three local teams to now more than 175,000.

According to Downs, LLI is focusing efforts on league development by bringing programs to areas where they may not have been introduced in the past. The organization’s Challenger Division is also seeing growth in numbers. “The growth of our programs have been in [non-traditional] divisions of LLI...specifically in softball and our Challenger Program,” Downs said, adding that by including some of these divisions in the annual World Series event the organization has been able to create new exposure through extensive television coverage.

The Challenger Division was established in 1989 as a separate division of LLI to enable boys and girls with physical and mental challenges to enjoy the game of baseball. Teams are set up according to abilities rather than age and can include as many as 15 to 20 players participating on three levels: Tee-Ball, Coach-Pitch or Player-Pitch.

Television coverage has become key to generating new exposure and growth for both baseball and softball alike, suggested Ron Radigonda, executive director with the Amateur Softball Association (ASA)/USA Softball. “We are always looking at new platforms to put the sport on television,” he said.
 
ASA held its 4th World Cup of Softball in July at ASA Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City, generating a .8 on ESPN—which equates to 800,000 households viewing the event. “The audience has been great,” Radigonda said. “It’s always great when the fire marshal tells you not to sell any more tickets.”

 In 2010, ASA/USA Softball will have the opportunity to achieve even greater exposure as the United States will host the ISF XII Women’s World Championship in July. Last held in Beijing in 2006, the ‰ International Softball Federation (ISF) awarded ASA and Oklahoma City the event, which will feature the top 16 women’s fastpitch softball teams from around the world. Representation comes from five regions including Africa, Americas, Asia, Europe, and Oceania. “The biggest issue for the United States will be working to develop the television for it,” Radigonda said. “It will be a great opportunity to expand the exposure of the game in a world-class facility on world-class TV.”

Like many other grassroots initiatives, LLI also initiated its own Little League Urban Initiative in 1999, starting with programs in Los Angeles and Harlem and expanding to other cities in 2000. According to Downs, the program is now operating in nearly 85 cities and has stimulated the participation of 3,901 teams.

“Part of that initiative is an effort to develop available green space,” Downs said, noting that the organization has participated in nearly 30 field renovation and development projects by partnering with local government and civic groups.

National groups also continue to provide outlets to grow the game of baseball on the elite level through talent showcase events. The National Team Identification Series continues to be USA Baseball’s “marquee” event for showcasing talent, according to Perkins. “It’s been used for the past 14 years to select the national team,” he said, noting that it is a high-level opportunity for coaches to look at players. “It’s more of an ‘identifying’ event than a winning event.”

This year, the National Team Identification Series consisted of three separate age groups (17U, 15U and 13U), featuring a total of 648 players. The event was held in September at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary, N.C., a facility that Perkins suggested has become “the heartbeat for USA Baseball in this country.”

According to James Parker, director of sports for AAU, the organization has stepped up initiatives to highlight elite players and talent as well through its Super Showcase events for the 14U and 15U age groups. “We invite some of the best teams in the nation and then bring in a scouting service,” he said.

Other initiatives include a National League website that provides a team ranking system and opportunities to collaborate with each other. “It’s free for teams and helps us build our database,” Parker said, adding that the initiative is also creating some excitement for the sport of baseball. “It’s created a good little buzz...it gets teams motivated to play more baseball games.”

New Trends

Economic trends in recent years are bringing more kids home to play, according to a number of organizations. While travel ball is still a distinct element of the sport, more teams are looking to stay close to home, noted Perkins. “More parents are looking for options that keep them in their local area.”

Parker agreed, noting that “the travel they are doing is more local. Teams don’t want to pay airplane fares.”

To help generate more interest in traveling to AAU-sponsored events, Parker said the organization is trying to give more value to its events by packaging team registrations to include tickets to local attractions or other unique events.
 
Travel ball remains a key facet to youth play of the sport, according Perkins, but he noted that too much emphasis on elite play could cause others to get lost in the shuffle. “You have to make sure you’re growing your base and keeping them engaged at those touch points,” he noted, pointing to the younger ages where baseball tends to peak. “One of the things we are encouraging are programs that coaches can run to keep kids encouraged and interested. Some of it involves coaches’ education...making sure coaches have the best possible tools in front of them.”

Downs agreed, pointing out that LLI has found that many children who choose not to participate in the game of baseball at a young age make that decision as a result of a bad experience with a coach or manager. In an effort to improve those statistics, LLI has created a free, online manager/coach resource center. This resource center is available to all LLI-chartered local leagues and provides everything from practice planning to information from the Positive Coaching Alliance.
Alongside that effort, LLI also started “Road Shows,” where members travel to strategic locations to discuss the benefits of the LLI program and encourage participation.

AAU is also focusing its efforts to host events in “hot spots” for the sport. “We’re looking at more events on the West Coast and in the Southeast,” Parker said. “We’re trying to go to the hot spots where there is a lot of baseball being played.”

Radigonda expects that more focused initiatives will result in a new surge of softball players in the next five or six years. Pointing out that 2007 produced more babies born than that of the Baby Boomer years, he noted that in 2014 “we’re going to have a lot of 7-year-olds out there...a key age for the introduction of the sport.”