Baseball is our national pastime. Fathers connect with their sons on the diamonds and the game has been played for generations. However, the latest phenomenon is kids playing the greatest game in a manner that is called Travel Baseball. You may have actually seen it being played on a baseball diamond or on television.

Is it really a sport or has it become something more........Is it a state of mind? What is it about the game of baseball that has touched so many, so deeply to play the game in this way?

In 2000 I got involved with the greatest of American Games. At the time, I thought it was a game to be played on a sandlot. It seemed so simple at first....get some players, assemble a team, find a place to play. But it became so much more than fathers playing catch with their sons.

After six years of watching the phenomenon of travel baseball unfold, I have gained a rare insight about this youth game that few can appreciate. My persepective comes from running an urban team called the Clubbers-Elite in the City of Chicago and over those years, I have gained many insights about coaching, the equipment, the players, the places the game is played, baseball tournaments, the action of the game and a lot more. There is a lot of benefit that comes from playing travel baseball, but with all that is right there is also a lot that is very wrong.

The emergence of Travel Baseball has resulted in the game being played on an entirely new level, which for many parents and coaches becomes a cosmic struggle. Parents become focused on the coach who is calling the game, the batting order and the positions that the players will play and who gets the ball on the mound. Coaches are sometimes doing things at the expense of kids to get the win and are often confronted by parents and told things that are beyond the pale of reasonableness. Where is it all heading and what does it all mean?

Are there better places for a kid to spend summer days than on a baseball diamond? It may have begun with Little League, on infields of hard baked dirt, full of rocks and pebbles, and lots of imagery in the minds of the players of places like Yankee Stadium, Fenway Park and Wrigley Field.

But in the end it is about kids playing a game........or is it for the parents and the coaches that there is something that is now called Travel Baseball?

Coming Soon!