Pastime with steep price

It's not all fun and games when parents are shelling out thousands to ensure their kids become high-caliber players.

By BOB PUTNAM
Published August 2, 2007

David Siegel, 9, Clearwater, gets hitting instruction from Randy Kotchman, owner and school director of Kotchman Baseball/Softball School in Pinellas Park
	[Times photo | Scott Keeler]

ADVERTISEMENT [Times photo | Scott Keeler] Coach Mike Rivera, of the Brandon Panthers AAU 10 and under youth baseball team, purchases a Slug-A-Rama tee shirt form AAU staffer Sherry Bowen of Ocala during the tournament in Winter Haven. [Times photo | Scott Keeler] Various youth baseball trading pins represent teams from around the US and Canada participating in one of the annual summer baseball tournaments at Cooperstown Dreams Park, Cooperstown, N.Y. Team members trade pins with each other during their week of games. About 95 youth baseball teams from around the U.S. play each week during a twelve week season at the park each summer. [Times photo | Scott Keeler] Members of youth baseball teams from around the U.S. participate in opening ceremonies at Cooperstown Dreams Park, Cooperstown, N.Y. [Times photo | Scott Keeler] Right: Connor Labrie, 11, greets his teammate Michael Wiley, 12, left, as teammate Jake Holsinger, 13, center, looks on in the Branch Rickey bunkhouse. All are members of the St. Pete Stingers youth baseball team who participated in one of the parks annual summer youth baseball tournaments.

David Siegel's parents spend nearly $5,000 a year to help him become a better baseball player.

They pay for state-of-the-art aluminum bats, gloves, league registration fees, baseball camps, tournaments and private trainers.

The extra help may or may not help David reach his dream of becoming a professional baseball player, but, at 9 years old, he is an all-star on his Little League team and a starter on his AAU club.

"It's not cheap, but it's definitely worth it," said Bob Siegel, David's father. "Baseball is a good, wholesome activity and David is engrossed by it all."

Fueled by the growing sports culture of specialization, many kids are playing baseball at an early age and practicing year-round. To keep up, parents are opening their wallets in hopes of turning their children into high-caliber athletes or landing college scholarships for them.

This spending has trickled down to private instructors.

At the Randy Kotchman Baseball/Softball School in Pinellas Park, players like David come in droves, some so small the bats they wield drag along the ground behind them.

"We have kids from all ages and all levels," said Kotchman, a former Seminole High star and California Angels farmhand who started his school 13 years ago.

Parents pay Kotchman, whose nephew is former Seminole star and Los Angeles Angels first baseman Casey Kotchman, anywhere from $35 for a half hour to $95 for two hours to teach their kids the finer points of the game.

"I played a little baseball, but I could only teach my son so much," Bob Siegel said. "He needed more attention and this stuff makes him better."

Critics, though, see this spending in youth baseball as the product of ultracompetitive parents with unrealistic expectations who now have the time and financial wherewithal to administer and structure all so-called play. Even if it is a minority pushing too hard, they say, the majority worries about falling behind.

These parents feel pressure to buy into a system of year-round competition on travel teams, expensive private coaches and instruction at summer sports camps - a level of commitment routine at the upper echelons of youth competition these days.

"The cost of some of this stuff is astronomical," said Bob Tewksbury, a former standout at Saint Leo and all-star pitcher with the Cardinals who now is a sports psychologist for the Red Sox. "It's one of these myths parents buy into that you have to keep up with the Joneses. There's a socialization thing to it that if Johnny and Timmy have hitting coaches, then that's what we need to do."

But the move toward youth baseball as big business keeps growing, with camps and big-time tournaments popping up to meet the demand.

Price not always right

At the AAU Slug-A-Rama tournament in Auburndale, more than 70 teams each paid a $395 entry fee. The cost did not include $5 for general admission and $15 for T-shirts.

Then there's Cooperstown Dreams Park near the Baseball Hall of Fame. From May through August, 96 teams from around the country, including many in the Tampa Bay area, descend on this 14-field complex. The kids and coaches sleep in barracks, get special uniforms and play two to three games a day.

Dreams Park charges $695 per child for a week's stay. With an average of 12 players per team, the complex brings in an estimated $9-million during the 12 weeks it is open in the summer.

Locally, there is a proposal by Hillsborough County Commission chairman Jim Norton to build a $40-million amateur sports megaplex in Plant City.

The economics of youth baseball has turned the sport into a high-priced one, much like tennis and golf. And the price is costing some players, especially African-Americans.

Reggie Williams, a former major leaguer, runs the Tampa Dawg Pound. His teams are among the few on the AAU circuit that have a predominant number of minorities.

"It is real tough," Williams said. "The cost for a lot of this stuff is so high. I know a lot of kids see that and turn away."

The fees for many AAU organizations can range from $1,000 to $2,000 a season, a modest amount for some but an unspeakable amount for others who simply fold the tent and call it a career. In contrast, Little League costs $50 to $100, a fee that covers uniforms and insurance costs, said District 12 administrator Bob Gibson, who also sits on the Little League international board of directors.

Williams tries to defray costs. He supports several players so they can participate on his teams.

"I ask what they can afford," Williams said. "There are a lot of times I take money out my pocket to help others. I do it because I want to see these kids play.

"I don't want see them forced out just because of the expense."

Bob Putnam can be reached at putnam@sptimes.com or 727 445-4169.

About the series

A four-part series on the competitiveness of youth baseball and the sometimes negative consequences.

TUESDAY: Big growth. Little League used to be the league for kids. Now it has competition ... lots of it.

WEDNESDAY: Pitch count debate. Many pitchers are overextending themselves, playing in too many leagues and throwing breaking balls too early. The result, Devil Rays orthopedist Koco Eaton says, is major surgery.

TODAY: Big business. Parents spend thousands on team memberships, tournaments and private training in hopes of turning their kids into top players.

FRIDAY: A tale of two organizations. AAU is the most competitive league. Could its ability to lure elite players doom Little League?

[Last modified August 1, 2007, 23:46:49]