People will tell you that I have never been afraid of expressing my opnion about any subject. That open expression of mine has proven to be a blessing at times and a curse at other times.
I believe that the baseball program in Logansport has deteriorated so badly that I have said many times that the Logansport High School baseball team will never win another state championship..I realize that's saying a lot about a team that has won four state titles in the past.
My belief is based on my observation of the deterioration of the feeder program that had a lot to do with producing quality baseball players for those state championship teams.
I fully understand that my opinions are not shared by everyone, and I respect other people for having those opinions and expressing them.
The Youth League program, in my opinion, is not producing nearly the quality players that it did in the past because it has changed so much and so often that it cannot be consistent enough to allow players to advance on their own. It is making all stars of 9-year-olds and on up instead of making the youth players earn their right of passage into the quality playing time of Youth League baseball.
Dividing the Youth League into 9 and 10, and into 11 and 12 in the long run was a very bad idea. Everyone at first thought that it was a good idea to allow more players to play, but the result had just the opposite affect. Instead of helping players to gain playing experience, it has given players the chance to play, but it has dramatically reduced the quality of play and that has, in my opinion, hurt the individual players considerably.
It has also created a situation in which the quality of coaching has decreased - in that the fundamentals of the game have been overshadowed by the eagerness to just allow the players to take their places on the field. It is actually just allowing some kids to take up space. In the 9 - 12 system you have a manager and coaches along with 11 and 12 year olds who are not only role models for the young players, but also the same as assistant coaches. A 9-year-old can learn a lot from a 12-year-old. He can learn nothing from a 10-year-old.
Travel teams have also served to pull the leagues apart. Let's face it, there are not enough good players in Logansport to have part of them playing on travel teams and others playing in the regular Youth League. As the players get older instead of playing together and playing hard-nosed baseball, they have been simply trying to prove they are better than each other - and the result is evident. Travel teams are traditionally organized by parents, and coached by parents who are more interested in the welfare of their own children than the athletic progress of other players on the team. I will say that this travel team scenario is not unique to Logansport.
The same can be said of the Babe Ruth League. The quality of coaching has deteriorated, the league suffers from the lack of numbers that created the competition in the past for postions, and as a result players are less dedicated and committed to improving themselves.
There is a very good reason why the junior varsity teams of the past were practically unbeatable. When Dick Wild coached JV's under Jim Turner Sr., the JV teams rarely lost games. Wild was a a very good fundamental coach and he had a large group of funamentally sound players to coach. The players learned the fundamentals before they were junior varsity players. Logansport was way ahead of its competition in that regard. Logansport's feeder program is so strangled now that when the players reach JV status they are still trying to learn the simple basics of the game. Simple ground balls turn into challenges. The knowledge of base running practically does not exist.
Jim Turner Sr. was an excellent high school baseball coach. He supported the feeder program and helped it. He voiced his support for it many times and actively supported it with his attendance at games and special events. For some reason, when he retired and his son took over, the feeder program fell apart. Jim Turner Jr. had a lot to do with that. He was never afraid to tell the coaches in the feeder program that he did not like the Babe Ruth League program, and that lack of support for the feeder program led to the many changes that took place.
Why Turner Jr. had the attitude that he did I don't understand, since he was a product of the program that led to such success at the high school level. But his idea from the very beginning of his tenure as head coach was to change the program, and he accompllised that.
So, what will happen with the baseball program in Logansport? Well, other school corporations have grown, not only in size but in their attitudes toward developing winning baseball programs. It would not be as easy for Logansport to win now even if nothing had been changed, but the quality of Logansport's talent would not have deteriorated as quickly, I do not believe, had those in charge concentrated on continuing the system as it was.
Making simple plays on offense and defense seem to be challenging to the new crop of Logansport baseballl players. Competing against equal or better talent has become overwhelming rather than just a challenge as it was in the past.
The result, I believe, is just what I have said earlier. Logansport is no longer in a position to challenge for a state baseball championship With the advance of other baseball programs and the deterioration of the Logansport baseball program, the possibility of returning to baseball dominance in this state is extremely slim.
It is really saddening as far as I see it because we had so much going for us. We have good facilities, and enough people who are willing to give of their time and talents to help players develop. The problem is that all of their efforts are being guided in different directions.
In reality, players unable to compete at the high school level should be told that.. Players who can't compete should not be forced into it. It's not a nice thing to do, but in a successful program it is necessary to guide some young players away from baseball. Everyone can do something better than other people. Some kids are basebal players and some are not. The Logansport system now is afraid to tell those who are not that if they cannot earn their way into the baseball program, they should find other activities to pursue.
Can it be fixed? Of course it can. But, in my opinion it will take a dramatic change in the feeder program, a commitment by people who have knowledge of basic baseball fundamentals, forgetting about just giving players playing time and positions, allowing players to develop at their own pace, combining younger and older players to develop competition and peer pressure, and going back to a system that works instead of one set up just to be nice.
I was told that I was just old fashioned, not open to change. My reply was that through the years our feeder program has changed a lot and it was a result of learning from the past. The proposals that were made by Turner Jr. included the same system that did not work in Logansport during the very early years of organized youth baseball here. (Example was the Pony & Colt League system). That system was tried and failed in Logansport even when we had many more players interested in playing. The founders of Babe Ruth League in Logansport learned from the past - to the benefit of the Logansport High School program.
The prep league system (13-year-olds only) was also tried by other communities. Some people don't believe 13-year-olds should be competing along with 15-year-olds. Here, again, is an example of learning from the past and a lot of experience. The maturity of 13-year-olds can easily be traced through watching their progress competing against bigger and stronger talent at first, and then learning quickly that they can actually be successful at it.
I really think Logansport is now going at its baseball program backward. We should be working with our younger players at longer distances and using regular baseball rules in order to prepare them for the real world. We are rapidly falling behind other programs in the state and nation The time to re-evaluate the program is long overdue. We used to do it yearly. Changes were subtle compensated for what we believed was lacking. That is no longer done. Yet, we were still considered old fashioned. I really believe we were progressive, and that's why the high school program was so successful. Compare the success. Time will be the ultimate judge.
(Do you agree or disagree with my opnion. There's a poll below for you to voice your opinion. Please feel free to let me know what you think)
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