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player ready...I’ve been asked on multiple occasions this spring whether I believe high school baseball will still be around in five or 10 years.
The concern is travel baseball, with its continued growth and impact during the summer, will eventually extend the season into the spring and go head-to-head with high school baseball.
Will that force elite players to make a decision — travel or high school?
I certainly hope it doesn’t happen.
You should feel the same way if you’re a parent of a high school baseball player.
I’ll give you two examples that recently occurred at games I covered.
On May 17, I was at Lincoln-Way East to write about the Griffins and Lincoln-Way Central. It’s one of the games I tend to circle on the calendar for each season.
It’s a mostly friendly district rivalry between players and fans who are quite familiar with each other.
Case in point, the in-game banter between Central’s student section and East senior Max Polad.
The Central students were chiding Polad after he struck out in the first inning, telling him he “should go back to modeling” and to “go play in the dollhouse.”
When Polad was younger, he was American Girl’s first boy doll model.
How did Polad respond?
He homered in his next two at-bats to lead the Griffins to a 5-2 win.
Polad waved to the student section before touching home plate on his first homer and stomped on the plate after his second.
Each was a thrilling moment, played out in front of hundreds of fans.
It was great theater that only high school competition can provide.
“It’s the highlight of my career,” Polad said. “It felt awesome.”
Without high school baseball, Polad misses out on those experiences.
On May 19, I was at Oak Forest to cover the Bengals and Lemont. Again, a great rivalry game.
Lemont led 5-3 heading into the bottom of the seventh. The Bengals had two runners on base and Ryan Maka, the winning run, in the batter’s box.
On a 3-2 pitch, Maka blasted a homer — a no-doubter — over the right-center fence.
Game over. Oak Forest wins 6-5. As Maka rounded third base, his teammates were waiting for him at the plate, jumping and cheering as the Valparaiso recruit trotted home.
Maka’s smile could have lit up downtown Chicago.
When I asked him after the game where this moment ranks in his baseball career, he said, “No. 1, by far. Nothing will ever top it. My guys waiting for me at home plate, cheering me on. There’s no better feeling.”
Those are the feelings that are unique to high school sports. The opportunity to play for your high school, your community and with your friends.
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Fun and intense.
There are values to be learned such as teamwork, discipline and sacrifice. And, of course, the pride to play for your high school and add to a legacy and tradition.
Travel baseball has its place. It offers incredible exposure to colleges throughout the country. It’s important for kids to receive an opportunity to play at the next level, finding a school that meets their athletic, academic and social needs.
And if it includes a scholarship, even better.
Travel and high school baseball can continue to live in harmony.
But high school baseball is a different beast. It’s about the team, the school, the program, the community.
Travel baseball is more about “me.”
There’s nothing like high school sports.
Just ask Max Polad and Ryan Maka.
They’ll be talking about these days the rest of their lives — to their kids and grandkids.
Why would anyone want to deprive such joy?