Logan Baseball

[Loganchiefsnation]

Logan is having a summer camp. Logan has NEVER had fall baseball ever. There are several Logan players playing Legion baseball this summer as well.

[1987chieftains]

logan has had baseball camp for the last 2 yrs.

[moonshine]

Logan is having a summer camp. Logan has NEVER had fall baseball ever. There are several Logan players playing Legion baseball this summer as well.

Logan had fall baseball 1-2 years during the mid 70's also as I recall they won back to back championships those years!

[jackyl]

post 142 out of waverly will be coming to logan for a game,i was needing directions to the field,coming from chillicothe.
Thanks

[moonshine]

How did the summer baseball camp go?

[1987chieftains]

i think its going on right now.

[moonshine]

Good article, letter to the editor today's Logan Daily, it tells the story why Logan baseball continues to have losing records!

[1987chieftains]

Good article, letter to the editor today's Logan Daily, it tells the story why Logan baseball continues to have losing records!

post the link

[moonshine]

Good article, letter to the editor today's Logan Daily, it tells the story why Logan baseball continues to have losing records!

post the link

Since the Logan daily is a fee based, This genleman who worte this article has been a coach in the Rec program, he writes about how poorly run our youth progarm is (I agree with him) He continues to say if we had a better youth program and feeder system our high school team would be much more competive. Very good letter!

[noreply66]

Logan's youth program is a joke--need to get rid of a few of the so called --[KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING]--Many years ago when this T-Ball started I knew then it would go down hill.

[moonshine]

Logan's youth program is a joke--need to get rid of a few of the so called --[KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING]--Many years ago when this T-Ball started I knew then it would go down hill.

This is what I have been stressing for the past 6 months. Unless we get the youth program changed our high scholl program will never have a winning record, no matter who is coaching!

[1987chieftains]

Good article, letter to the editor today's Logan Daily, it tells the story why Logan baseball continues to have losing records!

post the link

Since the Logan daily is a fee based, This genleman who worte this article has been a coach in the Rec program, he writes about how poorly run our youth progarm is (I agree with him) He continues to say if we had a better youth program and feeder system our high school team would be much more competive. Very good letter!

I agree. the rec league needs to be dismantled and re built!

[noreply66]

who are the organizers?

[moonshine]

Is our coach organizing fall baseball like some of the other programs in the area?

[Littlechiefs]

The Head coach is currently busy with football. However, one of the assistant coaches is taking a group of 9-10 year olds up to Lancaster to play in their Fall League. The current leaders of the rec league have no interest in a fall league down here. In fact you have to wonder if they have any interest in baseball at all. 10 games in a year is not enough. Travel 30 minutes north or south of Logan and those kids are playing 40, 50, 60 games in a summer and fall league. I was told that several of the kids on his team chose to play more baseball over playing soccer. It's not an all-star team or a traveling team, just a group of kids that want to play more baseball. Great to see a coach from the high school level getting involved with younger kids. A good feeder program will pay dividends in a few years. We need more coaches that are willing to dedicate their time to play more baseball. If that means they go to Lancaster or Athens or Nelsonville to learn how to play baseball then so be it. Maybe if more coaches and kids leave to play in other leagues our rec league will take notice and change things. Good luck to the boys and coaches going to play in Lancaster.

[moonshine]

The Head coach is currently busy with football. However, one of the assistant coaches is taking a group of 9-10 year olds up to Lancaster to play in their Fall League. The current leaders of the rec league have no interest in a fall league down here. In fact you have to wonder if they have any interest in baseball at all. 10 games in a year is not enough. Travel 30 minutes north or south of Logan and those kids are playing 40, 50, 60 games in a summer and fall league. I was told that several of the kids on his team chose to play more baseball over playing soccer. It's not an all-star team or a traveling team, just a group of kids that want to play more baseball. Great to see a coach from the high school level getting involved with younger kids. A good feeder program will pay dividends in a few years. We need more coaches that are willing to dedicate their time to play more baseball. If that means they go to Lancaster or Athens or Nelsonville to learn how to play baseball then so be it. Maybe if more coaches and kids leave to play in other leagues our rec league will take notice and change things. Good luck to the boys and coaches going to play in Lancaster.

Good, you pinpointed the problem with our baseball program!

[Littlechiefs]

The problem is obvious to anyone who looks. The coaches and kids are handcuffed from the beginning with some of the rules in the Rec League. Kids can't steal or leadoff in modified. You can't develop a catcher until he is 11-12-13. I understand the safety concerns but why would a 14 year old kids who just played a season of high school ball have to wear a mask to hit in Pony. May not seem like much but that can be a big adjustment. No masks in coach pitch but then they move up a league to modified and have to put masks on. Not only do these kids have to adjust to having kids pitch to them for the first time but they have to learn to hit with a mask in front of them. My favorite, 15 year olds cannot pitch in Pony League. Kids have been pitching since they were 9, growing and getting stronger each year, developing their pitches and techniques every year and then you take the ball out of their hands for an entire season. At that age every game and pitch counts. You just set a kid back an entire years worth of development. Then the next year he picks the ball up again and is expected to face off against high school hitters. Doesn't sound like a good development strategy to me. I for one think it is great to see a coach at the high school level getting involved with the kids. Guess what? That's his future players. I have talked to several people down at the park who have told me that this is the first time in years that they have seen a high school coach being so visable down there. He is talking to kids and parents. Watching games and asking why certain kids did not come out for high school ball. He's recruiting good players to try out. 10 games a year is not enough time to develop players let alone a program. It's a shame that a coach at the high school level here in Logan has to go to another town to play baseball. I kids cannot develop with only 10 games and all of the rule restrictions they have. We have kids traveling to tournaments that are getting destroyed on a regular basis. How many good kids stop playing ball because they get tired of getting beat by 10, 15, or 20 runs a game and how can you blame them. It's really not their fault. In Athens, Lancaster, Berne Union, Trimble, Nelsonville, just to name a few, kids are batting and practicing indoors in March and April. They play their first games in early May. They are half way done with their season by the time our kids have their first practice. I was told that this coach is seriously considering taking a team to Lancaster to play in their summer league next year. They play in May and June, have a league tournament in the first week of July. They take a few weeks off, kids that want to play in various tournaments, then play fall ball in August and September. That's a lot of baseball and exactly what the kids need if they want to play. Kids in surrounding leagues can play 50-60 games a year. Do the math. A 9 year old boy in Logan will play roughly 60 games of baseball by the time he gets to the High School level in our Rec League. That's what kids in surrounding areas play IN A YEAR! Athens/Lancaster boy 300 games by high school, Logan boy 60. Any wonder why our kids can't compete? We have spring soccer, several soccer camps during the summer and fall soccer. Basketball plays 2 months in the winter and kids can play AAU if they choose. Football has Tomahawks and a Flag League. Baseball has 10 games. I feel sorry for the kids that continue to play. How is it acceptable that Athens can bring a Legion team up here and put 22 runs across the plate, then the next week Gallia puts up 33. When will people say enough is enough. There is a lot of support for baseball in this town but it is either drowned out or people get tired of beating their heads against a brick wall trying to change things. I think it is a great move this coach taking kids elsewhere to play ball. Shame he doesn't have the opportunity to develop kids right here in Logan. I hope he takes a team up there next summer and I hope other coaches from all the different levels follow his lead. Maybe then our Rec Board will take notice. Then again they would probably embrace the fact that they no longer have to deal with baseball. I would like to see more people writing letters to the editor in our paper. I for one am going to support this coach and group of kids going to Lancaster. I hope others will show their support on here and elsewhere. Would love to see the paper support them. Good luck to the coach and kids. You have already made me proud and you haven't even played a game yet. I hope others join in support as well. This coach and kids may very well be taking the first steps for changing the future of baseball in Logan.

[Late 70s Logan grad]

Waterboy: as both a former youth baseball coach and someone who closely follows the Logan baseball program, I commend you on an OUTSTANDING post. You hit the nail on the head.

The local paper would certainly support youth traveling teams by running game results, tryout notices, etc., that I can assure you.

I'd love nothing more than to see Logan baseball get back where it was in its heyday. You are right: there are a lot of people in this town who love baseball, but the sport being played at the rec level is not real baseball.

I think your number where it compares how many games a kid in Lancaster or Athens will play to those a Logan boys will play by the time he is in high school is probably correct, with one addition: few of those 60 or so games a Logan kid will play before he reaches high school are quality games played via regular baseball rules. You can probably chop off at least half of those games as legitimate experience as well.

I've said for a long time taking a traveling baseball team(s) outside Hocking County to play is one of the main things that needs to be done. I did that for more than 10 years and my teams sometimes played upwards of 40 games in a season. I don't think it burned them out. They loved baseball, and many of them went on to have solid high school baseball careers.

What is needed is for some younger people to pick up the slack and take a team or two in as many age groups as possible and expose them to baseball in other places the way it's supposed to be played. What parents have to understand, however, is that it's about team and about developing everyone, not just his or her little Johnny. If they can accept that, I think it can succeed.

Again, great post!

[Littlechiefs]

Thanks for the compliment. Nice to hear from a fellow baseball supporter. Just talked to someone who said that the team had their first practice last night. Three of his kids left their soccer practice half way through to be there for the entire baseball practice. Those are boys who want to play ball. Guess they practiced for a solid 2 hours. Worked on nothing but base running situations for over an hour. Kids didn't even pick up a bat. Totally focused on fundamentals. Soccer fields were full of kids and parents. All of the baseball fields were empty except for the one they were practicing on and everyone was wondering what was going on. I love it! Wonder how many of those kids playing soccer wished they could still be playing baseball. He had 3 other coaches helping him. A coach setting up situations, coaches at 1st and 3rd and the head coach giving instructions. 4 coaches for 13 kids. That is a lot of individual instruction for each boy which is exactly what they need. 3 of the kids on the team have played in a few tournaments. That means the other ten are getting their first taste of REAL BASEBALL. Definately not an all-star team but that doesn't matter. He has 13 kids that love to play baseball and learn and get better. As long as you have kids that want to play and give you 100%, you can teach them to be ball players. All of the kids parents/grandparents were there. Has another parent who has coached high school and college that is going to help with the pitchers. Sounds like this coach is organized and has no problem getting or taking help when it is offered to him. Definately not a know-it-all or have an ego that is bruised if someone else gives instructions. No sponser for the team. They are going up as the Logan Chieftans and the coaches and parents are footing the bill. Between the coaches, players and all of the kids parents/grandparents, they will have around fifty total people going up and representing Logan. For anyone that does not think there is support in this town for baseball just look what 1 persons initiative has done in a short period of time. You cannot tell me that there would not be enough people to support a longer season and fall league here. Maybe it is time for out with the old and in with the new at the Rec Department. Pretty sure that this coach will be getting the cold shoulder from Rec officials from now on if he hasn't already been blacklisted. May have no choice but to go to Lancaster next summer. Guess they practice tomorrow evening as well and again on Saturday. Probably needs as much practice as possible considering the competition they will face. Good luck to them. I am definitely keeping an eye on them. Anyone know how to contact someone at the paper to follow these guys?

[moonshine]

Guy's outstanding! all points made is why I started this topic. Youth baseball and committment from the area will produce an outstanding baseball program. in Hocking Co. Keep it up.