When a Frisky Baseball Training Facility Comes to Town

What is a local baseball program to do when a club team sets up shop nearby and tries to steal its players?

I’m not one to cry over the demise of local baseball programs, who have had unchecked power for so long that they operate like the old creaky Soviet Union. Yet when I came across a story about how a venerable volunteer-run baseball program outside of Chicago founded in 1952 was allegedly hoodwinked by an upstart facility, it was hard not to feel a little bad for the old timers.

I read about this through the program’s lawsuit (Glenview Youth Baseball, Inc. v. Play Ball USA, No. 2018L010286 (Cook County Cir. Ct.)), so I can’t vouch for the validity of the claims. But according to the program:

• The snazzy indoor baseball facility opened up in a neighboring town.
• The program wanted to rent out the facility (maybe in an attempt to form a non-agression pact)
• The facility asked for a contact list of all the program’s players (including emails), ostensibly because it wanted to send out liability waivers.
• The program entered into formal negotiations with the facility resulting in a non-competition/ non-solicitation whereby the facility agreed: 1) to keep the players’ contact information strictly confidential, and 2) to not form a competitive travel team or otherwise induce any of the program’s players or coaches from leaving the program.
• The program then began renting out the facility, spending roughly $80,000 over a three-year period. They also encouraged their kids to take private lessons with the facility’s instructors.
• The program then learned that despite the agreements, the facility had been forming teams, disparaging the program, hiring away its coaches, and of course poaching its kids.
• The program sued to enforce the agreements.

I totally get that the program here went out of its way to be careful, negotiating formal legal agreements, and also paying considerable money to the facility to rent out its space, to the point that the program likely thought the facility would not want to jeopardize the profitable relationship.

Further, this town program seems like the gold standard for local programs, having three tiers of teams, dedicated volunteers, objective methods for evaluating kids, and also sending their top travel team to 8 local and national tournaments a year.

Yet, they still wound up in the same place that other, less careful, less attractive town programs currently find themselves in, having to fend off existential challenges from barbarian at the gate, in this case for-profit club baseball teams.

What is a Little League to Do When Confronted by an Aggressive Club Team?

So this brings me back to the original question: what is a local baseball program to do when a club team is actively trying to steal its players?

There’s a simple answer: Compete!

Even if the Chicago facility in the lawsuit had abided by the agreements, surely other club teams would have cropped up and started challenging the program, not to mention the stiff competition from lacrosse programs and all-year basketball and soccer club teams.

Ultimately, the monopoly town baseball programs have had since Dwight Eisenhower is over. And no legal maneuvering on the part of town programs is going to change that.

But no need to feel bad for town programs. This is not like a mom and pop shop trying to survive when Wal-Mart comes to town. The town programs ARE Wal-Mart! They have the cheaper and more entrenched product.

They just need to tone down the arrogance and the my-way-or-the-highway shtick. When an issue comes up, they need to actually address the problem and not just simply close ranks and deny that there is a problem. They need to get rid of the radioactive board members who are killing the experience for some teams.

And they have to accept that they’re going to lose the bench player whose dad thinks he should be the starting shortstop and the star player who wants to be playing Perfect Game every weekend.

In the Chicago baseball program’s lawsuit, they refer to their players as “customers,” likely so that court would treat them as a typical business for purposes of enforcing their non-competition/non-solicitation agreement.

I’m not saying a 10-year old youth baseball player is a customer, in the traditional sense. But he’s not a hostage, either .

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE RISE OF CLUB BASEBALL TEAMS? LET US KNOW IN THE COMMENTS.

For information about the emotional side of baseball, see:

• Anger Management and Youth Baseball: How to Calm Down
• How to Manage Your Kid’s Baseball Tantrums and Meltdowns
• 4 Ways to Respond to a Coach Playing Favorites
• How to Stop Being a Crazy Baseball Dad
• How to Be a Good Baseball Dad in the Backyard
• Are Local Little Leagues Bad for Baseball?
• I Spent $30K Last Year on Youth Baseball – Here’s How

For information on hitting, see:

• How to Get Out of a Hitting Slump
• 4 Best Baseball Batting Aids (No. 3 is Free)
• 4 Hitting Drills You Need to Do Before Every Game
• 4 Old School Baseball Drills You Need to Be Using
• 6 Mistakes to Avoid When Buying a Baseball Bat

For information on pitching, see:

• What You Need to Know About Little League Elbow
• 4 Ways To Increase Your Kid’s Pitching Velocity
• Is the Circle Change Dangerous for Youth Pitchers?
• Why I Don’t Let My Son Pitch in Little League
• Pitching and Head Injuries: What You Need to Know
• How to Make Sure Your Kid Isn’t Overpitched in Basebal

For ways to get faster, see:

• Baseball Speed: 4 Ways to Get Faster