As spring nears for 2024 and I careen headlong toward another youth baseball season with 14U and 12U boys, I’m actually filled with dread. Don’t get me wrong. I’m hopeful that my sons will have breakout seasons. They’ve looked great in winter training. My older guy has finally started to really hit puberty and has gained 25 pounds since fall season ended. With that weight, his exit velo has jumped to the high 70s.
Yet I’ve been down this road before only to be terribly disappointed. Last year, my older guy was killing it in the winter. I’d video some of his swings on my phone and watch the clips again and again when I was alone. But when the games started in the spring, he couldn’t buy a hit and looked totally overmatched at the plate, and I was crushed.
He was benched on his middle school team in favor of snotty kids with abhorrent parents, and I lashed out at him for being so bad and he cried (because he can’t stand to disappoint me) and I felt like the worst dad on the planet.
And this lead me to the question that has hovered over me since my kids started playing organized baseball: why do I care so much?
I’m not one of those guys who grew up in a jock family where sports are our religion. My dad almost never goes to a game and if I told him tomorrow my boys had quit baseball he would complain that the expensive bats he had bought them were going to waste, but then move on to another topic and not mention baseball again possibly forever.
So why do I care so much?
In life we obsess about so many things that we shouldn’t really care about, like professional sports teams.
I ask myself what did I really care about BEFORE my kids played baseball. When my late mother had cancer, I would freak out before all her CT scans and bloodwork praying she was getting better and not worse. I’d written two novels and gotten agents for the books, and when they were being shopped to publishers I couldn’t think about anything else. Before I was married, I used to have blinding crushes on women.
And now it’s my kids’ baseball.
My 14U son’s first scrimmage is this Sunday, and I’m losing sleep I’m so nervous!
WHAT DO YOU CARE SO MUCH ABOUT BASEBALL? LET US KNOW IN THE COMMENTS.
For information about the emotional side of baseball, see:
- I Spent 30K on Youth Baseball Last Year; Here’s How
- 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
- Is It Now Fashionable to Hate On Baseball Dads?
- Are Local Little Leagues Bad for Baseball?
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
- How to Make Sure Your Kid Isn’t Overpitched in Basebal
For ways to get faster, see: