Community baseball in Wheelersburg, Ohio is remembered by one reader who credits former Reds scout Gene Bennett for making youth baseball a priority. Wheelersburg won the OHSAA state title in 2012 and ’13. (Press Pros Feature Photos)
The subject of community baseball and reader response hit the inbox hard this time…thanks to attention paid to recent area Little League weekends and the annual State ACME Tournament. In addition…one reader writes this about Ohio State basketball: “It ain’t nuthin’…’til it’s somethin’.”
With appreciation for their interest, our annual commitment to profiling area community baseball events like the Craig Stammen Classic drew a record amount of readership this summer, along with an increase in response from first-time readers who question the value of select ‘travel baseball’ teams over playing, and learning, with your friends at home.
Impressively, we heard from readers from Cuyahoga to Scioto county, and in between. Proof…that someone is at least paying attention, and questioning.
An interesting side point – the growing number of people who request not to have their opinions made public. As one person put it: “I really don’t need to p— off the wrong person.”
By actual count, there have been 27 people respond since mid-June, and here are the comments of those not afraid to upset the wrong people.
“I’ve read your site for a couple of years and this is my first time to write, largely because I’m turned off by the impact of money on professional and college sports. Money can buy a lot of things, but it can’t buy trust and respect. But where something as innocent as neighborhood baseball is concerned there should be no argument over whether boys who grow up together, and learn to play together don’t benefit from that union more than being separated and sent out to play ‘travel ball’ before their time. I would want my child to be part of a more responsible and trusted baseball relationship with people I know…than driving to Michigan and Pennsylvania to play meaningless games against people in unfamiliar surroundings. 12 and 14 years old is too young for that. These are kids, and some of the adults I’ve seen look and act like kids, too. If space allows, I particularly enjoyed what the coach from Nebraska said about practice time, as compared to playing games. There’s no way that travel baseball can provide more than a day or two of practice per week without infringing on the family unit. Where kids playing together in the neighborhood obviously see each other every day, and what’s to stop them from working on their baseball skills? Someone is making a lot of money off these baseball scams. Kids and baseball aside, that’s hard to respect, like the NCAA and pro sports. Proof that there is no age limit to how badly we can screw up something as positive and good as baseball. Thanks for your time.” … Harold Loesich
“The Nebraska coach (Will Bolt) made an interesting point about practice and games, and I would compare what I’ve seen with ‘select baseball’ coaching to goats teaching each other to read.” … Michael Crawford
(Ed. Note: Mike, can’t speak to the effort to teaching goats to read. However, you’ll be surprised that they can learn to sing. Enjoy the enclosed URL, below).
“Enjoy your coverage of Little League kids playing baseball. The fact that you take the time to do it is a positive to the kids. An observation…I see a lot of smiles and good times in the photos that you don’t see in travel ball.” … Jack Bond (Chesapeake forever)
“Happy to read your articles about youth baseball, and wish to add the following. Baseball is best taught at home by those dedicated to teaching the game to any and all. Baseball is a game of repetition, and you don’t need better competition to learn how to properly execute the curveball. You need more reps. The value of travel ball is playing more games than you can schedule at home, but not before age 16. Play at home, save money, and use it to upgrade the facilities.” … John Cancro
“There’s a reason why kids who grow up in a small community graduate and leave as soon as they get the chance. If a town cannot see the value in supporting and promoting youth baseball, what’s to come home to? Certainly not a vision for the future.’ … Paul Harmon
(Ed. Note: Never heard it expressed like that, but hmmmm..!)
Former Reds chief scout Gene Bennett was the baseball patriarch of Wheelersburg, and Scioto County.
“If Gene Bennett were alive he would be disappointed at the loss of community interest in youth baseball, overall. I have no doubt. In his hometown of Wheelersburg, there were six Little League teams that won district championships in June, and that’s the example of what can be done with community baseball. And it’s because Gene poured so much time and attention into it for so long. Kids marked the days off the calendar looking forward to opening day in the spring. Al Oliver and Larry Hisle came out of Portsmouth to sign with the Pirates and the Phillies. High school baseball was a big deal along the river because you could play 18 games back then. Football only had 9, I think. It made people happy to drive to Ironton, or Portsmouth, or somewhere up route 23 because high school baseball was an event on Saturdays. The point I’m making is it takes community leaders, like Gene, to have those things that benefit its people, from youngest to oldest. It’s as important as clean water and electricity. And there aren’t many baseball leaders left like Gene.” … Doug Blankenship
And to those moved to write about our recent posts on the remake of Ohio State men’s basketball for the 2026-’27 season:
“It ain’t nuthin’ ’til it’s somethin’.” … James Gingerich
“Jeff Gilbert is a fine writer, but Ohio State basketball is so far beneath the competitive level of Ohio State football on a national scale that it’s senseless to stoke the fire in July. It’s amazing that Matta got those teams to the Final Four in 2007 and ’12, but there’s never been excitement about Buckeye basketball like there is football, or like there is basketball at Purdue, Michigan, or Michigan State. Whatever it takes, and that’s money and a certain amount of corruption (Michigan), they just haven’t been able to compete for the kind of talent that chooses Kansas, Duke, and Connecticut. Hoping that Anthony Thompson is a Cooper Flagg, but not holding my breath. Such are the times.” … Frank Paschall
“First-time writer to you guys. I’ve been an Ohio State fan living in England, and a basketball fan since the days of Fred Taylor as coach. I always thought it was neat to have a Jerry Lucas and John Havlicek, but never enough others to make the Buckeyes nationally strong in basketball. So anytime someone writes about an Anthony Thompson or LJ Smith I get interested because it would be something exciting to follow from one football season to another. Let’s hope that this is one of those years. I’m a faithful reader since 2016.” … Jerry Musgrave
(Ed. Note: Jerry, we’re so appreciative of your taking the time to write. Will pass your sentiments along to the basketball guys and hope you have an exciting year with a Big Ten championship.)
Dave Arbogast is a proud sponsor of area high school sports on Press Pros Magazine.com.