How would you rate your youth baseball facilities?

[shake-n-bake]

Our LL plays at a middle school and even the majors division fields are fair at best. Right now for fall baseball they are aweful.

Another local LL plays in a baseball complex that is absolutely flawless by comparison - we're talking lights, electronic scoreboards, press box, great pitcher's mounds, no clover, nice concessions, really nice dugouts.

My son played in another much smaller city a couple of weeks ago and they had a large baseball complex within a 250+ acre city park. While it lacked the ammenities of the other complex, the fields themselves were very nice, and very well maintained.

Last week he played another sort of local LL that also plays at a middle school. The infields were great, but the outfield was brown and hard. The pitchers mounds were pretty flat and the dugouts were open to the weather. They don't have a fixed concessions stand, but improvise nicely.

A neighboring town of maybe 1/5 the population has a baseball complex that is incredible. Similar to the other league with the ammenities, but much newer.

We've had some volunteer improvements on our fields that have helped, but they're still way behind what I've seen in other leagues. How does it normally work with leagues getting hooked up with the facility? This area of the city is by far the most desired in terms of housing market, real estate prices, income level, shopping, etc., but not in terms of parks and recreation facilities.

[Deemax]

I would rate my city as a 9. The city of Frisco has put alot of money into their fields, and it shows. We even sport an artificial seamless turf baseball field for children with special needs.

All of this was a shock to the system after moving here from Northern Cal, where the feilds are horrific.

[kylebee]

We are getting an increasing number of FieldTurf fields, which is nice enough. No one goes to LL games or amateur games here, since the cost of living is so high and therefore both parents have to work (and don't have time for their kids, which is sad), so concessions are not prevalent here.

Seattle is probably about a 6.5, but I don't have much exposure to other cities to compare. We still have our fair share of terrible dirt and unkempt grass fields. The push is to go artificial given how much rain we get, but it's slow.

[benz99]

We are quite lucky as we follow in age the son/grandson not sure which of the white sox grounds keeper. We have only played on 5-6 different field's but so far ours is the nicest we have played on.

[Rufus67]

We play mostly in Forsyth County, GA and the North Atlanta area. The fields here are top notch with lights, scoreboards, concessions, stands, and a good mix of dirt/grass infields. The only "issue" we have are they won't put permanent mounds because the fields have to remain multi-purpose for soccer and football and parking at some of the smaller fields.

Each park has an athletic association responsible for adding extras like bullpens, batting cages, soft-toss stations, dugout covers, and netting over the stands. Each of the associations are pretty well funded and have these added already.

[TG Coach]

The LL we came from has two majors fields. They are both groomed so well they are used every year as host sites for districts. The local Ripken program also has two beautiful fields. A couple of nearby LL's recently got state grants to renovate their fields. They're not only beautiful fields, they have incredible drainage. When my son was twelve, at one of the locations we played forty-five minutes after a two hour torrential downpour.

The problem encountered when using school district facilities is dealing with the districts grounds people and their union. When we were involved in Ripken and used school fields at the lower levels we had to go out at midnight and make repairs to fields. The union wouldn't allow us to touch the fields. They also weren't quick to do repairs and cut grass. One year we had a spike sticking up through the plate. The grounds people didn't see the rush to get it fixed. We fixed it the third night after midnight. When the grass would be three inches thick we would mow the fields in the dark. We used to joke aliens were creating circles on the field. That was our story and we stuck to it.

[shake-n-bake]

I've never seen anyone other than volunteers from the LL do any maintenance on the middle school fields where my son plays. It gets pretty nasty between seasons with litter, and the dog crap is a problem always.

There's massive housing development all around this area. Land is expensive because high priced homes are what's being built. I'm guessing that is why this part of the city lacks public facilities. Private facilities, golf courses, gated communities with park like settings and recreation are plentiful, but quality fields and playgrounds open to the public for kids are in short supply. Other areas, much less affluent areas of the city you find the reverse to be true.

My son and his friends are so in awe when they get to play in some of the other LL facilities within our district. He's told me quite a few times that the quality of the fields and particularly that the pitching mounds are actually cared for at the facility where an alternative youth baseball program plays (basically travel baseball) is a big reason he'd like to play that league. The commute would be about an hour a day round trip. Not a real long drive, but logistically, especially for mom an extra hour can make or break her after work job of getting kids to activities, dinner, laundry, etc. Maybe he and his buddy who lives down the street can both defect and we can split the driving the kids around with his parents.

Is that normally the case? Are the fields where travel teams play usually pretty decent and a step up from LL fields, especially the ones on middle school campuses?

Also wondering, is it normal procedure for the kid's LL (the one where his residence is within their boundary) to have to formally release the kid to leave to go to a travel team? Or is it possible that this is the case with us because the travel teams aren't in all areas of our town and kids choosing to play that league may come from outside their geographic area? I've heard a lot of talk about this other league, but don't know of anyone whose kid has left to go there. It might not play well with my son's LL if all of a sudden multiple kids requested a release from the league.

[TG Coach]

Are the fields where travel teams play usually pretty decent and a step up from LL fields, especially the ones on middle school campuses?

It depends whether the travel tournaments are at a complex or at contracted school fields. The complexes are nice. Contracted school fields are a hit or miss situation.

Also wondering, is it normal procedure for the kid's LL (the one where his residence is within their boundary) to have to formally release the kid to leave to go to a travel team?

LL has nothing to do with travel. You can leave LL for travel. Unless it's community based travel you can play anywhere. My son played the last two years for a travel team 45 miles from our house.