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Originally posted by Vandy

"Having wood at 5-12u would reduce the number of kids at a park as the instant gratification decreased.. This isn't the DR, we aren't training kids to be professional baseball players from near birth. We have parents signing up their kids for social reasons and maybe they are good and maybe they aren't, but it's just a game until 14u."

I could not disagree more...

30-40 years ago it was a right of passage to take your kid down at age 5 and sign him/her up to play little league. Everyone in the town did it. The leagues were full of teams from the various neighborhoods. Youth Baseball #'s have dwindled continually since. It had absolutely nothing to do with the wood bat. I remember paying $7.50 for a Louisville Slugger wooden bat when I was 12. I know I'm dating myself.. I also remember the first alloy bats. Alcoa made em. $26 bucks when the average wood Aderondack or LS was 8-10 bucks. I never had one. I did have to glue and wrap string around a broken bat or two until I got with the program. There were indeed kids that were never any good and they generally quit by about 12. Same as now. What sucks now is the guy that wants to play at 15 but is not skilled enough to play HS or most travel no longer has a place to play. They used to. I have seen many a kid at 15 who still love the game but have nowhere to play. Point is, as soon as you start making it an elite product, ie material, etc, costing 10 times as much, you limit the number of players. I have seen my fair share of kids around the park with $450 dollar bats that will NEVER be a good hitter. I love the game and would like to see more kids enjoying it. I say keep the costs low until they are at the age they can hit the ball a couple hundred feet with a wood bat. That is usually 11-12 for the better hitters.

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