Baseball's not as simple as it used to be

The Post and Courier

Tony Cadden

The stars and stripes fluttered high above the baseball field at West Ashley High School on a recent summer night. From a distance, it looked idyllic, like something from a Norman Rockwell painting.

Young boys taking infield. Parents and grandparents lining the fence in folding chairs. The sounds of bats on balls that combine to remind us of how things used to be.

For Tony Cadden, coaching the Post 147 West Ashley American Legion baseball team has been a way of life for almost 20 years.

He loves wearing the red, white and blue uniform, getting to the park early for batting practice, hearing the boys introduced by name, listening to the sportsmanship code read aloud, the sound of the national anthem being played over the public address system.

For the past 40 years, this team has had only three coaches — D.K. Walters, Robin Rogers and Cadden — which indicates a calm consistency in a game that has been anything but in recent years.

"I took over in 1990," Cadden said as he watched his boys warm up. "Back then there was no travelling baseball. There was high school, American Legion and college. That was it.

"Then toward the late 1990s, there came the onslaught of the travel ball clubs. For a few years it wasn't that big a deal because there weren't that many of them. You might lose one player here or there, but it didn't make or break you. Then, it snowballed."

Expensive ego trip

By 2002, Cadden said, the private, travelling baseball teams began to multiply, draining talent away from traditional summer teams as parents sought bigger and better opportunities for their kids.

"Pretty soon, there were more baseball teams in the summer than we had high schools in Charleston," Cadden said. "Very quickly, everybody's level of talent dropped. There just weren't enough good players for everybody to be real competitive."

Travel teams, which can cost parents thousands of dollars for their sons to participate, have become very popular in recent years, motivated mainly by the promise of college baseball scholarships.

Unfortunately, many parents learn too late that baseball scholarships are scarce. Division I schools are only allowed 11.7 scholarships and smaller colleges function on even less.

The other reality is that little Johnny might not be good enough to play at the next level.

"We try to be as upfront with these kids as we can possibly be," Cadden said. "Here's the deal — your work ethic, how smart you are in school and your baseball talent will determine whether you play at the next level. But you better pay attention to your schoolwork because that's your best bet.

"A lot of parents push their kids to the travel teams saying they want the exposure. Well, I'm an associate scout with the Mets and I tell them, you know, your son is 5-9, he weighs 150 pounds and he throws 78 (mph). I'm not sure you want that exposed.

"Mostly, I think travel baseball teams are a very expensive ego trip for parents."

Playground Road

Down at the concession stand, behind the backstop, a few fathers stopped to talk about the old days. There was a time when Legion ball was the only game in town and was loaded with talent.

The conversation quickly drifted to the glory days when guys like Richard Wieters, Billy Port and Gorman Thomas played on soft

summer Lowcountry nights, when big crowds gathered to watch them hit home runs over the trees at the park down on Playground Road.

Cadden remembers it well, not because he played, but because he didn't.

"I wasn't good enough to make the team," he said with a laugh. "I went on to play some junior college ball. But it was tough to make the Legion lineup back then."

Not so anymore.

In the other dugout, Bryant Kitty coached the American Legion team from Bluffton. They would go on to lose this game, 9-2, one of many losses they will suffer this summer.

"We're a young program, so our talent level is down," Kitty said of his club. "Some of the best players from our area drive to Columbia to play on travel teams. They don't practice with them, they just show up to play.

"We might not have the best players, but I'd rather have these boys out here playing baseball than wherever they might be otherwise."

Kitty also serves as the high school coach in Bluffton and knows the reality of how many local kids will go on to play college ball.

"USC Beaufort has a new baseball program," Kitty said. "They're looking for players. Our high school is right next door to them and they say they don't see anything on our field that they want. That should tell our kids something about their future in baseball."

'They'll find you'

Cadden, 51, is an outside sales representative for W.P. Law, a pipe-valve fitting company, which allows him time to coach West Ashley's 15-game baseball schedule during the summer months. Only in recent years has he been compensated for his time.

"I have a very understanding wife," he said.

But it takes more than that to pour your heart and soul into a baseball team, especially when parents are bickering and different leagues are fighting over who allows which players to play where.

Dual participation is the buzz phrase these days, allowing kids to play in different leagues, at different levels. After a while, it gets confusing.

The thing is, there will always be good players who will go on to play college and maybe even professional baseball. Earlier this month, USC standouts Justin Smoak (Goose Creek), Reese Havens (Bishop England) and Mike Cisco (Wando) were all drafted and have signed professional contracts.

They all played travel ball, but probably would have made it anyway.

"If you're that good," Cadden said. "They'll find you."

All across the country the Stars and Stripes fly high above ball fields where young boys gather to play the national pasttime. They take infield; parents and grandparents line the fence in folding chairs; and the sound of bats on balls combine to remind us of how things used to be.

If only it was that simple.

Reach Ken Burger at kburger@postandcourier.com or (843) 937-5598.