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Equipment

  • Thread starter The other Snake
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The other Snake

The other Snake

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Aug 19, 2016
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The other day I had to go to a sporting goods place to pick up some cleats and a mouth piece for my son. Cheap cleats on sale still ran $90 and a mouth piece was $20. Can’t wait to until he figures out he needs new receiving gloves; another $35. In all, as long as it gets and keeps him active, I’m good with it.

While in the sports shop I took a look at some of the gear used for other sports. There seems to be no limit to what some people will spend. Youth baseball bats that run $300-400? Are parent so delusional with hopes of grandeur to think a $400 bat is going to catapult their 16.y.o. son to a MLB contract? And the adults must be even worse when spending on their chosen sport. Take a walk through the golf section if you want some sticker shock. For the most part, lifting is a cheap sport. If you want to go low cost fitness, try jogging/running. Grab a decent pair of running shoes for $75 and start to pound the pavement.

What gets lost among all the new technology is what you can achieve in any given sport can not be purchased. I personally feel an athlete’s extent of greatness comes down two factors; your maximum genetic potential and your desire to be the best. Of those two items, you only have control of one.

Rant over.
 
R

rawdeal

TID Board Of Directors
Nov 29, 2013
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By any fair assessment, Mickey Mantle is not the greatest MLB player ever, but he was pretty damn good, and remains one who gets your "what could have been" thoughts going. Were it not for the senseless accident of stepping on a poorly maintained outfield drainage plate early on, or all the drinking later on, no telling how huge his accomplishments might have been.

Not the G.O.A.T, maybe, but many still consider him the greatest switch hitting power hitter ever, and he was specifically trained for that at home as a kid in 1930s Oklahoma, one of the so-called "Dust Bowl" states that only recovered from the Great Depression with a boost from WW II. His father spent hours pitching to him right handed, and his grandfather did the rest pitching left handed; that and the natural genetic potential The other Snake mentions above produced the switch-hitting part of Mantle's legend. Older males in Mickey's family worked in mines; I doubt young Mickey trained with any $300-400 bats in his backyard, adjusted for Inflation or not.
 
IronInsanity

IronInsanity

TID Board Of Directors
May 3, 2011
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I coached senior league baseball this year and I asked, "How many of you want to play major league baseball?" Expecting most hands to go up, I'd prepared my "Here's how you get there..." speech. Not a single hand went up. I had nothing. It was a long season.

In short, they want the $300 bats, but they have no desire to excel.
 
The other Snake

The other Snake

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Aug 19, 2016
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I wonder what most of our youth would choose if having to pick between a new high tech bat or a new gaming system. All of a sudden that bat doesn't seem like a bad idea.
 
BD Cool

BD Cool

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Dec 1, 2011
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The other day I had to go to a sporting goods place to pick up some cleats and a mouth piece for my son. Cheap cleats on sale still ran $90 and a mouth piece was $20. Can’t wait to until he figures out he needs new receiving gloves; another $35. In all, as long as it gets and keeps him active, I’m good with it.

While in the sports shop I took a look at some of the gear used for other sports. There seems to be no limit to what some people will spend. Youth baseball bats that run $300-400? Are parent so delusional with hopes of grandeur to think a $400 bat is going to catapult their 16.y.o. son to a MLB contract? And the adults must be even worse when spending on their chosen sport. Take a walk through the golf section if you want some sticker shock. For the most part, lifting is a cheap sport. If you want to go low cost fitness, try jogging/running. Grab a decent pair of running shoes for $75 and start to pound the pavement.

What gets lost among all the new technology is what you can achieve in any given sport can not be purchased. I personally feel an athlete’s extent of greatness comes down two factors; your maximum genetic potential and your desire to be the best. Of those two items, you only have control of one.

Rant over.


I'm involved in youth baseball... the amount of money parents spend on equipment, private lessons, and travel is incredible these days. Youth sports have really become jaded in the last 20 years or so... now it is 100% about money and less about the kids playing a game and having fun. Kids are still kids... they are great to work with... but parents are a total nightmare anymore.
 
BovaJP

BovaJP

Senior Moderators
Staff Member
Feb 15, 2013
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Sorta old school, but still effective. But i find that for my body type, it doesnt work quite right.


IMG_1009.JPG
 
Lizard King

Lizard King

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Sep 9, 2010
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Brought my son to get a new glove today, he picked out a reasonable glove, $60 range. My older son took some bats into the virtual cage at Dick's and wound up leaving with a $250 Demarini early birthday present. I swung the bat and a couple of others and was amazed at how much smoother the freaking thing was. I told him to leave the plastic on until after his practice Friday, if he doesn't smash one out it's going back!
 
parttimer

parttimer

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Oct 11, 2011
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My gf has 2 boys and their dad is pretty well off. The last 3 years the oldest got a new bat at $300 each year. He's hit one dinger in 5 years of travel and school ball. The first year he left the new bat in his bag on the garage floor and his mom ran it over. Dad bought 2 bats after that, a "practice " one and a game one. Youngest started playing lacrosse so dad bought him a stick. Kid got on the internet and found "a better" one for $125. After a few weeks he didn't like it and upgraded to a $200 one. The equipment doesn't make the athlete.

Sent from my SM-G975U1 using Tapatalk
 
tommyguns2

tommyguns2

Senior Moderators
Staff Member
Dec 25, 2010
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Sports equipment is crazy expensive. I played on a competitive softball team in the 90s, and those guys dropped serious coin for their bats. Must have been the mental thing, because those guys were already crazy good hitters, and the incremental difference of the bat was subsumed by their already existent hitting ability. Made absolutely no difference, but there was no way in the world I could convince anybody of that. LOL

Perfect example... Manny Ramirez was a simple freak of nature. Put anything in his hands and he was going to clobber the ball. The dude grew up in the Bronx, and I suspect he didn't attend hitting camps, or participate in a travel league. Just was told to go up there and hit, and the rest was history. The freaks of nature don't need a lot of coaching.
 
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