After completing our first month, we have to say that things have gone extremely well thus far. Weather has been our friend through April which rarely happens. Majority of our games have been played, with some minor issues coming up that we will learn from (expected bumps with a new business). From the start, we explained we would not be perfect... but we would do our best to deliver an exciting experience all together. This is year one, and Rome wasn't built in a day... but the feedback we have received from managers/players throughout the league is pretty impressive/inspiring. We are honored to have such a great population of players/teams, and we are working daily on ways to increase quality of play and overall experience. As the year progresses, you should see what I'm referring to. 

We receive a lot of questions about baseballs, and clearly teams have already seen a significant difference with quality in the baseballs distributed this year. I thought, that since we are getting inquiries from players, we would breakdown the different models on the market, what level of play they are meant for and pricing. When you pay to play baseball, you should be given the best product possible in your games. We run an adult league, not a youth league, so we want to give our teams the very best we can afford to. 

The following is an overview of the most commonly used baseballs for Youth, High School & Collegiate which are used in Adult Leagues across the country. While we used Epic Sports for the quick review & pricing, for an appropriate description of what level of play these baseballs should be used, it is appropriate to discuss with a sales rep from each company. Pricing is online retail, and bulk pricing comes down more when dealing with reps from the manufacturer. An example, we use the Wilson A1015 baseball currently for our launch year, and have plans to upgrade next year to a better baseball. The A1015 baseball is shown as $46.99 a dozen, but through our sales rep we pay roughly $40-$41 a dozen. You can see, that when you buy hundreds of dozens, you get cut a break on pricing. The ball is also characterized as a High School Game Ball here, but it is considered a College/High School calibur baseball by Wilson. 

The major takeaway from this, "pricing helps to determine quality". As with anything, you get what you pay for in baseballs. The difference you find in baseballs is the grade leather, the core/wind and how the ball is manufactured for durability/impact/life. The cheaper balls, tend to not withstand much in adult league play... and thus become almost worthless for BP in a quicker amount of time. Have you ever seen a gameball tear easily or become lopsided after a pretty solid hit? The cheaper balls will do that, while the more durable ones will withstand it. 

You cannot supply a quality league experience with baseballs that dent easily or meant for youth league play... which is why we spend the additional money to ensure the product is the best we can offer. Next year, we are already committed to an upgrade for our customers. We believe the difference in "product" is easily recognizable. It is one of the easiest areas to cut corners since most players do not realize the difference if the baseball doesn't clearly say it. If you are not playing in our league this year, hopefully your league values quality of product over profit, and supplies you with the best they can as well. 

Enjoy the weekend off for Mother's Day.

See you on the field May 19th!

-Mazz