January 12, 2005

AGE DETERMINATION CUT-OFF DATE

USA Baseball, the governing body for amateur baseball, approved a motion to adopt an April 30 age cut-off date for youth baseball in the United States. The change will be implemented beginning in 2006.

Over the past three years, Babe Ruth League, Inc., in conjunction with USA Baseball and its affiliated members (such as Little League Baseball, Pony Baseball, Dixie Baseball, AABC, NABF and others) has been researching and studying the age determination cut-off date for youth baseball. A major issue facing our sport today is the loss of participation numbers and the seeming decline or drop-off in player participation after the 12-year-old age bracket.

The result of the research and study conducted with USA Baseball and its affiliated members positively showed that an initial step in reversing this trend would be to change the age determination cut-off date from August 1 to April 30. As such, our sport would benefit by keeping more players in programs longer; players being better prepared for the transition to conventional-sized fields; and there being no diminished eligibility for players.

Per the policy of Babe Ruth League, Inc., before proceeding to make any rule change, we surveyed and requested input from our leagues for approval of the change to the age determination cut-off date. We received a favorable response for the April 30 date.

Please remember this will go into effect for 2006. For the 2005 local league and tournament season, Cal Ripken Baseball and Babe Ruth Baseball, the age determination cut-off date will remain as August 1.

Babe Ruth League, Inc. would like to thank USA Baseball for their recognition and subsequent action to deal with the issues facing youth baseball today. No one really knows when a player will reach their full potential in the game of baseball. As a group, we feel the April 30 date will allow most players on a team to spend the majority of the regular season at the same chronological age as their league age and will provide a longer opportunity for a player to stay in the game.

As always, we appreciate the suggestions and recommendations submitted from our membership. Our goal has always been, and will continue to be, to keep as many players as possible in the great game of baseball and make it a fun and memorable experience for all.

Ron Tellefsen
President/CEO
Babe Ruth League, Inc.

There must be no voting member whose sons/grandsons are Sep-Dec! lol


One thing is clear .....this belief
that they will resolve the loss of participation numbers and the seeming decline or drop-off in player participation after the 12-year-old age bracket with an age change have
their heads in the sands.....(again).

The loss of 13U player participation has
been on-going for 75 years. It's called
the passage of teenagers!

Regards
Bear

Bear,
It'll help for one year. The May through July age group will drop back one age all the way down to the youngest ages where a whole group of kids won't be old enough to play anymore. Of course more of those older 14yo will be playing freshman ball so only those not playing freshman ball will be available.

Edit - OK. Actually it won't help the first year either. They'll get 15yo, now 14yo, from the May thru July birthdays but they'll lose more 13yo, now 12yo, to the 12u division because there are always more 13yo than 14yo in 14u.

After the first year there will be more older kids playing freshman ball and kids who will be bored with playing at 14u for three years in a row so they'll lose more players. For the 12u, the youngest kids, February - April, will be facing more kids who have reached puberty.

I'd say their heads were buried somewhere other than in the sand.

No matter what the cut off date someone will think that are being shortchanged

Just a fact of life

It's not the age it's the field. At least in the Northeast. The biggest problem with the 13U -15U age group is that the field is to big for these kids.A 12 year old little leaguer goes from hitting 15 home runs to hittting 290' fly balls for the next three years, What fun is that? That's the problem no home runs , no action no fun!!

BB27

I totally disagree---

If the boy is having that problem he is what I term the "LL Shooting Star"--they burn out real fast

The good LL players learn to hit line drives, how to bunt, how to hit to the opposite field--the power will come as they mature

And if you play on HS fields that have no fence you had better be hitting line drives in the gaps

It's a misguided change. Go figure.

I think it's a good idea. At least they tried to do something, which will bring back some of the May - July birthday players. It's not a major change but it's a start in the right direction. Many young teenagers are "late developers" and could use a break in the age cutoff rule. Anything that will help keep more players in the game longer is better - even if it only affects a smaller pool of players whose birthdays fall in May - July. No change will fix everything, but so what, at least they know it's better to add some players back into the pool. And if there is a player that would prefer to "play up" an age group then this has no effect anyway. Also, if American Legion is going to return to the 18 year old rule, then I highly recommend that they follow suit and allow anyone who is age 18 prior to April 30 to be eligible for that year! Again, it will only offer some additional players another year to play baseball - which may be there last....

BB27,
I agree with you, the field is too small. Why have 12 year olds playing on a T-Ball field? At 12 years of age, a good pitcher can over power most batters at 46 feet. Next year at 60 feet, they have no fast ball. I personally like the AAU, AABC etc concept of graduated fields, every other year move them to a slightly larger field. That way they don't have to go to a 50% larger field when they turn 13.

Alot of you seem to be missing the point. It's about letting more play the game. It's not about the few great 12 year old allstars who think it's already too easy to hit a 200 ft homerun and how much easier it would be - how about moving them up to the next age group or finding a more competitive league like AAU. Most average 12 and under players just want to play. In our area the Little League organization also offers a 14U and a seperate 16U leagues. These older age groups play on 90 foot bases with 300 foot fences and they all seem to enjoy it. The better players move on to play on travelling AAU or USSSA teams anyway. So, everyone gets to play if they want to at their appropriate skill level, and MORE get to play.

I Don't think it increases the amount of kids playing. You have the same amount of kids just playing at different levels. It just changes the "right" birthdate to May 1 instead of Aug 1!They should be playing with the kids that they go to school with. No matter what date you set for the age group you are going to have kids that have matured faster and whoever has the biggest most mature players ends up in Williamsport. At 46' pitching dominates. Little League loses the kids because all-stars like playing with all-stars against other all-stars

While my youngest son's birthday is May 2nd My middle son's is August 1st. This would have my youngest who was on the All-Star team at 7 play with 7 & 8 yo when his is 9. I believe this is a bad move. The date should remain as close to the end of All-Star season as possible. With this change you get the Danny Almonte setup of a 13 YO in the World Series mt Oldest son at 13 was throwing 75+ he had team mates that hit 80 at times from 54' the Pony Division distance. It would be crazy to put these kids on a hill 46' from the batter. The speed increase would be nearly 7-10 MPH. Imagine a 13yo in the WS tossing it in at 85 MPH or better!

I still favor setting up the leagues by school year--

quote:

---

Originally posted by TRhit:
I still favor setting up the leagues by school year--

---

The problem with this plan is that it gives an advantage to the player who stays back in school. (at least in the youth baseball ages)

This could be by parents choice( held back for purposes they feel will help the child ), behavioral, academic shortcomings. Non of which I agree with. Perhaps a weight/size system like Pop Warner football would be more fair.....

At any rate, I don't really like the change, but this is my son's last year of Little League and it does not affect him, so we will move on and up.

TR---

I ABSOLUTELY agree with YOU!

FYI-USSSA Baseball has made decision on the new age cutoff date.


The USSSA Baseball National Committee has met and discussed the numerous communications with coaches, parents, league directors and tournament directors regarding the proposed age cutoff change by USA Baseball.

After serious consideration USSSA Baseball will change from a August 1 cutoff date to a May 1 cutoff date to take effect for the 2006 season. The 2006 season will start on August 1, 2005. This means whatever age a player is on April 30, 2006, will be their age for the 2006 season. USSSA allows all players to play "up" in a higher age bracket.

USSSA is also in the process of looking at pitching distances in regards to the age change. A change in pitching distance is likely for the 2006 season.

It is the belief of USSSA Baseball that these changes will enhance the opportunities for all players to play the game of baseball in a fun and exciting atmoshpere.

USSSA encourages all national organizations to follow our lead.

I wouldn't set it up by school year but I would have the date September 1st like the schools are. That way you are not encouraging people to hold their kids back and then have the kids playing with those that they will play with through high school. When I left our youth baseball board that was one of the topics up for discussion. I do not know if they ever went through with it however.

Benchwarmer ....

Nice argument, but every state has it's own cutoff date. Some use Sept 1st, others use Oct 15th ...

There is no uniform method. It sounds like an attempt to fix something just by making changes.

It ain't gonna make a hill a beans worth of difference in a couple years.

If you want to improve youth baseball in the nation then those folks purporting to have "the game" as their chief concern ought to consider

Consolidating the "multiple national organizations" into one baseball organization nationwide. Little league, babe Ruth, NABA, USSSA, and I'm sure a bunch of others only fractionalize and dilute the talent pools.

Ofcourse this will never happen because the reality of it is these organizations are run by adults who, though they really mean well for youth baseball, need to "be in charge." Moreover, the economics of the people supported by these multiple organizations at the highest levels will preclude this.

Still fun to think about though. One national champion at every age group - not twenty.
Ofcourse this

So my sons birthday is April 30th. Does he play a his current age, his age on his birthday or does he have a choice?