My son is scheduled to attend the Blue-Grey Battle of the States I July 21-23 in
St. Petersburg, FL. Can anyone give me some insight on this as to what we should expect and is it worth it? What makes the Battle of the States different from the other Blue-Grey Classics?

BBB31 - I don't know if this will help you at all. We are attending for the first time also. I called and asked some questions. It is a tournament set up. Each team is guaranteed 5 games and possibly up to 8. They will play 2 on Friday, 2 on Saturday and a minimum of 1 on Sunday. They do have full teams coming in to participate, so if your team is not coming in as a group, you will be put on a team. They are still signing up participants. Battle I is usually smaller than II as players are still in summer ball programs, but they say the scouts and coaches are the same -not sure I believe that. We will just have to see. There is no real time for practices for the teams - they say it is like the All-Star set up as it related to practices. If you play more than one position, you will get time at each of them. All players are supposed to get the same amount of playing time (never can tell on that one). Looking forward to finding out how much is hype and how much is truth.
See ya in ST Pete.

Thanks so much for the info. I guess that we will all just have to wait and see and hope that it's worth the trip!

Sounds about right.
I just realized that you are from GA also.
You and my son will probably be on the same team. Where abouts in GA are you from? Are y'all staying at the Hilton?

We are just outside of Peachtree City. My son attends Starrs Mill High School. He will be a senior. He and one other boy from Starrs Mill will be attending. Yes, we are staying at the Hilton. We don't get in Thursday night until around 9:30 or 10:00. I sure hope they don't need them there any earlier. It would be nice if they would post some additional info. on their website, like where and when everyone meets..



Let me know if you get any additional info on it. We are going out of town Saturday and won't be back until late the following Wed. night, and have to leave for FL the next day, so I hope that nothing major changes!

Talk about a small world.
We are from Newnan and my son attends East Coweta. We are going down on Thursday, but going to a slightly less expensive hotel for the one night - may even stay with some friends. As far as I know we do not register until 9 am on Friday. They are supposed to have the team rosters on the web site sometime this week or early next week. My son is at Notre Dame for a socker camp this week and gets back on Saturday. Has a double header on Sunday and then we will leave on Thursday. See ya in FL

I enjoyed BG in at Jacksonville U last year. There was a great deal of hype spread about it. Overall it was a fun exeperience but I haven't seen any recruiting results from it thus far. I'm thinking about attending the Wake Forest event later this year, which I understand is the best event w/the most scouts. It's where BG originally held their evnts.

Thanks for the info - it may be something we look at after we see how this goes next weekend.
Do they post any results after any of their events - throw times, pop times, 60's?

I am the father of a recent Northgate parent. We attended the B/G in Ft. Myers and also the battle of the states at Wake Forest.

The Wake Forest event is about as good as any out there for getting exposure to scouts and coaches of all school divisions. The one in Ft. myers was horrible.

Team One south is the best I have seen followed by BG at Wake and the PG events.

Good Luck to the Stars Mill and EC players.

I meant to say, I am the father of a recent Northgate player.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by jsorb8997:
I'm thinking about attending the Wake Forest event later this year,QUOTE]
Is that something you can just sign up for? The reason I ask is that we just got off the phone with a coach who wants my son for a team heading to the Blue-Grey Classic at Coastal Carolina. He made it seem like it was a selective process. He saw my son at a regional Blue Grey event and said that's how he was selected for this Coastal Carolina event. Can anyone give me info on this specific event Coastal Carolina)?

It is a selective process. I am not sure yet how selective though. My Son "showcased" for them before being invited to the Wake Forest event. That is our experience so far. Will will know more after the event of course. I would view it as an honor that the Coach wanted your Son for the event in any case.

THEY NOW HAVE THE TEAMS AND SCHEDULES POSTED FOR THE BLUE-GREY BATTLE OF THE STATES I THIS WEEKEND. WE WERE TOLD OVER 31 STATES PARTICIPATED WITH 200+ KIDS. I ONLY SEE 8 or 9 TEAMS, 5 OF WHICH ARE FROM FL, AND EACH ADDITIONAL STATE IS NOT REPRESENTED WITH KIDS FROM ONLY THEIR STATE. WE WERE SUPPOSED TO BE TEAM GA. NOW WE ARE TEAM MID ATLANTIC OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT, WITH THE STATES OF PA & GA BEING COMBINED. THIS IS ALREADY NOT LOOKING GOOD. I ALSO BELIEVE THAT A LARGE 17U PERFECT GAME TOURNAMENT IS GOING ON IN JUPITER, FL THIS WEEKEND. WHERE WILL ALL THE SCOUTS BE??????

What was your final opinion of this event?????

Let me begin by saying the staff and the playing fields were very nice and there were some strong competitive kids. However, we were very mislead with info. that we were given prior to making a decision to attend the Blue-Grey Battle of the States I. As for over 200 kids representing 31+ states, there were only 8 teams represented with @ 90 kids, give or take a few. Out of the 8 teams, 5 were from Fl, and the other 3 were made up of kids from the Northeast, Mid Atlantic, and Mid America. Our team only had 9 players. As for the 70+ scouts, I would say that there were probably less than 10, and that is being conservative! We attended this because we were told how much exposure that our son would receive. This may be true for some of the other Blue-Grey events, but not for this one. Our high school team finished #14 in the nation this year, ranked by Baseball America. Our expectations had been set much higher, and we spent several thousand dollars on hotels, plane fares, etc... We were pretty disappointed. Would I recommend it? If you want to play baseball and just have a good time, it may be for you. If you're looking for your son to be scouted and advance his baseball career, the chances are very slim!!!

If you go...go to Wake Forest.