Interesting Article on Wilson Baseball

I thought that this article in the Washington Post was interesting. It discusses Wilson's baseball team's ongoing dominance in the DCIAA, and whether it makes them a good team. I thought it was really interesting, because all my life growing up, I read about Wilson winning another championship in baseball, so when they landed on our schedule in my junior year of high school, I was intrigued.

Their starting pitcher looked like Buddy Holly, but didn't pitch as well as Buddy sang. We dropped 16 runs on them in the first two innings. I struck out the side on 9 pitches in the first inning, and gave up a bunt single in between three strikeouts in the second inning. I came out of the game after that, having already scored twice after doubling and singling. I was probably the slowest runner in the Northern Region, but the third baseman was playing me to bunt (we were up 2-0 already in the first with nobody out - why would I bunt??). They struck me as not only lacking in talent, but also not particularly well coached, so I get a chuckle when Eddie Saah is always played up in the sports pages as being some sort of fantastic coach. They were easily the worst team we played that year. We won a mercy-rule shortened content something like 25-2. So this article definitely rang pretty true.

It makes me sad about the rest of the DC baseball teams. It's not as if DC is so urban that there isn't anywhere to play. There are plenty of parks. I think it all goes back to the fact that baseball just isn't as easy to go out and play as something like basketball, soccer, or football. Those sports require a minimum of gear, and there is no shortage of basketball courts. As someone who loves baseball, I wish it still held the same pull as some of the other youth sports. I will just have to have 50 kids to seed future baseball drafts. I hope my fiancee is okay with that.