Big Ten Summer Baseball - Being Studied

[Kinnickson]

Has Iowa ever been to the CWS?

[HawkPrdatr40]

Has Iowa ever been to the CWS?

Yes in 1972.

The Hawkeyes finished ranked No. 9 in the nation that year.

[DodgerHawki]

No the injury to Colvin was a fluke. I believe you on the numbers of the new metal bats but for me it still is not good enough. If they are more comparable to wooden bats then just make the switch and be done with it. You will always have metal bats for softball and that is where they belong.

you would see even more schools drop the sport. The cost involved with providing a full college team with wood bats for the entire season would be significantly higher than going with the metal bats.

[ssckelley]

Yes in 1972.

The Hawkeyes finished ranked No. 9 in the nation that year.

Didn't they make it in 1990 as well? I remember that team was really good, had future big league Tim Costo on the team.

[hawkihayes]

This has everything to do with BTN and programing. Just look at the scheduling for games this time of year track and field, softball, Mens and Womens lacrosse then Baseball. The Hawks play only twice this year on BTN and the over all Baseball schedule pales in comparison to Softball they have ton more time slots and it's way over covered. Not sure if this is a gender equity thing or not but I'd rather watch volleyball, Women's BB even gymnastics over softball.

[Row55]

Didn't they make it in 1990 as well? I remember that team was really good, had future big league Tim Costo on the team.

They made it to the NCAA tournament, but were winless. That was Banks' best team since '72 - would have been Cal Eldred's senior year had he stayed.

[tm3308]

This has everything to do with BTN and programing. Just look at the scheduling for games this time of year track and field, softball, Mens and Womens lacrosse then Baseball. The Hawks play only twice this year on BTN and the over all Baseball schedule pales in comparison to Softball they have ton more time slots and it's way over covered. Not sure if this is a gender equity thing or not but I'd rather watch volleyball, Women's BB even gymnastics over softball.

I can't imagine why that would be the case

I actually do like watching softball, provided that Wisconsin is playing. I'm friends with their starting pitcher (she was two years behind me at my high school).

I really don't care why they're considering moving baseball to the summer. I like the idea. Baseball is a summer and fall sport. They don't call them the Boys of Spring.

[gohawkz]

I don't follow college baseball closely, so I might be wrong, but would this hurt the kids by playing less baseball?

Kind of along the same lines of Iowa high school baseball players only playing the summer season while Minnesota kids play spring baseball for their high school and then play legion ball all year long. Unless this has changed in the last 15 years since I was in hs...most MN teams would kick Iowa teams *****, cause they just flat out played more. Because of this I always thought Iowa was a terrible state for a potential baseball prospect to grow up in.

When the spring season is over do you think that players just throw their gloves in the back of the closet and wait for next year?

I don't know if they even still exist, but I assume that they do, years ago when I lived in Waterloo they had the Waterloo Bucks. It was a team made up primarily of college players who played in this league during the summer. If the college season was during the summer it would not give them the opportunity to play in leagues like this and may stunt their development.

[Row55]

The Bucks still exist, and apparently draw better than did UNI, which played in the same facility. The proposal is for the B10 only, the rest of the NCAA would continue to play in spring, and their players would be available for summer leagues.

[Row55]

I can't imagine why that would be the case

I actually do like watching softball, provided that Wisconsin is playing. I'm friends with their starting pitcher (she was two years behind me at my high school).

I really don't care why they're considering moving baseball to the summer. I like the idea. Baseball is a summer and fall sport. They don't call them the Boys of Spring.

Your friend the Wisc pitcher did the Hawks some damage over the weekend. Threw three complete games, and out-pitched both of Iowa's girls.

[ssckelley]

I don't know if they even still exist, but I assume that they do, years ago when I lived in Waterloo they had the Waterloo Bucks. It was a team made up primarily of college players who played in this league during the summer. If the college season was during the summer it would not give them the opportunity to play in leagues like this and may stunt their development.

Yes, they still exist and draw quite well. This is the model B1G needs to take. Let's face it the teams in the B1G cannot compete with the southern teams the way it is set up now. Set the B1G up to be more of a minor league and play your conference games during the summer. If 2000 people will show up to watch amateur baseball in Waterloo you would think the Hawkeyes could draw a decent number. Put a few of the games on the BTN and give the tickets away. Make the money on TV revenue and concessions (to bad no beer). Perhaps they could play a few games in Cedar Rapids when the Kernels are on the road to really give it a minor league feel to it.

[74Hunter]

Even with a seasonal disadvantage, the B1G does its baseball playing members no favors regarding recruiting. If had some less restrictive rules, like the Big 12 or SEC, they could be more competitive, but they won’t.

Notre Dame made the CWS once or twice in the past 10 years, DoNU has been there 3 times since 2000. In the mid 2000’s Ohio St. made a super regional but lost to SW Mizzou St. B1G baseball can compete, so this idea about breaking away from the CWS and playing in the summer is pretty bad.

[SEIA17]

Your friend the Wisc pitcher did the Hawks some damage over the weekend. Threw three complete games, and out-pitched both of Iowa's girls.

I still don't understand why Iowa or Iowa State didn't recruit her. Darn good pitcher.

[ssckelley]

Even with a seasonal disadvantage, the B1G does its baseball playing members no favors regarding recruiting. If had some less restrictive rules, like the Big 12 or SEC, they could be more competitive, but they won’t.

Notre Dame made the CWS once or twice in the past 10 years, DoNU has been there 3 times since 2000. In the mid 2000’s Ohio St. made a super regional but lost to SW Mizzou St. B1G baseball can compete, so this idea about breaking away from the CWS and playing in the summer is pretty bad.

Ohio State in 1966 was the last time a Big Ten team won the College World Series and 1965 was the last time a Big Ten team finished in 2nd place.

Last year of CWS Participation by school:

Iowa - 1972
Michigan - 1984
Michigan State - 1954
Minnesota - 1977
Nebraska - 2005 (as a B12 school)
Ohio State - 1967
Penn State - 1973
Wisconsin - 1950

Purdue, Illinois, Northwestern, and Indiana have never been to the CWS.

B1G is nothing more than a mid major when it comes to baseball and it always will be. Stanford has some pretty tough admission standards as well yet they have been in the CWS 16 times and have won it twice. Vanderbilt has tough admission standards yet they made it to the CWS last year. There is no way with baseball starting in the early spring the B1G can compete on a level playing field as the SEC/B12. It is time to take a different approach.

[bogeyman]

I don't follow college baseball closely, so I might be wrong, but would this hurt the kids by playing less baseball?

Kind of along the same lines of Iowa high school baseball players only playing the summer season while Minnesota kids play spring baseball for their high school and then play legion ball all year long. Unless this has changed in the last 15 years since I was in hs...most MN teams would kick Iowa teams *****, cause they just flat out played more. Because of this I always thought Iowa was a terrible state for a potential baseball prospect to grow up in.

When the spring season is over do you think that players just throw their gloves in the back of the closet and wait for next year?

I don't know if they even still exist, but I assume that they do, years ago when I lived in Waterloo they had the Waterloo Bucks. It was a team made up primarily of college players who played in this league during the summer. If the college season was during the summer it would not give them the opportunity to play in leagues like this and may stunt their development.

Most of the college players do play in some sort of collegiate summer league for more experience and exposure. There are tons of them out there, most wood bat. They do not have spring college age leagues because obviously college season is going. Therefore, if the BIG went to summer baseball, all the BIG players would have nothing to play in right now and would then miss the summer leagues, therefore they would play far less overall games than their D1 counter parts. This would hurt the kids development and exposure and I'm afraid would hurt recruiting to us northern states even more. Most really good players who are serious about giving themselves a chance to get drafted are not going to miss out on playing all the summer league games just so they can play against some other BIG teams with no shot at the NCAA tourney because its over. This summer baseball thing just won't work unless everyone else goes to it.

On the high school side, Iowa is not really at a disadvantage anymore. A kid can pretty much play from right now (many spring league games have started) until October with fall leagues. Tons of opportunities to play around the high school schedule anymore. Just crazy how many opportunities there are for the kids now days. Then throw in the awesome indoor training facilities like Perfect Game, Sportsplex West etc and the kids can pretty much play and workout all year round. The talent level of ballplayers in Iowa lately has been pretty strong too IMO. There are some darn good ballplayers out there. Iowa Recruit Calvin Mathews for instance could be top 5-6 round draft material this June and is going to have a big decision to make (go to Iowa or take some pretty good money and sign).