Jeff Potter has seen just about everything when it comes to youth baseball. Not all of it is good.
The coach-turned-author has watched and coached youth baseball for more than eight years on all levels and has plenty to say about it in his book: “Whatever Happened to Baseball?”
Potter came to Frederick Saturday as part of opening ceremonies at Frederick American Little League’s Austin F. Angleberger Stadium. He autographed and sold some of his books and discussed his publication with fans at the ballpark.
Some of what Potter has to say in his book may not be pleasing to some readers. He talks about the good and the not-so-good aspects of youth baseball and how it’s changed.
A lot of the book dwells on the not-so-good. “I’m not happy with some of the things which have been going on,” Potter said. “It’s gotten away from the fun aspect of the game and that bothers me.”
Potter is well-versed in baseball. He was drafted in the sixth round by the Detroit Tigers in 1972 but did not spend much time in the organization. “I had a very short minor league career,” he said.
Potter said there are numerous problems with the game on the youth circuit. Some of it, he said, comes from poor, inexperienced coaching and, in some cases, ego-driven parents trying to undo shortcomings they experienced as players by reliving their baseball days through their kids.
“That’s just not right,” Potter said. “They need to get over it and just let kids be kids.”
Another concern of his is situations where parents take their children out of local leagues, where they compete against local teams and players, and place them on travel and elite teams. Some of those teams are on the road a lot, traveling all over the country, spending several days or weeks at a time away from home, Potter said.
“I think we’ve lost a sense of community over this,” Potter said.
He said he’s seen situations where parents are more upset than the players when a team loses a game. “Ten minutes after the game’s over, the kids have forgotten all about it,” he said. “Meanwhile, the parents are still harping about who did what, why didn’t the coach do this or that and so forth.”
Potter said he also has issues with such things as specialized coaching and personal trainers. “It’s gotten too technical,” he said. “If I were a coach, and a player told me he was getting a personal trainer to help with his skills, I’d be insulted.”
