The changing and unchanging baseball scene. (Baseball).

HAS THE GAME OF baseball changed at the high school and collegiate levels?" you ask.

Of course, but how?

Slowly--and of all our national sports, probably the least. Thus its beauty.

Having coached for nearly three decades at two different California high schools, plus two more at Los Angeles State, I can make up a pretty good "laundry list" of noticeable changes. Some for the better, some questionable, and some for the worse.

Overshadowing everything else has to be the metal bat!

Born out of economic necessity. metal undoubtedly saved baseball at the high school level, and perhaps the collegiate level as well.

But has metal radically changed the game and its coaching strategies?

Yes!

Do most of us like the metal bat?

No! But like bad TV, aluminum is here to stay, unless someone discovers an inexhaustible source of inexpensive ash or maple in a forest somewhere over the rainbow.

Exactly how has the metal bat affected our game?

1. It's more difficult to bunt with metal and its slippery, non-giving surface, so we don't. And why bunt anyway when we have scores like 2114 in the College World Series? (Yes, it's still baseball we're talking about--not football.)

As Earl Weaver was wont to say: "Go for the three-run homer. If you play for one run, that's probably all you're going to get."

2. It is easier to hit with metal--does the ball go farther? (Do wheels roll--does money spend?)

Batters have much less fear of being "jammed". and there are more handle hits.

Furthermore, since aluminum bats rarely break, hitters swing harder without worrying about the handle shattering in their hands.

And so there is less emphasis on the hit-and-run, the "slash," the squeeze play, the sacrifice, and even the base hit bunt, all of which delights the players who prefer swinging like Sammy, Barry, or Big Mac.

With less practice time being devoted to practicing the little skills, you have a lot more hitters seeing how far a metal bat will propel a leather baseball. That especially applies to the new breed of sluggers who bulk up in the weight rooms, have a personal hitting coach, or are aided by dietary supplements of questionable or unknown merit.

From the major leagues on down, we see utility infielders batting .233 flailing away in the home run race, aided by juiced baseballs, poor pitching, and Vitamin S.

A decade ago, "Little Ball" was all the rage: get on base any way you could and keep your coach content. Hitters were taught how to reach first by "taking one for the club"--leaning into pitches with legs or shoulders.

Some collegiate players even achieved nationwide notoriety more for getting hit than for getting hits!

The second major change in baseball was the acceptance of the DH; that is, by everyone except the National League, which actually developed the idea in 1929.

When I wrote out my first high school lineup card in 1955, there was nobody hitting in place of the pitcher, nor for anyone else.

No "re-entry" rule either.

I'm not taking sides on the arguments for or against the DH or re-entry, although both rule changes have succeeded in getting more players into the game, which is probably good.

Likewise, both rules have altered coaching strategy. At the HS level, coaches no longer have to worry about replacing some lead footed slugger with a fleet but light-hitting pinch runner who might come up to bat in a key situation later in the game. Just let Old Slugger re-enter.

And now, let us list some items which come under the category of "What else is different?"

THE RULES: At the high school level, we have the weekly pitching limitations, which probably help develop more pitchers while also saving some young arms.

"Taking out" the catcher or an opposing infielder with a "football block" is no longer lauded, but outlawed.

And fortunately, in the areas of regulation and education, we finally seem to have discouraged the bad habit of using smokeless tobacco.

No longer are the chaw in the cheek and the circular bulge in the back pocket the accepted badges of the "Pro."

And as messy and irritating as sunflower seeds are, they still are a wholesome improvement over tobacco juice in the dugout.

Our modern high school and college players are better students than they used to be because they have to be. College entrance requirements are stiffer, requiring higher GPA's and test scores. And as our minor-league feeding grounds dwindle, more and more future professional players have to come off of the college campuses.

Continuing with the high school scene: Adult coaches are now permitted in the coaching boxes, which they once were not allowed to enter, In the Fifties and Sixties, even few college squads had adults at first and third to direct traffic and wig-wag the signs.

Teaching young players to occupy these positions had its merits, but you rarely see any student out there today.

One reason is that at the prep levels, coaching is no longer the one-man show it used to be. In Southern California, for example, it was once prohibited to have "non-certificated" people on the field. In 2002, we have all kinds of assistant coaches and "walk-on" helpers, even parents parading around.

It's often more quantity than quality with many masquerading as coaches. No more choosing up sides and playing at the nearest school yard or vacant lot. Gad, nobody plays sans coaches on all-dirt infields anymore!

Houston Astros scout Doug Deutsch feels that this has led to replacing baseball instinct with a more robot approach to the game.

"Coaches control the game too much," says Deutsch. "Recently, I saw three adult coaches at a high school game. They were all perched on five-gallon plastic buckets--one coach directing the infielders, one the outfielders, and the third the pitcher/batter unit. Isn't that taking some of the fun out of youth baseball?"

In this era, a university team absolutely must have a pitching coach, a hitting coach, and others to handle scouting and recruiting.

And many high schools don't lag far behind, some having even more.

Unfortunately, collegiate frosh and JV squads have all but disappeared.

Alas, Title IX has taken its toll on college baseball numbers.

While there may be fewer players, there are not only more coaches but more games, at least more than in the Fifties, but much fewer than in the Eighties when some college nines were playing almost 100 games a year!

"College baseball" had become "Baseball College." Definitely overkill, until the NCAA wisely put a halt to the practice.

Speaking of the NCAA, not only did they limit the number of games and the length of the season, but they also devised scholarship limits and letters-of-intent that stopped certain premier institutions from stockpiling players in order to keep them away from rival opponents. If one school recruited five shortstops, it often meant that others might not have any!

EXPANDED TRAVEL: Today's collegiate and prep squads also travel much farther around their respective states, the nation, and even the world in order to play. We also see more playoffs at the various levels, with some championships even performed in major league stadiums and beamed across the land on TV.

And it was just a few years ago, that Southern California high schools had a 300-mile travel limit, and few ever got even close to going any kind of distance. Look around today and you find prep squads driving or even flying to out-of-state holiday tournaments!

TEACHING TECHNIQUES: The old black-and-white 16mm films have been replaced by new instructional color videos.

Clinics have increased around the nation, spreading the baseball word. And we finally have come to the point where many amateur coaches have as much to say as some professionals, and may also say it better.

FIELD AND FACILITIES: Are far superior to what they once were. Some high schools have better complexes than the major league teams of old. Lights, portable and stationary batting cages, automatic pitching machines, pressboxes, team locker rooms, real dugouts, plus outfield decked out with green windscreen topped by protective yellow plastic and outfield distance signs.

UNIFORMS: Much improved (and more expensive), forcing the modem high school and collegiate mentors to take on the added duties of fundraisers, a prerequisite and high priority for landing a job. Summer camps, run-a-thons, and selling everything from Christmas trees to cookies.

Of course, our teams now have'to have both home-and-away uniforms, a practice set, plus travel bags to carry it all.

Our modern-day players wouldn't think of stepping onto the field without his pair of designer sunglasses perched on the bill of his cap, a mesh batting practice shirt, two pairs of batting gloves, and his $250 metal bat.

Uniforms are no longer flannel, which picked up dirt and water, were hot, tore easily, and had to go to the dry cleaners. Now, just toss the "uni" into the laundry!

EQUIPMENT: Better, safer. Ear-flap helmets, Barry Bond body armor, etc.

Gloves come already broken in and thus wear out faster. No more pounding your glove by the hour with a ball or bat, preparing it for combat. No more rubbing your wood bat handles with a bottle cap (and what's a "bottle cap?").

And rosin has given way to pine tar!

PRACTICES: Both high school and college practices are better organized and regulated with timed sessions and "stations," whereas in the days of old, they were: play a little catch, take infield; and batting practice was pretty much the old routine of "bunt one--hit ten--and run the last one out."

The present day 50-foot "lob toss" BP thrown by an ancient coach is a joke, but tees and "soft toss" are good improvements."

And what is of "Questionable Value"?

PERSONAL TRAINERS: Can't leave home without one, he's the players' "security blanket."

A coaching friend of mine recently had one of his charges tell him he had decided to play with his travel team rather than for the high school squad during a Christmas tournament because it would give him more "exposure."

Another player turned down a pitching assignment because he had to work out that evening with his private pitching tutor! The coach tried to explain that he was the boy's pitching coach. He failed.

TRAVEL TEAMS: Coached often by adults with questionable baseball credentials. These nomads have cropped up like weeds, and even worse, in softball.

SHOW-CASE EXTRAVAGANZAS: Players traversing the continent and paying big bucks to be seen, to provide entertainment for parents, pro scouts, and college recruiters in a world of camcorders, radar guns, and stopwatches. School teams have become almost secondary.

TWO-SPORT ATHLETES: Not as many in this age of scholarships and specialization. Which brings us to our final category: "What's changed for the worse in high school and collegiate baseball?" Parents!!!