I played baseball starting before I have memories with T-Ball, and going all the way through high school. Obviously, at least early on, this was entirely my parents' decision. They signed me up for other sports as well, but baseball is the only one I stuck with, and that was my choice.

On the other hand, neither of my kids have ever played any sport in an organized fashion. Their friends and cousins have, and we've gone to see them play, and many of the players have no interest in being there, following rules they don't understand, to play a game where the rules have been twisted such that everyone wins and nobody fails. It's a truly horrible thing. So I'm not pushing my own children into that.

Once you get past the really young kids running around randomly while adults try to balance being supportive but also barking commands at them, things get competitive. More so than I remember from my youth. There are local leagues, travel leagues, professional coaches, equipment far beyond what major leaguers had a century ago. And to justify all of that, the kids have to put in hard work and long hours even before their age has two digits. Parents are putting car payments into youth sports. It's crazy.

For those who don't follow modern professional baseball, you might be surprised to hear that topping out at a 90 mile per hour fastball means you won't make it. Throwing 100 isn't rare anymore, nearly 100 players do it. As a consequence, arm injuries are common and surgery is expected, and those things are happening earlier than ever. Baseball may not have as serious a problem as youth football's concussion conundrum, but this is going to be a real concern in the future, if it's not already.

Edit: Tommy John passed away two days ago. This comic has been scheduled for publication for a couple of months, so the timing is a fortunate coincidence. RIP legend.

- Management