HondaReport.com - Cautionary tale: The start of baseball's decline?

Cautionary tale: The start of baseball's decline?

Baseball will always be revered in communities like Pearl City, Mililani, Aiea and Kailua. Nanakuli's demise this season, however, is just the tip of the iceberg.

More than just a few baseball fans have noticed the plethora of lopsided, 10-run rule, shortened-to-five-innings high school games this year.

Is it any worse than it's been in other years? Quite possibly, and it's not just the amount of wipeouts, but the actual extremes we're seeing in margins. It's off the chart, and for good reason.

Baseball is a sport of tradition, of upbringing, of fathers teaching sons the game at an early age. Always has been, always will be. Think about it. In place like Kahului and Hilo, Lihue and Kaunakakai, the game is taught at a young age from coaches who had learned when they were toddlers, also from their fathers.

Generational, this game is, more than any other. That's why athletes who convert to the sport at a late age, like 13 or 14, are rare. It's easier to learn basketball or football. That's also why we see so many teams struggling in baseball.

Communities that lack youth leagues have a shortage of coaches, who are usually parents. When we have a culture of broken homes, we also have communities that just don't have enough men and women with the time or desire to coach the keiki. It's not a condemnation of anything or anyone. It's simply reality. Youth leagues across Oahu are disappearing.

My own Little League, Kapiolani, folded in recent years. That's heartbreaking. When I played back in the 1970s, we only had four teams: Orioles, Pirates, Mets and us, the Reds. It was pretty intense and a lot of fun. The coaches were great. Augie Pacheco. Zabu Zablan. Even the umpire, Boo, was a legend. We had metal, numbered plates on the scoreboard, which I can see in my mind's eye so clearly and vividly to this day.

I was the exception, a kid who didn't have a dad around to teach him the game. But I learned to be a decent player, and the countless sandlot games at Ala Wai Park every summer didn't hurt either. We had passion for the game.

Kids won't have passion for the game unless they start playing early, and if there's no Little League around, no PAL league, they have no chance. That's why Nanakuli's decision to forfeit its final two games isn't a total shock to me. They were low on numbers to begin with and, as expected, some of their better players are actually at Waianae.

Academic probation hit the Golden Hawks hard last week, but the bigger problem there and at many other schools is turnout. And even with numbers, the 25-0 and 33-3 games are absolutely alarming.

I know some folks will call for Division II in baseball, at least in the OIA, where most of the embarassing scores are. I think it's deeper than this, and besides, there's no Division II state tournament in baseball anyway.

Will people give up their time to coach the keiki in neighborhoods that are lacking enough coaches? That's a tough question. Until there's a clear answer, don't expect any sense of balance in the prep baseball ranks, not in the OIA. If anything, there will be programs dropping out of sight. If there aren't decent numbers, it makes little sense to a smart athletic director to shell out major money for uniforms and bus rentals.

I don't think we'll get to the point of pay-for-play like certain school districts on the mainland, but with continued losing, kids will stop turning out at some schools. I hope I'm wrong, but this season, if anything, should serve as a red alert to those of us who are capable of coaching, but have remained on the sidelines.

It doesn't take a miracle to turn a struggling program into a competitive, healthy one. It just starts with commitment.