The biggest problem that I see between LL and USSSA is the large jump of base distances and field sizes. LL has the kids going from 60ft to 90ft when they are playing with 13 year old players. USSA makes a gradual change with the base distances.

I do believe that both leagues are looking out for the safety of the players, with LL having the most experience with a longer history of trial and error.

The difference between the programs are actually based on tallent level. USSSA weekend teams are made up of hand picked tallented kids. They are equal to Little League All-star teams in tallent. The regular season league USSSA teams are the same as any Little League regular season team that has to accept any kid that signs-up. That usually means maybe 3-4 kids that really want to play and out of that maybe 1-2 kids that are tallented. League ball that must take all kids that sign-up has to play down to the weakest player involved not the strongest because the majority of the kids are not "All-star" material but only want to have fun and be safe.

The best format is to do league ball that allows a separation in tallent like the Tri-County Little League does (Majors/Minors) and play weekend tournaments. (Duel Participation is legal in Little League)

Little League Junior Division allows the intermediate bases at 80ft and pitching at 50ft for regular season and has done so for the last 10 years. They are looking at adding this format during tournament play. But, isn't the 90ft and 60ft 6inch pitching real baseball?

For those of you that think LL hinders a player, you may want to talk with one of these former LL players that a current or former Major League players.

Boog Powell, BillConners, Catfish Hunter,
Jim Barbieri, Ken Hubbs, Jim Palmer,
Rick Wise, Keith Lampard, Nolan Ryan,
Carney Lansford, Vance Lovelace, Mike Schmidt,
Ed Vosberg, Lloyd McClendon, Tom Seaver,
Charlie Hayes, Jim Pankovits, Don Sutton,
Dwight Gooden, Marc Pisciotta, Carl Yastrzemski,
Derek Bell, Carl Taylor, Robin Yount,
Gary Sheffield, Hector Torres, Dusty Baker,
Jason Marquis, Dan Wilson, Cal Ripken, Jr.,
Jason Varitek, George Brett, Dale Murphy,
Wilson Alvarez, Steve Carlton, Larvell Blanks, and
Rollie Fingers

If only Nolan Ryan had not played LL Baseball! There is no telling how fast he could have thrown a baseball. LOL

It doesn't matter which brand of baseball kids play. The kids will always be able to adapt. As far as being ready for HS, These kids will already have had a couple of years of "real baseball" under their belt before their HS career begins in Little League Junior division.

Each association, whether it be USSSA, Cal Ripken/Babe Ruth, LL or any other has its good and bad points. The trick to the decision is what is best for your situation. Which association will afford your community the most games for the kids. The kids really just want to play ball and will perform and have fun if we just let them.

Ronnie

If you are comparing USSSA class A ball teams to LL or Cal league teams then I can assure you as a parent of a child who has played in all 3 programs, that the talent level is the same. You cannot compare USSSA AA teams to league teams, that is unfair. League ball is league ball, period. Now if you want to compare LL/Cal All-star teams to AA travel teams, we've done that too when we scrimmaged Jonesboro All-stars (blue) at Joe Mack. Interestingly enough, playing with our USSSA rules they beat us and we beat them playing Cal rules. It was a lot of fun and basically proved the point that it doesn't matter what the rules are, talent is talent. People need to get over this "our organization is the best" junk. It is the kids, the coaches ,the parents and the community that make a program successful.

My son played for David Black's Newport Greyhounds who finished 3rd this year in the 14aa World Series. We played a team in Jonesboro who played in the Southwest Regionals and beat them twice in the same night. And we played by LL rules. Do I think that our team was better than that team? Yes I just think that the boys who play USSSA are going to be better prepared for High School baseball. And about those Pro Players who played LL. I don't think they had USSSA baseball back then, if they did they would have played USSSA

What team did you play from Jonesboro in the 14 YO division that was Little League?

Quick question, what kind of uniforms were Trumann buying for Little League in the past that are now $2500.00 cheaper for USSSA? I mean, dang share the knowledge information with us. If USSSA uniforms are that much cheaper for Trumann than the price that we pay in the NEA for Little League uniforms, we could change and get them for free... And $2900.00 for labor? Is that raking the fields and working the concession stand and paying umps? Does it cost more to rake and prep a field for a Little League game as opposed to a USSSA game? The Trumann City Council actually bought into that crap?

http://www.jonesborosun.com/story.php?ID=36021

Woods said the change over to USSSA helped the department save roughly $2,500 on uniforms, $2,900 in labor and $1,600 in insurance and dues.

Either somebody has been smoking something a little stronger than Winston Lights or the drinks that they serve at the ballfields aren't Pepsi.

Back in the summer we had a thread regarding this topic and I didn't look back, but I think it said it costs the individual towns less money to operate under USSSA but it costs the league, in this case Delta League, more to operate. I think, and I am not by any means speaking for Trumann, that the fees are less for individual towns but the post season play is more expensive. I can't figure out the uniform thing because ours were the same in both organizations except for the LL patch. Did we pay for LL patches? Maybe Trumann's were different. And as far labor is concerned, maybe USSSA didn't require as many umpires or "true" umpires to officiate, resulting in lower wages??? I'm just guessing here. I don't think anyone could pull those numbers out of thin air in a council meeting without paper backup, so I am certain it was factual. But I am curious as to why it was cheaper. Oh well, looks like Delta voted to stay USSSA anyway. We will thrive as a league no matter what organization we are in. Hopefully, USSSA 'A' division will be better put together for the post season next year.

It's really none of my concern, I don't care which league they go with. But after reading the $2500.00 savings on uniforms, I had to ask. If he or anyone can show on paper that uniforms cost less because your in USSSA then he did his homework. If not, they need to vote Poinsett dry.

If I remember correctly, you do have to purchase the LL patches. As for the other costs, I remember Andy telling me this past season that USSSA is indeed cheaper. I believe he said the insurance was much cheaper among other things. However, Andy told me that the post-season is much more expensive.

I believe the patches only have to be worn for post-season play (ie: distict, state, regional, etc.). When we were in LL we never wore them during regular season, only the "all-star" teams wore them. I don't see how there is any way you could save $2500 on uniforms by playing in a differenht association. A uniform is a uniform, the associations don't tell you you which ones to purchase and the patches sure don't cost that much.

Just remember that the whole story and everything said at the council meeting was not printed in the paper. The figures that were compared were the costs from 2007 to 2008. It was even pointed out that the cost of uniforms savings was because of a good job of shopping by the parks director. The reason for comparing the total numbers instead of just the dues and insurance fees, was to show that baseball in general did not lose money in 2008.
With people reading only what the newspaper says without getting the whole story, then taking it as gospel, is part of whats wrong. People get bits and pieces of information from the paper and take it the way it is printed. Unfortunately most of the time it winds up being just enough to start an argument. And so you will know, I don't drink or smoke.

The reason the insurance premium was cheaper for them last year was that they purchased a local policy that covered the kids only with a max coverage of $5,000.

Little Leagues policy has a max of $100.000 and covers players, coaches, umps, scorekeepers, concession workers, groundskeepers and boardmembers for $22 per team. ($50 ded)

Now, Delta had thier meeting and it is clear that Harrisburgs reps are the two votes made to return to Little League. This vote was expected. This is not the end of this issue although. Trumann City council will take it up again and make a vote. 4 Teams now have contacted us from Marked Tree asking for a return to Little League. So, it is appearent that the community reps are not representing the wishes of thier community.