There was a time—before the mid-90s—when there was really just one option in youth baseball: play for your local rec park. The one down the street. The one where everybody knew everybody. The one where neighborhood friends all played, and families packed the stands together.

Those rec parks would put together all-star teams once the season ended. And, of course, those teams needed somebody to play. So they’d face all-star teams from nearby parks, maybe the next county over. And if the hunger for better competition really started to grow, they might even travel out of state to test themselves against stronger teams.

But once families got a taste of that more competitive environment, it was hard to turn that switch back off when the next rec season rolled around. A lot of people started thinking the same thing:

Why not just do this all the time?

And just like that, travel ball was born.

Now youth baseball had two lanes: rec park or travel ball.

One was seen as the option for kids who just wanted to play.

The other was for kids who were more serious and more competitive.

Back then, travel ball usually meant something. A kid typically had to show some real ability to get invited onto a travel team. In many cases, one of the biggest filters was simple: you had to make the all-star team at your local park first. That created a buffer. Travel ball wasn’t for everybody, and because of that, the level of play was usually pretty solid.

Fast forward to today, and that buffer is mostly gone.

Now, many of the kids who would have been playing rec in the pre-travel-ball days are playing travel instead—as long as their parents are willing to pay travel prices.

And once that wave of rec-level players wanted into the travel ball world, tournament directors saw an opportunity. Instead of turning those families away, they created more divisions so those kids wouldn’t get steamrolled by the more talented teams. From a business standpoint, it made sense. More teams meant more entry fees, more tournaments, and more money flowing in.

There was a time when if someone said Little Johnny played travel ball, the assumption was simple: he could really play.

Now? That statement alone doesn’t tell you much.

Today, you almost have to ask what level of travel he plays—Major, AAA, AA—just to get a sense of what it actually means.

And that shift changed everything.

Rec parents started to feel like they were missing out. Travel teams kept popping up. More families jumped in. And little by little, rec parks started losing the very kids they were built to serve.

That’s the part people often miss.

Rec parks didn’t just start losing kids because baseball changed. They started losing kids because the definition of where a kid is “supposed” to play changed. Travel ball stopped being a place mainly for the top players and became a place for almost everybody who could afford the price of admission.

And once that happened, rec ball began to feel, fairly or unfairly, like the leftover option.

That perception has done real damage.

Because the truth is, rec ball still serves an important purpose. It gives kids a place to learn the game, build confidence, play with friends, and develop without all the cost, pressure, and year-round intensity. But when travel ball becomes the default status symbol, rec parks are the ones left fighting uphill.

That’s the real reason recreational parks are losing kids.

It’s not just because travel ball exists.

It’s because travel ball no longer has a real gate—and once everybody was allowed in, rec ball started getting treated like something kids were supposed to move on from, instead of something that still holds real value.

-Michael McCree (author of new #1 best seller Seventh Inning https://a.co/d/0iqU9Ozb )