Why Babe Ruth Baseball?

As the President of the Norwalk Babe Ruth Baseball League I am frequently asked, “Why should my son play Babe Ruth Baseball? Is it better than AAU travel or American Legion?” My answer is always, “What’s best for your son?”

As parents we feel an overwhelming need to provide what we consider to be the best advantages that we can to our children – a fundamental trait we all carry to ensure our children are best prepared to succeed. That said, we often overlook what may be best for our children, or just as important, what they really want to do when it comes to playing baseball.

Now, I have certainly heard all of the stories, whether it’s coaching, the level of competition, to the number of games played to tournaments, to cost, to player development as contributing factors to choosing where to have your son play baseball. All good points and all worthy of a response. Let’s take them one at a time:

Coaching. Every year evaluations of the season are made and decisions on coaches are made to continue as a volunteer organization or to introduce paid coaching. For Jr & Sr Babe Ruth, the benefit of certified volunteer coaches far outweighs the need for paid coaches. However, as we continue to refine the Babe Ruth program, certified paid coaches for Jr & Sr Babe Ruth may be necessary as the number of volunteer coaches continues to shrink. The Norwalk Revolution, travel/Xtreme program wil have certified paid coaches.

Competition. All of our teams, whether 15U Jr Babe Ruth or 18U Sr Babe Ruth playing in Fairfield County against teams like Greenwich, Fairfield, Stamford and Trumbull will have excellent competition. 

Norwalk Revolution plays in the Connecticut Babe Ruth Xtreme league against all-star or district level competition. Additionally we play in the East Shore Travel League against top travel programs in the state. All of these teams are comprised of the best 13 – 18 year old players in the state. Many of them playing JV or Varsity. Our travel teams will play in top tournaments in both Babe Ruth and AAU. No other program in Norwalk can offer this level of competition.

NEW! For our Jr Babe Ruth division we will have a 13U and a 15u all-star team that will play over the summer in CT Babe Ruth Xtreme and in tournaments, providiing continued continued development for players in this division.

Games played. Typically, Jr & Sr Babe Ruth Spring seasons cover 20+ games. Summer all-star and tornament play can double that number. For Norwalk Revolution, over the course of the Spring regular season, Summer travel/Xtreme players can expect to play as many as 60 games or more. For all divisions an additional 20+ games can be had in the fall season.

Tournaments. There is nothing that gets the attention of parents and players faster than the promise of tournaments. To many, the best of the best play in tournaments and anything else is considered inferior. It is also considered the ONLY way to get noticed by college scouts. We land somewhere in the middle. Let me explain.

Not all tournaments are created equally. As long as a team can pay the fee, their team good or bad can play. What really needs to be examined is: What type of tournament should we participate? What does it cost and what’s the competition look like? These are mitigating factors.

Norwalk Babe Ruth is offering our players the opportunity to play in Babe Ruth tournaments at the district, state, regional and world-series level. We also have a spring Xtreme tournament as well as selective tournaments in Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts and Rhode Island to name a few. Being realistic, players are noticed first by how successful they are in high school. Sooo, Norwalk Babe Ruth is committed to preparing all of our players to be able to compete for and win a spot on their high school roster. That said, as we continue to mature as a program and with new partners, we are looking into the appropriate venues for our players to get in front of recruiters from all levels of college baseball.

Cost. Norwalk babe Ruth continues to keep costs among the lowest in the state. For what we are offering, you can expect to pay double to triple what we ask. Our Jr & Sr Babe Ruth program is half of what many in th state pay. Our travel program is a third of the cost of competing programs. How do we do this? Simple. We are a non-profit organization. We partner with existing providers that give us best pricing as we expand our program offerings - all a benefit to you!

Player Development. We have partnered with All-American Baseball Training to be our development team. They provide professional instruction to all of our players in season and off season. This past winter, spring and summer, All-American provided speed & agility, strength & fitness, hitting mechanics and approach, infield/outfield skills and separate pitcher & catcher instruction. They also manage all of our league evaluations for both Junior Babe Ruth and Norwalk Revolution.

We also have partnered with The Factory to be our base of operations. Having a best-in-class facility dedicated to the success of our program is essential to providing the players of Norwalk Babe Ruth a place to work out, practice (mandatory indoor practices for all teams on bad weather days - no missed games, now we have practice) and coming soon a new strength & fitness center where our expert, certified trainers from All-American Baseball can give our players the proper, safe workouts they need to build baseball strength.

What else? Norwalk Babe Ruth is a fully licensed and accredited participant of National Babe Ruth and as such benefits from all a large organization provides: mandatory certifications for managers and coaches, mandatory background checks for all league staff and volunteers, a fully insured league, lower fees and national tournaments leading to a World Series. Additionally, we are a certified 501(c)(3) charitable organization and in 2015 as part of Norwalk's athletic system, we introduced a new concussion prevention program that is the benchmark for sports leagues nationally. 

Let’s get back to the opening question, “Why should my son play Babe Ruth Baseball? Is it better than AAU travel or American Legion?” Again my answer is “What’s best for your son?” All that I detailed above is available to all age eligible players in Norwalk. Our fees are dramatically lower than other programs, with the same amount of games offered, elite level of play, certified and expert instruction available to all players during the season and in the off-season. The opportunity for your son to play baseball spring, summer and fall for the city of Norwalk with his friends, all striving to achieve their baseball goals: whether recreational play because they enjoy the game, or honing their talent to make their high school team, to competing at the elite level with an ultimate goal of winning a World Series.

We know you have choices. We know you want the best for your son. We feel we have the program that covers all your needs. We look forward to seeing you this season.

Dave Williams 

President, Norwalk Babe Ruth Baseball
President, Norwalk Revolution Travel

norwalkbaberuth@gmail.com