Disney:Wide World of Sports Complex: Trying Out

March 2008

My wife and I arrived at Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex near Orlando at 4:00 PM to pick up tickets for the 6:00 Braves spring training game, the parking lot was already half full. At the ticket counter we were disappointed to learn that all the 9000 seats had long since been sold out. All that remained was standing room on the grass. We hadn't anticipated a problem and had neglected to bring any folding chairs. What to do?

Looking back beyond the baseball stadium I caught sight of several unenclosed baseball and Lacross fields in the distance. We slipped unnoticed through the outer gate, despite not having tickets to explore what turned out to be an enjoyable sampling of aspiring athletes in competition.

It was alongside one baseball diamond where we found aluminum riser seats shaded by an overhead canvas on the first base side of what turned out to be a lopsided game. there were a couple of dozen onlookers.

That's where we met Roco. His son was playing shortstop for the team that was ahead by nine runs. Roco introduced us to what was really at stake here, beyond the games outcome. His son Tony played for a junior college team in Michigan. The team had excelled in their regional league and qualified to come to this national competition. These young athletes were really here to try out for either the pro's or for a major four year college looking for promising junior ballplayers. 

Roco was hopeful but shared with us his long held concern. As he explained, Tony was only 5'11 and weighed 165 which by current standards was too small to be seriously considered. I was surprised by how different these standards were from what I remembered in the days of Pee Wee Reese, Billy Cox and Carl Furillo from the old Brooklyn Dodgers.

Fortunately Tony was excelling at his academics as well. He had a 3.75 GPA and was in the pre med program. I said the obvious, that Roco had an awful lot to be proud of regardless of how this turned out and that it was obvious he had been exposed to the best parenting. He went on to say that Tony was a natural athlete. He was a powerful hitter and maximized the use of his wrists. That combined with his skills at short have been evident so far and contributed mightily to his teams dominance in this game. He already had a double and a triple and stole home.

These youngsters were playing two games a day for a week. The odds of being recognized and selected were quite small 2% and there were hundreds of hopefuls. The scouts were out and about, though not always obvious, but you only find out much later by mail whether you aroused any interest. 

My impression was that Roco was fairly and rightly confident but didn't want to jinx his son and himself by predicting that his son would make that 2%. I strongly suspect he will.