Save Money on Baseball Gear

My friend Jim had a teenage boy that was a serious high school baseball player. He actually was a catcher so the boy had a lot of catchers gear among other baseball stuff in his very large equipment bag.

Jim said to me one day, “Holty, I bet there is over a $1000 dollars of baseball gear in that bag right there.” Jim was referring to his boy’s baseball equipment bag. I said, “What? No way. You’ve got to be kidding. There is no way the baseball stuff in that bag could cost that much.”

Then Jim started naming all the baseball equipment item by item and the approximate cost of the sporting goods items. He started naming the price of the bats, the batting helmet, the catching gear, the catchers glove, the fielders glove, cleats, batting gloves, some baseball wear and the equipment bag itself. I was astonished to say that he was right and he probably was a little low on the estimate.

Pay Full Price for Baseball Gear or Not?

But, I am going to offer some other ideas and ways to play baseball without spending $1000 dollars. Here is some baseball help for baseball savings for your youth baseball family.

75% of Youth Baseball Players Drop Out By Age 14

The good news is that there is a large amount of good used baseball gear sitting idle in someone’s garage, basement, and trunk of a car or bedroom closet.

Often folks will finally realize that the baseball gear is cluttering their house and their children have moved on to other activities. So, take advantage of garage sales, thrift stores, Play-It-Again Sports, Craig’s list, eBay, flea markets and just word of mouth.

You can pick up plenty of quality equipment slightly used and in good condition for pennies on the dollar. Any baseball player under 14 years old is likely to drop out because the data says that three out of four players will drop out.

I would be very cautious in choosing to purchase high-end baseball equipment for any youth player under 14 years old. If after age 14 the baseball player takes to baseball seriously then this might be a good sign that adding some higher quality baseball bats, gloves and cleats might be worth the investment.

Until then go cheap. If a baseball player can play then they can play with just about any bat, catch with a decent glove and still be productive.

Baseball Gloves Slightly Broken In

The facts are you can buy a really good slightly used glove on Craig’s List in just about any area in our baseball city, USA.

Yes a stranger has used the glove. Hey, wipe the glove down with alcohol and Lysol if you have to. Bake the glove in the oven for a while. You can get rid of the germs and have a nice glove for $5 - $25 bucks.

Baseball Bats: It Is Not The Arrow it is the Shooter

You do not have to have the latest $250 new baseball bat right off the sporting goods manufactures assembly line. I have always said it is not the bat—it is the batter (it is not the arrows fault—it the one shooting the arrow).

There is certainly nothing wrong with going with slightly used aluminum bats. Very few youth league, little league baseball and amateur baseball players hit the ball any better with a $300 bat than a $25 to $50 dollar bat.

Save your bat money and take your family to a minor league baseball game or even better a special treat to a major league baseball game.

Batting Gloves Really?

There have been many many Hall of Famers in the past that hit a lot of home runs and never even heard of a bat glove. I really do not think batting gloves make one ounce of difference in hitting skills.

It is like everyone thinks everyone has batting gloves so I guess we need to use batting gloves or we are not up to speed with best baseball brand. B-a-l-o-n-e-y.

Catchers Gear

I needed some umpiring gear a few years ago. I went to the umpire meeting and they gave me all these umpire equipment catalogs.

I had to buy some of the pants and shirts from the catalog but all the gear I got at Play-it-again Sports baseball store. Shin guards for $20, chest protector for $25 and a mask for another $25. Throw in a broom and a clicker-counter, a black belt and hat and for $100 bucks I was good to go.

Oh yes, I got a real huge blessing when someone gave me a pair of used steel toe plate shoes. Ya, they were the old style heavy duty ones but two years later they are going strong.

Did I buy the top end umpire gear? No. I wanted to keep my overhead down and keep my profits so I started on the cheap side. If I am still in the game after age 14 then I will upgrade to new baseball umpire stuff. Ha!

Homemade Batting Cages

Cages and baseball stuffwill come up for sale every year because they usually out grow the players. The netting might still have several years of use for a youth league baseball player.

One really important note: Unless the hitter is trained to hit correctly than all the batting in the world is not going to do a significant difference.

Consider getting professional hitting lessons if you are going to invest in a backyard batting cage.

Also, the hitter is not going to get better if the cage is not used regularly. Good hitters tend to hit a lot. Get a good L-screen or make your own to keep the pitchers safe in the batting cages.

Thanks so much for visiting coachandplaybaseball.com. I hope you get a chance to come back or bookmark my site. And tell other baseball folks about us.

Lastly, never carry the baseball players bag for them. Rule #1: Carry your own baseball gear.

Go back to Baseball Equipment from Baseball Gear
Youth Baseball Home

Welcome to our Q&A Discussion Forum. Youth Coaches, High School Coach, Players, Parents, Umpires, League Administors. Get Your Questions Answered by Baseball Experts.

Do you have a question about anything with amateur baseball? Share what is on your mind with us! The good, the bad, and the ugly. Ask an industry expert here! We want to hear from you! Allow for 12-24 hours for Questions and Answers to be posted after a review by our staff.

New! Comments