Summer days were once filled with kids playing baseball at a local field, as pictured here on the site of what is now Doubleday Field in Cooperstown, New York. Sandlots are now mostly empty around the country, and summer baseball opportunities have declined. For most young children, the baseball season is over in June, and the great majority are not playing during the summer and not improving their skills. A major challenge of those in youth baseball and everyone else in the game is to get kids to play more on their own. Children today are not playing enough on their own to develop a high level of skills.

In his recent and much needed article, "Sandlots Stand Idle Across U.S.", Eric Olson of The Associated Press wrote, "Sandlot baseball, a slice of American life enjoyed for decades by boys from coast to coast, appears on the verge of extinction. The reasons for the sandlot's demise, baseball coaches and sociologists say, go back to the changing family structure, video games, parents' fear of crime, and the proliferation of organized and so-called 'select' teams for more talented kids."

I have always believed that youngsters learn the game best in an unstructured setting. The fundamentals must be practiced continually, even at the big league level. Many kids have missed out on the simple pleasure of playing catch with a parent or sibling. Since they are not playing enough catch, the throwing skills of young children have diminished. They need to make playing catch fun and challenging. Young players need more skill-based, fun-resulting experiences, as opposed to high-pressurized organized league play.

Several groups in the United States are trying to get kids outside to play, reported Olson in his AP story. In contrast to Major League Baseball's RBI program - Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities - which features structured league play, Batter's Up USA is taking a more informal approach to rekindling interest in the game. "The goal is to introduce youngsters to baseball," said Olson, "and have them play in a safe and stress-free environment with limited adult involvement."

The Batter's Up might be as close as anyone gets to reviving the old-fashioned sandlot game, said Olson. One of the largest Batter's Up programs started this past summer in Dallas, where more than 2,000 kids at Boys and Girls Club participated. Started three years ago, the initiative provides baseball equipment to city recreation departments, Boys and Girls Clubs, and after-school programs. Executive director Jess Heald of Taos, N.M., said 35 organizations in 18 states are participating. The 74-year-old Heald, a retired bat designer for Rawlings Sporting Goods Co., said manufacturers donate much of the equipment, and contributions from benefactors help purchase additional gear.

Most kids today do not play baseball unless registered by a parent for an organized team. Many youngsters show up at their first practice having never had contact with the game, as opposed to the kids of yesteryear who learned from siblings and older friends. They are not playing and practicing the game enough today. Young children do not play catch enough. They are not getting in enough reps, throwing and catching the ball, batting, etc.

Young children in America must not say goodbye to sandlot baseball. There is still hope that the sandlot and playground baseball play concept will not die. Judging from the many letters I have received following Eric Olson's Associated Press article, young children in many small towns of the United States are still playing sandlot baseball.

We were both the coaches and umpires. The players picked the captains who then picked the teams, assigned positions and determined the batting order. We even resolved our own disputes, modified the rules to suit the number of players. We learned how to cooperate, how to be good winners and good losers. Essentially, we ran our own game. No one was excluded. Nobody said, "You can't play." Later, with the growth of parks and recreation facilities, neighborhood children met at the local playground. When enough players arrived, they would have a good ball game, even rotating and playing different positions.

What can be done to get kids back to playground baseball?

The key to the return of sandlot baseball is the thousands of public recreation and park agencies across the country. Children today do not play enough playground baseball, and we need to revive the concept and promote a movement. More opportunities to play baseball in parks and playgrounds need to be provided by local park and recreation departments and school districts. City playgrounds should be open longer and the necessary equipment provided.

A major effort should be made to have local recreation and park agencies nationwide spearhead a multiple-sponsorship of Playground Baseball of America, a non-profit organization coordinated by the National Recreation and Park Association and state affiliates. Such a national movement would require the joint cooperation of local and regional recreation agencies and ably supported by a national service organization, school districts, major and minor leagues, law enforcement agencies, the news media and funded by corporate sponsors.

Will city recreation agencies be willing to provide facilities and administrative support for Playground Baseball to become a reality? They will if the number of participants, program funding and volunteer leadership justifies their involvement and sponsorship. If successful, Playground Baseball will force Little League and other youth leagues to make changes. Youth baseball will also benefit by giving kids an alternative to Little League. Even more importantly, the program will contribute immeasurably to the revival of sandlot ball and the pick-up games concept, as it will to baseball itself, helping return the national pastime to America's parks and playgrounds.

Many years ago, during the summer, in the afternoons following school and on weekends, youngsters made the neighborhoods reverberate with the sounds of playing games in parks, vacant lots and in the streets. Among the many games were stickball, scrub, over-the-line, wall ball, strikeout, and later on, wiffleball. There were always 3 or 4 of us to play some version of a game. If we couldn't hit to right, we would stack the fielders, so there was enough to go around. If kids didn't have enough players for stickball, they would play Army Ball, "Catch-a-fly and you're up".

Favorite Pick-up Games Ever mindful that the large majority of young kids today do not play pick-up games, nor do they and their parents know how, the following low organized games are a few of those that young children used to play. Quite often, they were played from morning hours to the evening.

Work Up Equipment: Baseball and bat. Directions: Work-up is where one player gets to bat until he or she makes an out. When the hitter makes an out, he moves into the field and the fielders move up one position until each has a turn at bat. “Working up” starts from right field position and continues from right to center field; then to second base, first base, pitcher, catcher, and finally the batter. The batter tries to stay at bat for three successive runs while those in the field try to put the runners out. If there is only one batter, he runs between home and first base and continues as batter until he is put out, or successfully completes three successive runs. If there are two batters, they run from home to first, to third and home again. If there are three or more batters, all the bases are used.

Wall Ball Equipment: A wall with a drawn strike zone, rubber or tennis ball, and home plate. Directions: One or more players stand about 20 to 40 feet from the wall, preferably concrete. The game begins by having each player throw a ball against the wall. As a drill, throws can be fielded by the player who made the throw. As a competitive game, a player other than the thrower has to field the ball and the “pitcher” can vary the type, speed and difficulty of throws. Rules can be established as to catching the ball on a fly or a bounce. The players can keep score and the one who has the most points will win. Another game involves a pitcher pitching an imaginary game against the wall. He keeps the count, outs, innings and score. To make this an even more competitive experience, two pitchers can oppose each other, alternating innings and keeping score.

Army Ball Equipment: Hard rubber ball and bat. Directions: This popular West Coast “stick” and ball game often involves three players, a pitcher, batter and fielder. Of course, more players can play. As to how the game got its name, the field was spread from any makeshift backstop to any tall building, barracks, whatever. This was strictly a pull-hitting game. Batters cannot hit the opposite way. If the batter hit the building above one level, it is a double, another level a triple, and the roof and over, home run. There are no walks in Army Ball. The batter stays at bat until he hits or strikes out. This serves to make hitters wait for desired pitches.

Over the Line Equipment: Ball and bat. Directions: Referred to also as Line Ball, this is a favorite playground, school and yard game. With two teams 30 feet apart and perhaps 6 players on a team, the object is for the batter to drive a ground ball through the other team. Each team has a bat. The first player tosses the ball up and tries to bat it across the other team’s goal line. The ball must hit the ground between the two lines. The other team tries to field the ball and then attempts to bat it back across the opponent’s goal line. Each member of each team gets a chance to bat. One point is scored for each ball that crosses the other team’s goal line. Another variation is for the players to throw rather than bat the ball.

Scrub Equipment: Baseball and bat. Directions: One player is at bat, with a catcher, pitcher, first base and other fielders. All players are numbered: the batter is scrub; catcher, one; pitcher, two; first base, three; fielders, four and up. The batter hits a ball pitched to him, and runs to first base and back. If he is put out by being tagged at first base or home, striking three times, hitting three fouls or having a fly ball caught, he goes to the field and takes the number of the last fielder. Each player moves over one position and number, first base to pitcher, pitcher to catcher, and catcher to batter (scrub). If the batter gets home safely, he will bat again. Each batter is allowed to make three runs before taking to the field, provided he is not put out.

Catch-A-Fly and You're Up Equipment: bat. Directions: One player is at bat and the rest of the players are in the field or down the street. When a fielder catches a fly ball, he gets to hit. Most kids will come up to the plate swinging, trying to hit a home run or a hard line drive. Some will hit a few on the ground so they will stay up longer. So a pitcher may want to throw high pitches to make the batter hit flies. Rather than be close behind the plate, the catcher will position himself safely farther back. If he catches a pop fly, he may be allowed to hit.

Pepper The batter stands about 15-20 feet away from a fairly straight line of fielders. Batter hits grounders to the fielders, fielders field the ball and pitch it back to the hitter and on and on. Many rule options. Hitter can lose turn if he lines out or fouls off more than a couple balls. Fielder can become the hitter by catching a pop out. Fielder can be eliminated by making an error. You might include a game of “flip” into pepper by making a rule that the fielder must field the grounder cleanly then flip it to another fielder and down the line. This is a great game for bat control, fielding, throwing strikes, etc.

Three flies up This is a simple game where either someone pitches to a hitter or the hitter just tosses the ball to himself and hits until someone in the field catches 3 pop flies. That fielder then becomes the hitter. A variation might be to certain point totals for fielding different balls. For example, 10 points for a fly ball, 5 points for a ball on one hop, 2 points for a grounder. First fielder to a certain number wins or gets to hit. This can also get as rough as you want, often turning into a hybrid of rugby and baseball depending on how much contact the fielders allow.

Over the line - variation A field is set up with an area for the hitter. Then, a straight line is established about where second base would be, then another where shallow right field would be. The width of the field is determined by how many people are in the field. The hitter either tosses the ball to himself or hits a pitched ball into the confines of the field. If it lands to the left or right of the boundaries he’s out. A ball that makes it past the first line on the ground is a single. If it lands in between the first and second line in the air it’s a double. If it goes over the deepest fielders head, homer. Outs are made by fielding any grounder in front of the first line or catching a ball in the air. Three outs switch.

First to ten Brent Mayne and his son play this game all the time. It’s fun and excellent for concentration and control. It’s a simple game of catch. Get a decent distance away from each other. The receiver stands perfectly still and holds the throw from the thrower exactly where he catches it. A ball that would have hit him in the head is worth two points, a throw that would have hit him in the body area (above the knees though) is worth one. First man to ten wins.

Play Catch Equipment: Ball and gloves. Directions: Ever since baseball was invented, Play Catch has been regarded as the game's most valuable drill. Although better known as a warm-up drill, playing catch with another player can also be made a game, one that can be fun and challenging. A player, for example, can see how many times out of 10 throws he can hit a designated target, such as a glove, chest area, or around the knees.