Issue link: https://viewer.e-digitaledition.com/i/1532210
teaminsightmag.com January/February 2025 ~ Team Insight • 15 T ake a look at the calendar and one thing will jump out you if you are a team dealer selling baseball —the sport has truly become a year- round sell. With Major League Baseball's spring training camps opening earlier each year and with the World Series stretching into November, that leaves a relatively short off-season for big league players, managers, coaches, umpires, grounds crews, fans and sportswriters to get ready for another season of action on the diamond. e same goes true with youth teams and the dealers that sell to them, as many youngsters now play in local recreational and travel leagues in the spring and fall – even in the winter indoors in colder climates – and high schoolers are complementing their traditional spring seasons with travel/all-star appearances in summer leagues and Fall Ball. As a result, team dealers and sporting goods retailers are buying, stocking and selling baseball product 12 months a year to teams and players from around the U.S., even in places like Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin in the dead of winter where there's oen snow on the ground. Dealers Talk Baseball Overall, baseball – especially youth baseball – is a strong, vibrant and a growing category for team dealers in every corner of the country. It's interesting to note that the team dealer sales are in sync with the SFIA's participation data, as the SFIA reports a strong level of interest in baseball for children between the ages of six and 17. And, that's where many of the baseball sales are actually taking place, particularly with locally organized youth recreation baseball leagues. In West Lebanon, NH, baseball is a strong and steady category for Stateline Sports. "In January, sales start picking up for baseball," reports Bud Hill, manager of retail baseball for Stateline Sports. "Baseball has always been a good category for us." According to Hill, most of his baseball business comes from local youth baseball leagues, travel teams and area BASES LOADED The sport is being played by everyone year-round – boys, girls, seniors – and that's good news for dealers. By Mike May TEAM BASEBALL