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the Texas-Oklahoma state line. "I sell baseball product to teams and schools in both Texas and Oklahoma." As a former 29-year high school baseball coach, Duncan was well-connected to the sport when he made the transition from being a coach to sales rep. "Being in the business as a former baseball coach definitely helps me sell baseball," he points out. Product-wise, Duncan sells everything in baseball from apparel to hard goods to protective gear to items that have a long shelf life. "ere's nothing in baseball that I don't sell to teams." Meanwhile, out west in Las Vegas, the baseball business is brisk and profitable for Jerry Ocuda, owner of Turf Sporting Goods. "We sell it all in baseball," he says — baseballs, batting tees, practice pants, fielding gloves, belts, socks and uniforms. While Ocuda has a solid number of customers walking in his store wanting to buy baseball bats, not every customer actually buys a bat from him. "We have people come in the store and get measured for the right weight and length of a bat," he explains. "en, they go buy that bat online." Inside The Baseball Numbers For many years, baseball has ranked as the second most-popular team sport in the country from the perspective of overall participation and despite any headwinds and challenges from other sports it has managed to retain that number-two spot, with 16.7 million participants (age six and above), based on recent data generated by the Sports & Fitness Industry Association (SFIA). SFIA reports that baseball has had a very gradual increase in participation from a base of 15.6 million baseball participants in 2021. Here are some more numbers: • Of those 16.7 million baseball players, 7.7 million are classified as "core" participants (those playing 13-plus days a year) and 8.9 million are registered as "casual" participants (playing 12 days a year or less). • Unfortunately, while overall participation in baseball has grown in recent years, the number of core participants has actually declined. Of the 15.6 million players in 2021, 8.2 million of them were core participants — today that number is only 7.7 million. • In addition, the game remains popular with older, educated athletes — 24.4 percent of all baseball players are either a college graduate or have some type of post-graduate education. • At the high school level, baseball is the third most-popular high school sport for boys in terms of sponsoring/participating schools (16,146) and the fourth most-popular high school sport for boys in terms of participants (471,701 players). • e top 10 states for high school baseball participation are Texas (53,075 participants), California, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Florida, New York, Michigan, Alabama and New Jersey. When looking at these big-picture numbers, the NFHS is pleased with where the game of high school baseball is right now. "We are excited that the game is very stable and maturing annually," says Elliot Hopkins, director of sports, sanctioning and student services with the NFHS. "We realize that with the small number of rule changes we have had over the last few years. "e overarching concern is that we continue to be good stewards of the great game of baseball and not move it toward a country club sport where not all children can have access and can play," Hopkins says, adding that "it hurts all of us at all of the contact points – players, vendors, retailers, manufacturers, coaches, fans and umpires – if we start having a contraction with our participation numbers and they begin to dip downward." Hopkins reports that there are no equipment- or uniform-specific rules changes taking place this year or next in high school baseball. although technology is impacting how high school baseball is being played. "There are no new rule changes on the books for this upcoming high school season and we anticipate that our staple products such as cleats, baseballs, bats, energy-efficient uniforms and caps will be made better, with newer designs, phenomenal colors and better materials," Hopkins says. "However, the technology segment is wide open with products made to enhance the analysis and monitoring of the production of a player," he adds. "ere are a plethora of products present and being developed to measure your batting and pitching. We are curious to see how the communication piece will expand with our memberships' schools and see if more schools utilize the technology." n teaminsightmag.com January/February 2025 ~ Team Insight • 17

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