SLABA: Youth Baseball Group Thrives

There was once a time around St. Louis when American Legion baseball was the standard for summer action on the diamond.

With the rise of traveling “select” teams over the past decade, Legion baseball has lost some of its luster. Despite these select teams drawing more and more players, often for a hefty fee, one organization that remains as strong as ever is the St. Louis Amateur Baseball Association.

The Meramec Valley Travelers, an area SLABA team, use and Rockwood Summit as its base schools for players, but also get players from Pacific, Valley Park, Washington and Lindbergh. Jeff Parker, a six-year SLABA coaching veteran, is in his second season as the head coach of the Travelers 18U team.

“The talent level in SLABA is definitely something that the colleges in the area are interested in,” said Parker, adding that many coaches have connections to MLB teams. “If you stay local and you don’t have the money to travel, you still get the exposure.”

The Northwest High graduate watched his team go 3-1 in the Lindenwood Fourth of July Tournament. Despite a rough start, the Travelers “have been playing really well lately” and ended the weekend with a 15-8 overall record.

Despite the team name, Parker agrees that playing locally can ultimately be more beneficial for most players. Instead of being redshirted at big universities in the Big 12, ACC, SEC or Conference USA, players can play “right away” at a local school.

SLABA was established in 1987 to provide St. Louis-area high school players and younger teams with maximum exposure to the toughest competition. This was accomplished by affiliating with nationally recognized and sanctioned youth baseball programs.

SLABA currently has national affiliations with PONY Baseball, Inc., the American Amateur Baseball Congress (AABC), and the National Amateur Baseball Federation (NABF). The league sends teams from each of its age groups to various postseason tournaments hosted by these affiliations throughout the country. The PONY and NABF affiliations give teams an opportunity to play in national playoff tournaments.

Membership is limited to organizations which are assigned specific boundaries based on two public high schools in their area. SLABA organizations draw players from two base school districts, private school players and players ages 13-to-18 from “open” school districts.

The league has 10 teams: Jefferson County Barnstormers and Blazers, South-West Stars, American National Eagles, Eagles West, Lincoln County Raiders, Stallions, Johnny Mac Thunder, St. Louis Tigers and the Travelers.

SLABA Baseball Serves as Path to Major Leagues

Former SLABA players include St. Louis Cardinals third baseman David Freese, who is a graduate of and Cardinals pitcher Kyle McClellan, who is a native of Florissant, attended Hazelwood West and currently resides in Maryland Heights.

Howard played three seasons for the Ellisville Redbirds from 1996-1998 before moving onto Southwest Missouri State. On the SLABA website, Howard said the organization gave him “the chance to improve my skills and get noticed by college coaches.”

The Phillies drafted Howard in the fifth round of the 2001 draft.

Jefferson County Blazers coach Dustin Bain said that while the talent may have become diluted over the past several years, there is still high-level talent in SLABA.

“There was a lull three or four years ago when some of these independent teams became more popular,” said Bain, who is in his eighth year with SLABA, including his third as the 18-and-under head coach.

“But now, I think parents are seeing through paying all that money to support somebody during the summer.

 “There’s not one (SLABA) coach or a general manager trying to make a living off of this,” Bain said. “They appreciate coaches who love the game of baseball and are trying to give back and not make a dollar off of them. In this tough economy, we only charge exactly what we need to run our program.”

SLABA will hold its all-star games for each age-group level on July 31 and Aug. 1 at T.R. Hughes Ballpark in O’Fallon, Mo. Other games can be heard regularly on Prepcasts.com and 101 ESPN broadcasts a game of the week every Friday. The league also puts on a showcase each October for select juniors and seniors to play in front of college scouts.

“We have a big reputation in SLABA of putting kids into college programs,” said Brian Garner, the head coach of the Jefferson County Barnstormers’ 18-and-under team. “That makes me so proud I can’t see straight. There are just so many pros that go into SLABA baseball that I wouldn’t want to be involved in any other league.”