Iowa State Baseball

[ISUCubswin]

If I ever win the lottery, I'm donating 80% of my winnings to the Iowa State baseball foundation.

We are the only Big 12 school without a team, and it gives us one less month of off season.

 

[nfrine]

Just get all the folks bragging about their 401K/Roth accounts on the other thread to pony up a few bucks and we could have baseball and the SEZ.

 

[cybsball20]

You could just build it as part of the expansion. I can't remember where it was but they had the baseball stadium literally connected to the football stadium.

 

[shildreth]

Lets get to the real information. Who is Joel signing with? New Mets closer?

 

[Cyclonenation2]

I think $20 is a pretty reasonable estimate. UNC's stadium was built for $36 million. NCSU renovated just the stands for $16. LSU (biggest college stadium) built theirs for over $120 million. UW's Husky Ballbark was built for $15 million.

$20 million might be on the upper end of what is likely, but it's by no means unprecedented. BTW, the sports complex (including the softball field) was $13 million. I think it would be in the ballpark of $13 and $20 million (pun intended).

Very good points there totally agree

 

[im4cyclones]

The main issue is our northern climate. I remember seeing something about B10 baseball schools considering a breakaway from the NCAA because colder climate schools were having a tough time competing.

Why would we bring back a sport and invest considerable money at which we cannot compete in our conference? We aren't talking about sustaining a program but re-introducing one. Makes no sense from an economic efficiency standpoint. Those dollars are better spent enhancing/improving existing sports.

 

[carvers4math]

My brother played at Cap Timm for Cap Timm. I was just a little girl, but the place seemed beautiful to me. I hardly recognized grass like that, our high school field looked like glorified pasture.

By the time I was at ISU, baseball had been gone for years and guys at the Towers liked to take the ladies there on "walks."

 

[colbycheese]

The main issue is our northern climate. I remember seeing something about B10 baseball schools considering a breakaway from the NCAA because colder climate schools were having a tough time competing.

Why would we bring back a sport and invest considerable money at which we cannot compete in our conference? We aren't talking about sustaining a program but re-introducing one. Makes no sense from an economic efficiency standpoint. Those dollars are better spent enhancing/improving existing sports.

Indiana seemed to do alright last year. There might be an element of the Big 10 making Big 10 excuses there.

Also, if North Dakota State can have a baseball team with an outdoor stadium then I'm pretty sure the springtime weather in Ames will be fine for baseball.

 

[ribsnwhiskey]

The main issue is our northern climate. I remember seeing something about B10 baseball schools considering a breakaway from the NCAA because colder climate schools were having a tough time competing.

Why would we bring back a sport and invest considerable money at which we cannot compete in our conference? We aren't talking about sustaining a program but re-introducing one. Makes no sense from an economic efficiency standpoint. Those dollars are better spent enhancing/improving existing sports.

Posts like this just **** me off. Way to muck up a pretty positive thread.

 

[BleedCycloneRed]

I will comment on both concepts touched in this thread.
Club Baseball-My son played for the Club Baseball team for 4 years at University of Illinois-Champaign, having just gradutated last year. It was a great experience for him, met some great friends, and had a great time (both on the field and socialziing off the court-what happens in Tampa on the spring break trip stayed in Tampa). They played at a pretty high level (won the conference all 4 years he played and qauliified for the NCBA World Series several times). Assuming ISU has a similar program, I would recommend it to anybody with a love of baseball and a skill set to match.
As far as varsity baseball team at ISU, they still had a team when I attended. And it was very poorly supported. I attended several games. There was no admission charge but still less than about 100 people in attendance. Then given the time of year the games were played, it was typically too cold to really enjoy. If the ISU students won't go sit inside to watch a top 10 basketball team, no way they will sit outside and freeze their tails off watching a bottom 10 team. So from a practical standpoint, it is not a sport that would make sense for ISU to support a varsity team. Quality players head farther south to play where they can get outside before the middle of Apri so it would be nearly impossible to field so team to complete with the Texas and Oklamoma schools. So while love Cyclones sports, it we we can't be competittive year in and year out, focus on the sports we can.

 

[ISUCubswin]

If I'm a baseball coach in Iowa, I don't want a kid on my team that doesn't want to play in the cold. Shows lack of toughness. They can complain, but if they don't want to come here because they don't want to play in the cold, I'm done recruiting them.

 

[Cy$]

If I ever win the lottery, I'm donating 80% of my winnings to the Iowa State baseball foundation.We are the only Big 12 school without a team, and it gives us one less month of off season.

would be in to be the first player to be a walk-on

 

[bigdaddykane]

If I'm a baseball coach in Iowa, I don't want a kid on my team that doesn't want to play in the cold. Shows lack of toughness. They can complain, but if they don't want to come here because they don't want to play in the cold, I'm done recruiting them.

i hate playing baseball in cold its not fun

 

[ISUCubswin]

i hate playing baseball in cold its not fun

It definitely sucks, but would it really be a factor in where you play? If you're getting solid playing time, a solid education and a full time scholarship, will the cold matter? Especially when you practice the first two months indoors? The coldest you play in is like 35 degrees.

 

[Dopey]

Damn. I'm playing slow pitch softball this year and it's the first time I've played any type of ball since college intramurals. It's so much fun, and now this thread has me regretting that I didn't do the baseball club in college. I had always thought it was above my ability level for some reason. Oh well. Guess I can look forward to the next 35 years of office work....

 

[bigdaddykane]

It definitely sucks, but would it really be a factor in where you play? If you're getting solid playing time, a solid education and a full time scholarship, will the cold matter? Especially when you practice the first two months indoors? The coldest you play in is like 35 degrees.

indoor baseball stadium?

 

[ISUCubswin]

indoor baseball stadium?

No. I know Iowa State softball practices in Bergstrom. Wichita State has their own baseball/softball indoor stadium the size of a softball field with a high ceiling, same with Nebraska, but it's a bit bigger.

 

[ISUCubswin]

indoor baseball stadium?

But that would be cool. But would cost more than $20 mill.

 

[Cyclonenation2]

I really feel that pursuing baseball is a great possibility. Just got back from practice at Cap Timm (club team) and more and more guys keep brainstorming different logical ways to try and get a foot in the door and really bring this up to the athletic department. Guys wanting to play in warm weather for a matter of fact even live and go to school in cold weather is a problem even the football team deals with.

 

[colbycheese]

FYI, college baseball teams are allotted 11.7 full ride scholarships. Each team can split up those scholarships among up to 30 players as they see fit.

If you play baseball for a particular school, odds are it's not just the baseball team/facility that brought you there since you'll likely be paying for 2/3 of your costs to attend the school.