The Rawlings Tiger Baseball Club is the premiere summer baseball club organization in the St. Louis area. We offer the highest level of instruction and player development at the high school level.
The Rawlings Tiger Baseball Club was established in 2011 to provide elite skilled high school athletes the opportunity to compete together on a national stage against the country's top competition while showcasing their own abilities to college and MLB scouts and recruiters. Our goal is that every Tiger receives a college baseball scholarship.
The Rawlings Tigers have baseball youth teams ages 5U-14U. These teams are father coached and run under our Tiger umbrella while doing training and instruction with our Tiger high school staff throughout the year. They follow the Tiger five core pillars of player development, sportsmanship, camaraderie, worth ethic, and fun. Our youth teams goal is to develop players in order to make their high school baseball team.
THE COULTURE started changing in the year 2000 and the shortage of officials began in 2010. We are not Police men to begin with. The average age of rookie officials in 2023 was 50yrs old. In 2024 the avg age is now 55yrs old. High School officials and youth only make $9.00 to $11.00 an hour . We officials we dont make mistakes intentionally all the training in the world is going to make us perfect. Parents,Coaches and Players need to stop reacting to judgement calls. All coaches need to know what kind of question ask and not making condsending statements,Demeaning or personal direct or indirect statements. Baseball has only 6 appealble plays thats the only time the head coach should come out. There have been 2 perceptions of sports officials for the past 183 years that always repeat itself. I have been officiating for 43 years and continue my education to better myself after every contest. What do parents,coaches and players do?????
Hey. I was a catcher in HS and now a 19 year umpire with college goals. I can say the shortage here in Metro Detroit has been bad for a decade and it’s been slowly depleting. I’m returning to basketball after having coached for 10 years and we (Varsity) are now doing double headers 2-3x a week that never happened 7-8 years ago. The young baseball umpires that show promise, they’re gone by year 3 starting the college ladder and attending MLB school. It’s a real tough situation and it only pulls against all neighboring districts.
Uh, it's pretty simple. The bottom line is that the pay isn't enough. You need to attract younger umpires. You're lucky to have the old guys that feel obligated to the kids.
