As a father who wants to be fair when it’s appropriate and a sound parent the rest of the time, Spanky Brumfield leaves the issue up to his son every time spring rolls around and the baseball equipment comes out of the closet.

What’s it going to be this summer, son &045; Dixie Youth baseball or tournament ball?

As a sound parent, that’s about the only important decision he’ll let his son, Jake, make. Maybe Jake will make the call on whether it’s pizza or hamburgers for supper one Friday night, and that’s about as far as it goes.

But Brumfield is fair, and Jake knows what he wants.

Now 11 and nearing the end of his baseball summer, he’ll likely decide again next year to play for the Baton Rouge-based Ball Park Angels and bypass the local Dixie Youth league in Vidalia. And he’s one of a growing number of boys in the Miss-Lou who are either playing both or leaving the Dixie Youth program entirely.

&uot;We’ll play tournament ball next year,&uot; Brumfield said. &uot;I grew up playing Dixie Youth. It’s a good program, and there’s no doubt about it. Mine wants to go play somewhere else, so I give him a choice every year. He’s getting to play a lot more baseball this way, and that’s what he wants to do.&uot;

It’s decisions like his that worried Dixie Youth officials in rural areas like the Miss-Lou in recent years now that there are options for boys out there. There was a day where any kid who wanted to play baseball signed up for Dixie Youth, played until mid- to late-July if he was good enough and called it a summer.

Now options have surfaced, but for years they were only available in major metro areas. Not any more.

Boys are leaving Dixie Youth for traveling tournament teams, and they’re often times some of the more talented players in the area.

&uot;I don’t perceive tournament ball as shutting us down, but I do see it affecting our league and taking some of our better players,&uot; Natchez DYB co-commissioner Joe Eidt said. &uot;There’s room for both, but there are some parents who don’t want to play league ball. For whatever reason, that’s their business. I don’t think they’ll build the relationships they do in league ball.&uot;

Whether or not tournament ball will lead to Dixie Youth’s demise remains to be seen. Other factors have contributed to declining numbers in Natchez, Vidalia and Ferriday in recent years, most notably a dwindling overall population.

Tournament ball, however, is rising in popularity. Dixie Youth relaxed its rules on it this year and no longer forbids boys from playing both. Of the Natchez 11-year-old All-Star team that won an improbable state title last month, officials say two from that team may have played their last Dixie Youth game in the championship.

Is it good or bad? In Jake Brumfield’s case, or any other boy who plays only tournament ball, the verdict won’t be in until he turns 18.

&uot;I’m not saying anybody is better than anybody, but he likes it better,&uot; Brumfield said. &uot;The way I look at it, the time I’m spending with my kid, I’m not looking for him. It’s more time you’re spending with your child. They’re only little for a little while.&uot;

The next level

For three summers Jeff Upton’s son, Caleb, spent his summers doing both. He played in the Natchez Dixie Youth League and then played on the Natchez Mudcats, a team composed of players from the Miss-Lou that traveled to tournaments before and after the season.

That first summer the team was in coach-pitch with 7- and 8-year-olds, but the following summer the team had to break up a bit since half the team moved up. The team then playing as solely 8-year-olds, and the same group moved up to 11s this summer.

But Caleb, though, played his last year in Dixie Youth at 9 years old. He’s since joined Brumfield with the Ball Park Angels, and with the two teams he figures to get in at least 60 games this summer ending with a tournament in Southaven Labor Day weekend.

&uot;He wanted a chance to go and play in a World Series,&uot; Upton said. &uot;He hadn’t been able to do that and always heard about playing in a World Series. It’s definitely made him better, and he had more games in. You go from playing 12 games a summer to 60 games a summer &045; and against better competition at that.&uot;

Most of the Mudcat players finished a season in the Dixie Youth leagues and wanted to play as much as they could this summer. Others in different ages did both this summer as well, with the Mudcats and other local teams competing in the Governor’s Cup tournament in Vicksburg last week.

Much of that was the result of Dixie Youth relaxing its rules. Now boys can play tournament ball during any time but the All-Star season but cannot miss a league game for a tournament team game.

&uot;I really feel once they try it, they’ll do it a lot more,&uot; said William Barnes, whose son Matt played both Dixie and tournament growing up. &uot;We’ve done both, and we supported the local leagues. It is a good program, and it’s good for local boys to play together. But I also support tournament ball. It’s a good experience, and it’s the next level.&uot;

The benefits, coaches say, are numerous. The caliber of competition is so much greater, and tournaments play live ball &045; meaning baserunners can take a lead off the base and batters can run to first if they swing and miss at a third strike and the catcher drops the ball.

The bases and mound are farther back. In 11- and 12-year-old games, the bases are 70 feet apart and the mound is 50 feet back. Dixie Youth rules call for the mound to be 46 feet and bases 60 feet apart.

&uot;The kids love it,&uot; Upton said. &uot;They get to play by big-league rules. It’s like real baseball to them. They get better at seeing a ball out of the pitcher’s hand. They have to learn to take leads off the base. The whole game is much faster. It’s actually like playing in an All-Star tournament every weekend.&uot;

It’s becoming so popular, Upton noted, his Mudcats could find tournaments to play in up until the first of the year. The Mudcats so far this season are 36-14, with seven of those losses against 12-year-old teams, while traveling to tournaments sanctioned by the myriad of associations available &045; National Baseball Congress, USSSA, Super Series, Simply the Best and the North American Baseball Federation.

&uot;In Dixie Youth, everybody plays no matter what,&uot; Barnes said. &uot;You play tournament ball, and you don’t. I really think kids realize that and know they’ve got to get better. In Dixie Youth, there’s really no incentive to bust your butt, work hard and get better. You’re going to play no matter what. I don’t disagree with that, but I do think a kid needs to realize ‘I’m not as good as Joe, so I need to get better.’&uot;

It takes lots of money, time

The biggest negative in parents putting their child in tournament ball is money. It’s the time spent driving on the weekends, money spent renting a hotel room if need be and buying food for the family &045; not to mention each team’s entry fee that can range from $175 to $315.

Upton’s Mudcats in the past have had sponsors, but parents are the ones who mostly foot the bill.

&uot;It’s a very expensive opportunity for the parents,&uot; Eidt said. &uot;It’s not like living in Baton Rouge and driving across town to play in a 15-team tournament. It’s tough to do, and I can tell you because I did it. Did my kids benefit from it? Yes and no. It gets old spending $300-$400 a weekend and not having any free time. It’s a sacrifice.&uot;

Then there’s the burnout factor as parents and coaches try to search for the fine line determining where baseball becomes too much. When boys play league ball, teams play two games a week through May to the middle of June with the All-Stars going to late July or early August.

Eidt said often times teams go almost up until the start of school, leaving boys without a summer of just being a normal kid. Both his boys played tournament ball after league ended and grew tired of the long summer.

Brumfield, however, disagrees.

&uot;A lot of people say that’s too much baseball, but if you take a kid to the beach at 8 o’clock in the morning and they swim to 5, is that too much swimming?&uot; Brumfield said. &uot;They love it. That’s what (my son) wants to do. If I could go deer hunting one day a week or seven days a week, I’d dang sure go seven days a week. It’s just a lot of fun.&uot;

Those who pull their boys out of Dixie Youth completely also take away the opportunity for them to play with their neighborhood friends or play on the local All-Star teams. Upton’s teams have won tournaments, and the Ball Park Angels had a bid to the NBC World Series in Oklahoma City and won state in Simply the Best, but those tournaments often fly below radar.

But winning state in the 11-year-old Dixie Youth tournament as &uot;a dream,&uot; said Andrew Moroney, who also plays for the Mudcats. &uot;Nobody thought we would win it.&uot;

&uot;If you go to an 11-year-old and ask what they wanted to do,&uot; Eidt said, &uot;I promise you they’d say winning the tournament we had here than winning a tournament in St. Francisville that nobody knows about.

&uot;For those kids who want to play tournament ball, I’m very proud of them. It’s a lot of parents who think their kid is much better than they are. The reality of it is an 11-year-old ball player is just that &045; an 11-year-old ball player.&uot;

And that leaves everyone trying to predict how boys playing the game-heavy tournament team schedules will end up. As long as kids don’t get pushed into finishing out an 80-game schedule, tournament teams will thrive and Dixie Youth leagues stand to lose their better talent.

&uot;I’m afraid kids will get burned out,&uot; Vidalia DYB commissioner Mike Bowlin said. &uot;It’ll be interesting to see seven or eight years from now where these kids go on to college and if they develop into good ball players. I don’t know if it’ll make any difference. But as parents, you want to do what’s best for your child. If it gets them a scholarship, more power to them.&uot;