What exactly is the age change?
Wednesday, November 9, 2005
By Bill Lingrell
President, Lou Gehrig Baseball
In accordance with USA Basball, every major youth baseball organization
in the country is changing the dates that are used to determine
what "age" a player competes at.
For the 2006 season, the birthday cutoff is changing from July
31 to April 30. This article will help explain what this means to
our players.
Lets start by recapping what we know, by using an example. Before
the change, in 2006, a player would have been considered a 14 year
old player if he was born between August 1, 1991 and July 31, 1992.
The Lou Gehrig season starts in April, and finishes the end of
June. In reality, any player born in July will not actually be 14
during the season. The change to April 30 assures us, that every
player will be at least the age he is listed at.
Using the new system, a player is considered 14 if he was born
between May 1, 1991 and April 30, 1992. You will notice that our
example player born in July does not qualify. That is because he
finally gets to compete at the age he really is, as a 13 year old.
Recap
Therefore, lets put this into easy terms. For 2006 only, every
player who is born during May, June, and July is going to repeat
a year. Those born between August and April, you are going to move
up to the next age level.
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