Caliber of Play

Well, seeing how I have experience with most at their Championship level...LL, Pony, AAU, AABC, USSSA, CABA, USABF...(see photos) there are two distinct groupings... REC BALL and Travel Ball

Rec Ball comes from a program that tries to serve everyone... but usually is hindered by restrictions such as population to draw from or playing restrictions. Travel teams recruit and find the best players they can... Period. and they play very close to MLB rules... Substitution rules vary.

Also each program is regional and varies... But as mentioned the Strongest teams come the Sun Belt areas because they can play year-round.

But if you were to just compare teams? the Travel teams are by far much better teams. In my area, (San Diego) the travel teams are made up of the All-stars of the All-stars... IE only the top one or two kids on a LL all-star team can play on the top travel teams.

So LL, Pony, Babe Ruth, Dixie etc are "REC Leagues".

AAU, AABC, USSSA, NABF, USABF, CABA, American Legion are considered travel ball leagues...

So for travel team organizations, AABC is the oldest but is losing a lot of Ground, but it still one of the tops for older ages (14 and up). AAU baseball has only been around about only 20 years and used to be a stepping stone to the Olympic teams (Now there are national governering bodies for each sport...ie USA Baseball) In my area, AAU was the tournament with the most prestige, for ages under 15... USSSA is the newest and has been making significant in-roads in So Calif. (This is due to the fact that they have made it easier on Tournament directors to hold a tourney)

Oceanside LL is playing in the Western regionals tonight... IMHO... There are a couple 10 yo travel teams, a number of 11 y.o teams and most 12 yo Travel teams in San Diego that can probably beat that team.... (LL doesn't let All-star teams to play outside LL)

Photos below

1999 National Champs 12U

2000 National Champs 9U

2001 USSSA 10U National 2nd place team.