, Columnist
Youth Baseball Trading Cards Are a Terrible Idea
A new venture from Perfect Game and Fanatics threatens to erase the last bit of amateurism left in Little League.
Alas, something to cry about in baseball.
Photographer: Joshua Bessex/Getty Images North AmericaThis article is for subscribers only.
Little League ballplayers rarely garner much attention from anyone other than their teammates, coaches and parents. Perfect Game, a youth baseball events company, is in the business of changing that.
For years, it’s charged hefty fees to showcase youth players to college and professional scouts around the country. But showcases are just the start of the company’s ambitions. In recent weeks, for example, it announced a deal with Fanatics to display its adolescent customers on trading cards.