East Cobb Baseball

History

East Marietta National Little League won the Little League World Series in 1983 and were coached by Richard Hilton. The majority of the players from that team joined the first East Cobb team the following year as 13-year-olds and were coached by Guerry Baldwin, who spearheaded the nationally renowned program.

The program was established in 1985. Russ Umphenhour, who is an entrepreneur, noticed Baldwin's success with his players and old club. This sparked the idea of building a complex for developing youth baseball players.

Umphenhour bought a piece of land for 1.4 million dollars, which created the new 3-acre (12,000 m²) East Cobb Baseball facility (financing it entirely by himself). The project ended with a cost estimated at 9.7 million dollars. Baldwin got much of his coaching staff through experienced instructors from every level of baseball including the high school, college, and professional levels.

The Complex

The complex itself is a 30-acre (120,000 m²), eight diamond, multimillion-dollar facility complete with indoor and outdoor batting cages. The complex has meeting rooms for players, covered dugouts and living quarters for out of town players and families who sometimes spend weeks on the premises. It is located about twenty miles (32 km) away from downtown Atlanta. Every summer the complex offers opportunities for players from ages 7 to 18 to try out for their age group. Each age group has more than ten teams, and most players are placed on a team, with the best placed on one team. The best players are typically placed on the East Cobb Astros. The rest of the athletes fill out the other teams with comparable ability to play the game.

The Georgia/Florida Triple Crown Baseball franchise holds events on a near weekly basis throughout the Spring and early Summer, with the most competitive age groups in the southeast, ranging from 8u Kid-Pitch to 18u. Offering around 40 events every spring, summer, and fall, the best of the best in youth baseball compete with Triple Crown at the East Cobb Complex, as well as surrounding facilities throughout the Atlanta Metro Area.

In June and July there are three four-day events to decide the Travelball National Champion put on by TravelballSelect.com, during which the complex hosts an amateur baseball tournament for ages 9-and-under through 14-and-under. TravelballSelect.com and Top Prospects, Inc. organize tournaments like this in various locations. TravelballSelect.com leases the East Cobb Baseball facility and other fields in the area. Teams from around the country attend the event. Major league and college scouts from around the country come to the event to see and meet the young players.

There are two weeks in July when the complex holds one of the biggest tournaments in all of amateur baseball for ages 17-and-under and 18-and-under. Perfect Game USA organizes tournaments like this throughout the entire country. Perfect Game leases the East Cobb Baseball facility, with many other fields in the area, and hosts over 2,000 players to play in this major tournament. More than 125 teams from around the country attend the event. Major league and college scouts from around every come to the event to recruit these young players.

Players/Alumni

At the East Cobb Baseball Summer Camps, players sometimes play up to more than 60 games per summer. These summer teams play in tournaments all around the country as well as at the complex. Braves scout Al Goez states, "When you look at an East Cobb kid, you're looking at a kid that has played so much baseball that his skills and mechanics are better than a kid, say, from south Georgia or from Florida that has not played that much."

Players that have gone through the East Cobb program include: