My name is Larry Richards and I am the Co-creator and Supervising Producer of an original television show about minor league baseball. My business partner Joel Poiley (who is also the Co-creator as well as a writer/producer) and I have been developing this show for 4 years on our own. Recently however, we partnered with a well-connected and highly experienced and motivated production company out of L.A. Good things are happening with this show and I’m hoping that in the very near future I’ll be able to announce which MLB team we’ll be partnering with. In the meantime, while “Minor League: The Road to the Show” continues to be a work in progress, being that here in Florida there is no shortage of baseball players and their stories, I decided that I’d put together a few sample segments of guys who have been there and done that and share their story of their own roads to the show. These segments can be seen at the link posted at the end of this letter.

Recently however, I did a segment that was a little different.

Over the last few months we’ve developed a relationship with Roy Silver and Randy Holland, the head coaches of a baseball academy in Clearwater, Florida named The Winning Inning. The idea I had was to try-out a segment I came up with called “Reality Check” the idea being to ask the kids, ages 13 -16, those who are participating in The Winning Inning programs, why they wanted to be pro ballplayers, what they thought it was going to take, and then to have Roy tell us what the real deal is. To be honest, I thought I was going to hear about the money, the fame, etc.- all the ancillary stuff fans are generally inundated with - and that all they had to do was work hard for a few years, maybe catch a lucky break or two, and before they knew it they’d be heading to the big city with their pockets overflowing with cash.

I cannot tell you how happily surprised I was to hear none of that.

“Heart”, “work ethic” and “courage” are just a few of the words these kids used. Roy told me that the kids always think like that and while they may get distracted for a moment when all they hear on TV is about steroids, huge contract hold-outs and A-rod’s off-the-field shenanigans, when all is said and done, it’s all about the game they love. That was a much needed and refreshing reminder that at one time we were all like that.

From a content perspective, this is my favorite video so far. There was so much good footage, the hard part was trying to figure how to tell this story. What I ultimately chose and what you will see, is that while Roy stresses to these kids the need to be aware of the reality of trying to become a pro ballplayer, that the odds are stacked against them, that education is first and foremost and not the fall-back option if baseball does not work out – that the here and now is that there's work to be done because dreams can and do come true.

We encourage you to not only check this video and the following sites, but to pass the links on to those you feel would like to see them as well.

If you have any thoughts, comments or suggestions, please feel free to contact us.

Thank you for your time and support.

Sincerely yours,

Larry Richards

“Minor League: The Road to the Show”
TheRoadtotheShow.com
LSRproductions.com
727.204.5400
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All of our videos can be found on Vimeo:
vimeo.com/roadtotheshow/videos

On Facebook: search “Minor League: The Road to the Show.” The videos are here as well but if you become a Fan, as soon as I post updates about our progress, you’ll be notified.

Twitter: LarryRichardsNY

The Winning Inning Baseball Academy, Roy Silver and Randy Holland, Clearwater, Florida: winninginning.com

The Winning Inning Baseball Academy is a Christian based baseball academy in Clearwater, Florida who’s motto is “developing quality players from the inside out”. They train players from as young as age five and have several players that train with them that are currently playing in the major leagues. Their academy specializes in skill development as well as rehabilitation for the throwing athlete. Their goal is to train the mind, body and soul.

The name of this program the kids in this video are participating in is the “Level 3 Program” which is directed at players from middle school to lower level high school players. They are all from around Pinellas County. This is a developmental program that is being used to help the kids increase their baseball skills and hopefully be able to make their high school teams next year.