By Tom Groeschen
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Midland manager Joe Hayden has noticed a recent shift: Many of his star players are coming from out of town. (Jeff Swinger photo) | ZOOM |

The Midland Redskins once attracted the cream of Cincinnati prep baseball talent, most notably Barry Larkin and Ken Griffey Jr. And while Midland still wins big, it is mostly without Cincinnati players.

Joe Hayden, the Midland manager for four decades, wishes it were different. Midland has only a handful of local players on this year's 18-and-under national powerhouse (52-4 record), led by St. Xavier's Aaron Prince, Moeller's Andrew Bradley and Cincinnati Country Day's Kurt Smith. For various reasons, Cincinnati no longer produces the elite crop of baseball talent it once did.

"Twenty years ago, people didn't play that much soccer and there weren't that many summer basketball camps," Hayden said. "Years ago, heck, we didn't have more than one or two guys from out of town. Now, we've got to spread our net further."

Hayden has his scouts searching harder than ever to find Midland players such as outfielder Cameron Maybin, a high school star in North Carolina ranked the No. 11 sophomore player in America by Perfectgame.org, which compiles the list for Baseball America magazine.

Midland has won eight Connie Mack World Series national titles in its division, governed by the Marshall, Mich.-based American Amateur Baseball Congress (AABC). Midland's first title came in 1984, the last in 1998.

Cameron Maybin, 16, is one of the country's top sophomores. (Joseph Fuqua II photo)

AABC rules allow teams to recruit 10 players from outside a 100-mile radius, with Midland's base in Amelia. The players are mostly high school seniors and college freshman, but in Maybin's case, he is the rare youngster (age 16) to make the varsity. Griffey was one of the handful of others who played for Midland's big team, the Redskins, at age 16. Midland also has teams in younger age groups.

Midland has become the best-known name in Cincinnati amateur baseball and has featured local prep stars such as Ron Oester (Withrow), Bill Doran (Mount Healthy) and Larkin and Griffey (both Moeller), who all played for the Reds.

Midland boasts nearly 40 eventual major leaguers, most being former Cincinnati prep stars. Midland alums reaching the majors include Larkin, Griffey, Rich Dotson, Jeff Russell, Todd Benzinger, Jim Leyritz, Tuffy Rhodes, Mark Lewis and David Bell.

In recent years, more of Midland's stars have come from out of town. Oakland Athletics All-Star pitcher Mark Mulder (Midland '96) and Chicago Cubs outfielder Corey Patterson (Midland '97-98) are among Midland's recent products who didn't play prep baseball in Cincinnati, but Midland's current major leaguers also include Houston pitcher Ricky Stone and Colorado pitcher Aaron Cook (both Hamilton).

Still, this year's Midland roster includes mostly players from out of town. For instance the top local prospect, Talawanda's Keith Weiser, was an 18th-round draftee this year (by Atlanta). He was on Midland's radar screen, but decided to pursue other options.

After Weiser, the list of top Cincinnati prep prospects was relatively thin this year. The only other local prep player drafted this year was Milford outfielder Kyle Rapp, in the 48th round by the Los Angeles Dodgers. Rapp is playing elsewhere this summer.

Hayden has not been alone in lamenting the decline of local baseball.

Moeller coach Mike Cameron, who coached Larkin and Griffey Jr. at Moeller, said that he once had about 90 players come out for Moeller's freshman teams each year. The number has dipped closer to 50 in recent years, Cameron said.

Joe Cooper, president of the American Amateur Baseball Congress, said his organization had over 14,000 teams playing baseball in 1990, but is down to about 10,500 now.

"The new breed of kid doesn't want to play," Cooper said. "He wants to watch TV and play Nintendo. You don't see kids playing pick-up games anymore. You don't see too many dads and kids playing catch anymore. It's too bad, but luckily we've still got people like Joe Hayden keeping the game going."

One-sport specialization also has taken would-be baseball players away, with football and basketball coaches demanding more of their players' time than ever. Sports such as soccer, lacrosse and boys volleyball were virtually non-existent in Cincinnati when Hayden's Midland program began its rise in the late 1960s.

But the bottom line has not changed at Midland. The team still wins, with last year's team finishing third in the Connie Mack World Series.

This year's team, Hayden said, is one of his best. He fully believes the Redskins can win this year's Connie Mack World Series, Aug. 1-7 in Farmington, N.M.

"The kids are told when they get into it that we expect a lot," Hayden said. "Sure, you want to win. But helping the kids is the best part."

Hayden, 73, is chairman of the executive committee of the Midland Co., co-founded by his late father 65 years ago. The company deals primarily in insurance and river transportation, but to Cincinnati sports fans, the name "Midland" has come to represent the area's top amateur baseball team.

Hayden, who married wife Lois in 1951, has four sons and 14 grandchildren. And Hayden remains an energetic baseball manager, although he long ago turned over third-base coaching duties to assistants.

"It keeps you young, being with these kids," a smiling Hayden said.

The perfectly manicured Midland baseball complex, with its array of photos and trophies lining the walls of the pressbox, is a shrine to the Hayden legend itself. Autographed photos of his top former players are everywhere, with personal messages inscribed from Larkin, Griffey and many others.

"Thanks, Papa Joe," is a common theme in the messages, referring to Hayden's nickname.

"He still loves to help the kids," said Dave Evans, Midland's longtime assistant manager and Maybin's host family patriarch this summer. "And he still loves to win. He just loves the game, and he's built a facility here that is first-rate. I've been all over the country to different places, and there's no place like this."

And certainly few like Hayden.

Email tgroeschen@enquirer.com.