To the Board and our friends in SE TX,
I am not going to respond to all of Chip Ferguson's propaganda and mostly pontification other then to say none of it is true. I don't know why Chip feels the need to constantly bash Big Timers, myself and my staff on this board on a regular basis. As you can tell I am not a regular though I do visit to check up on my hometown and the many great players from the area. And also when people send me links of Chip posting yet another untruth about us in a negative way. I am here today to tell you what we do and nothing more and certainly not to speak negatively of any other team.
We have two groups: SSE Group which represents professional baseball players and Big Timers Baseball Club which has many teams of young kids wanting to play select baseball. Just from SE TX SSE Group professionally represents Clay Buchholz, Tyler Reves, Casey and Chad Beck, and CJ Ebarb. We are very proud these young men and thankful they have chosen SSE Group to represent them and manage their pro careers. We also advise many others from the area that are still in college and have not yet begun their professional careers. We are thrilled with our group of young guys who are getting ready to start their professional careers and we look forward to yet another successful draft this coming June. We recruit from all select, high school and college programs. Therefore it is a good possibility that you will see us at many games looking for the next draft pick from SE TX. We work on a daily basis with college programs and I can assure you we have not been successful because we "lie to kids and lie to college coaches and promise things we cannot deliver" and I think that is harshly unfair of Chip to say. We are professional baseball agents and we desire to continue to maintain the positive relationships we have built throughout the college and pro baseball community.
We started BTBC in SETX for the simple reason to give more kids an opportunity to learn the game and develop so that they too might have an opportunity to play at the next level. Stephen Westbrook and Sam Moore head up that organization and they do a great job with the kids. Not everyone can play for one team. All we want to do is give kids another option. We now have 6 teams there and although some are sponsored some are not. I wish I had Chips money and all of them could play for free. But I can tell you with 100% truth we do not make a single dollar from BTBC. We simply cover our cost, pay the coaches, and try and help kids get better. We are all from there and played there and we love SE TX. I simply want to give back to the area that was so good to me and my staff.
This is why I don't understand all of the negativity. It's not good for the young kids to see this. It doesn't make anyone better. I can assure all of you; you will not read this stuff from our group. If you do please contact me directly. There is no need to negatively recruit; in fact there is no need to recruit at all. There are plenty of talented young men from our area and they all cannot play on one team. The reality is this is all very silly. The chances of being drafted high enough to get any real money are extremely difficult and to make it to the big leagues those chances become ridiculous. That is the only way SSE can ever make money on your kid. Obviously with our contacts from college and pro ball we can assist in helping a young man get to the next level. It's what we do everyday, it's our job. We have many high school kids we advise that don't play with BTBC. However, this coming summer will be our first full 18 and under team and I would expect many of them to sign to go on to the next level. And hopefully some of them will be advised by SSE Group. But no promises are ever made. Chip should be proud of his organization and all of the players that signed. I know our staff has equally as high hopes for our first all 18 and under team. I just don't see the need to bash others to pump up your own program.
Frankly, I hope this ends. We all need to get along and help the young people that do choose to play for us, regardless of what organization they play for. If you want to know what BTBC is about come to our tryouts and hear it directly from us and then go to other tryouts and hear it directly from them and then make your own decision. And either way we wish you and your son the very best kind of success. And maybe, someday we will get to meet your son from a SSE Group standpoint and represent your son in professional baseball if you'll have us. And guess what, by then it won't matter what select team you played for.
Chip, you run good teams, and I enjoy watching you play and I wish you guys the very best as you continue to impact the lives of your young people.
Sincerely,
Bobby Straface
President
SSE Group
