Let’s talk today about the numbers game in pro baseball. When a young player comes to the Cedar Rapids ballclub, whether it be out of high school or college, that young man probably thinks - and he should think this way - that he’s on the road to the Major Leagues.

However, that is not the case.

The numbers for players on the Cedar Rapids team, and other Midwest League teams, would average about three players per team per year who would get on a Major League roster some day. So at this level, and at the Short Season level, you better enjoy your professional baseball experience rather than looking toward what might happen down the road.

And that brings us to the players who made their debuts this week in what they call the Short Season of minor league baseball, that being the Rookie Leagues. It should be noted that four Cedar Rapids area ballplayers are getting their shot as professionals.

The Short Season teams are the feeder teams for next year’s Midwest League (and other Class A) rosters,  so we should follow these young men at the early stages of their careers.

Scott Schebler of Cedar Rapids Prairie is playing at Short Season Ogden, Utah, as an outfielder with the Dodgers organization. Let’s hope they make payroll.

Kellen Sweeney is playing in the Appalachian League for the Toronto Blue Jays farm team at Bluefield, W. Va. He’s a Cedar Rapids Jefferson graduate whose brother is having a respectable season with the Oakland A’s.

Then there is Marion’s Matt Holland, who is in the Florida Gulf Coast League and employed by the Philadelphia Phillies, a good organization to be with as an outfielder. And there’s Nate Woods, who is in the Florida Gulf Coast League with the Florida Marlins.

Maybe the likes of Woods, Holland, Sweeney and Schebler will find their way to the big leagues, but for the time being it’s all about learning and development. We wish them well.

NOTE: Last Saturday night, Mary and Kirk Ferentz put on a Ladies Day for football. It was a well-attended, well-organized four hours of learning what the players do in drills and some interactive football, and a tour of the innards of Kinnick Stadium.

Each gal was asked to arrange for $300 in pledges to get into this football academy. The evening was an entertaining and terrific experience for the ladies. It showed again the popularity of anything dealing with Iowa football.

But in the main, the event raised $150,000 for the Children’s Hospital on the Iowa campus, the favorite institution of the Ferentzes. So a good time was had by all as Ladies Day in baseball became Ladies Night in football.