page_title: Lewis & Clark Baseball League
section_title: Gateway Players
hierarchical_section_title: Lewis & Clark Baseball League / Players / Gateway Players
caption_attribution_description: Two model hats of LCBL teams
context_page_description: The Lewis & Clark Baseball League, or LCBL, was a collegiate summer baseball league comprising teams of the top college players from the St. Louis metropolitan area and beyond. Founded by Nicholas R. A. Mahrt in 2013, this upstart amateur baseball season runs from June through early August in the St. Louis metropolitan area. It is a non-profit organization and the charter member of the Commonwealth Leagues United — a nationwide collection of baseball leagues that put the emphasis on student-athlete's summer work/study opportunities. Players are not paid, as to maintain their college eligibility and amateur status; their ages range from 18-23.
context_section_description: Clites came up with a narrow-focus marketing plan that specifically targets out-of-state college baseball players with St. Louis ties. Rather than cast a wide net into the national talent pool, he compiled a database of nearly 40 recent graduates — from local high schools — that traveled extensive distances to play college baseball. The approach is to grant referral discounts to these players (in schools over 150 miles away) who house college friends that commit to play in the league.
  Clites recognized that these journeying players need an incentive to come back to St. Louis for their summer months. Their parents likely prefer it, and the availability of a familiar job increases, but that is not enough. The convincing requirement for the student-athlete is whether their summer baseball experience will be top-notch. If Mahrt and Clites could make the domestic product equal or better than anywhere else, people would willingly come back home.
  To achieve this standard of excellence, the LCBL put the quality of the league in the player's hands; enticing superior St. Louis-based talent to be their own promoters. If they come back home to play, and bring a skilled college teammate, it becomes a win-win for all. Clites coined them "Gateway Players" in a nod to the city's nickname and a play on the tell-a-friend marketing strategy. A vast majority of these players are former members of the St. Louis Gamers (a youth travel program where Clites and Mahrt both coached).  Several are on scholarship at Division-I schools, which only adds to the credibility of the league.
  The commissioner's office reviews the application for Gateway Players, verifying that the college teammate does not have prior St. Louis affiliations; no other options to stay in the city. Each applicant must also agree to play in a minimum number of games to qualify. If the request is approved, one registration fee is refunded and the two college teammates operate as a package deal. Both must play on the same team, like brothers in a Little League program. If any manager wants to claim one, they receive the other, but it costs the team two recruiting chips. If the Gateway Players go unsigned in the offseason, they will enter the draft, and must be selected in back-to-back rounds.
  The Gateway Player program is yet another example of Lewis and Clark's spirit embodied. The league rewards those that blaze trails to new territory; in this case, the first St. Louis-area high school kids to ever play baseball at several prominent programs across the country. By coming back to the place where their journey started, they are creating two-way paths for others to follow in their footsteps — just like Lewis and Clark. With this program in place, players from states such as California and Texas — that had never before traveled to Missouri — are now playing in the LCBL. Furthermore, they are doing so without having to pay $900 or stay in the house of complete strangers.
caption: Front and back of LCBL hats, by New Era (shown: [left] Pioneers, [right] Explorers)
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