Fisher Price Grow-to-Pro Baseball and the T-Ball Kid
Written: Feb 24 '02
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Pros: Teeball versus pop-up option, includes bat and balls, good for very young kids
Cons: Pop-up mode sticks, bat very lightweight, good ONLY for very young kids
The Bottom Line: Nice tee and baseball trainer for very young children. Not sturdy enough for bigger kids. Pop-up mode has a limited lifetime, if your child needs this you may be disappointed.
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| WorkingMomof2's Full Review: Grow To Pro Baseball |
Well, it's baseball season again, and our son is preparing for the season. It's time to dig out the mitts, the bats, the cleats and hats, and yes, the Fisher Price Grow-to-Pro Baseball Set. He's seven, used it for three years and won't be using it this year.... but my daughter is almost four and she's ready for it now!
Product Description
This toy has four parts to it. First there is a grey base, plastic, with a red push button on the bottom. Attached to the base is a long plastic tube, which holds the baseballs. The tube swivels (rocks back & forth) with little detents so you can position it appropriately, as needed, if you are in "pitch" versus tee-ball mode. At the top of the tube is a cup like area, where the ball sits if you are using the post as a tee. Also included with the set are five oversized plastic balls, as well as a large plastic bat.
Using the Grow-to-Pro Set
To use the set as a tee, it's very simple -- just put the ball on the top and hit it! This mode works beautifully, as long as the height is acceptable for your child. Although it's not adjustable, I did find that my son (and now my daughter) do just fine learning to hit at this height -- it seems to be at an average "child" height and as an inexpensive trainer, it's not bad at all. It's not heavy, though, so your child may occasionally knock it over as they hit it (like mine did).
To use this set in pop and pitch mode, you tip the tube (post) back and put the balls in. Then you replace the post, and step on the red button to get the ball to pop up. There is a little ticking sound while you wait, then the ball pops up (and your child theoretically hits it "out of the park" while you cheer enthusiastically!). The tube is open on one side so you can see the ball coming, and reach in and grab it if there is a problem.
Our Experience
The T-ball mode is really nice. I cannot complain about it, other than the fact that the height is not adjustable, as it worked well for our son and three years later is still in working order and my daughter is now learning on it. We did find that it tended to fall over if you hit the tee with the bat, which is reflective of what happens with a real tee as well so I can't complain about that.
The balls are hollow, lightweight plastic and slightly oversized, as is the bat. This makes it easier for your learning child to gain confidence as it's a bigger target, and they're swinging a bigger bat. I wish these were made of foam, actually, but I later bought a nerf-type set and we substituted that bat and balls for my son who needed to practice hitting with a smaller bat (he has a nice metal one, but I wasn't keen on the idea of using it on the front lawn and having balls go crashing through the neighbor's windows!).
I cannot recommend the pop-up mode. We found that it tended to jam up, and this meant that our son would stand waiting for it to pop up. Of course when it doesn't pop up, you will want to be right there to intervene (a challenge, since I was usually several yards away ready to field my little slugger's hits) in case the ball does decide to pop up right as Junior is looking into the tube.... This made it a good workout for me running back and forth, until we finally gave up on the pop and pitch mode. I must also add that our son was instantly enamoured with the pop-up mode, long before he was ready for it, so he continually stomped on the red button even when the balls were not loaded trying to get it to run.
One side note - we had selected this toy after the Little Tikes Auto Batting Trainer that I bought my sister's kids quit working after only a few days. Since the Fisher Price toy was less expensive than the LT Auto Batting trainer, and about the same price as the Little Tikes Easy Hit Baseball trainer (a tee-only product that I also considered) I decided to try the Fisher Price version. So even when the pop-up mode stopped working, we were still able to use the tee-only mode... and in fact are still using this mode three years later!
Recommendations
This is a nice toy, and a good training product for very young children who want to learn the basics of hitting a baseball. I would recommend it for kids in the 3-5 range, who need to learn the basics, but aren't ready for a pitcher yet. I felt it did work effectively as a tee and ball set; however, the short lifetime on the pop-up mode was very disappointing.
If you purchase this, my strong advice is not to even load the balls into the base (don't even SHOW your child the pop-up mode at first). I am sure that our son's fascination with this and constant stepping on the red button (even when balls were not loaded) greatly reduced the useful life of the pop-up mechanisms. If you can sneak this by your child and use it simply as a tee for the first 6-12 months, then later introduce the pop-up mode later when your child is ready, the mechanisms inside will probably still be working and you'll probably be able to get a good 2-3 months of useful life out of it (our pop-up mode started jamming about month two, and was useless by about month six).
To be fair, I really cannot recommend against this toy as it gave our son a good solid start in his little baseball career. The tee-mode gave him confidence, and prepared him for t-ball where he did indeed have to hit off a tee -- and he was ready. It also gave us free hands (versus pitching) to catch his fly balls, and allowed us to stand behind him and help him with positioning, etc. In addition, I recognize that the wear and tear on the pop-up mode was no doubt in great part due to my son's enthusiastic usage early on. I don't think we could have changed that interest (push the button, watch the ball fly out is just too tempting) unless we had simply never shown him that feature until later.
Overall, I would recommend this for very young (3-4, maybe even five year olds) kids who want to learn the basics of hitting a ball. It's a perfect gift to ask Grandma to give your child, and it's unisex and both boys and girls love it. My daughter is almost four and has been happily swinging away at it -- the plastic bat is just right in her little hands and she loves being able to make contact with the ball. If you have a small yard, you may want to invest in a few nerf balls to hit instead, as an older (or stronger) child can still make those lightweight plastic balls fly pretty well and we've had our bay window at risk a few times.
With the above recommendations, I can give the Fisher Price Grow-to-Pro Baseball Set a limited thumbs up. This is a perfect product to ask your relatives to buy your son or daughter for their third or fourth birthday, which will allow your child to learn the basics of baseball and reduce your financial investment when the pop-up mode quits working!
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 19.99
Type of Toy: Sports
Age Range of Child: 3 to 5 Years
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WorkingMomof2
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Member: Amy
Location: Southern California
Reviews written: 313
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Every time I close the door on reality it comes in through the windows.
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