Ep. #44: Mark Paul Brings the Daddy Ball Tour to Get Off My Lawn Studios
From Printing TPS Reports to Headlining Comedy Clubs
Before the videos, Mark was a bartender and personal trainer who went to a two-year technical school mostly because his girlfriend at the time told him he needed to make some money. That turned into roughly 15 years at a utility company doing electrical design and AutoCAD drafting — and eventually managing an IT team.
"It's like the movie Office Space," he said. "Printers broke again."
The videos started as him venting about his own life in the travel ball world. He didn't know they were spot on for anyone outside his group of friends. Merch followed, then sunglasses, then a baseball organization — and then a live podcast at a baseball facility drew 600 people. When he posted the video, an Improv booking agent reached out because a bunch of travel ball moms were saying Mark did stand-up.
"Everybody was like, it's just some influencer to sell tickets on a Wednesday," he said. "Then it was like — wait a minute, this guy's got a whole show."
After about ten headlining shows, CAA came calling. Two years in, he's touring the country with a full hour and says he's finally comfortable up there.
The Marketing Degree He Never Needed
One of the more surprising parts of the conversation: Mark has quietly become a small-business operator. Between the comedy tour, co-founding Solaro Shades baseball sunglasses, running T-shirt merch out of his basement, and learning e-commerce, Amazon, Google Ads and email marketing on the fly, he joked that he now has "a really impressive marketing resume" — without a marketing degree.
His wife Amanda, a barbershop owner, understood the business side before he did. And the circle got smaller as it got busier. "You realize who you have in your corner," he said.
MP3 Baseball: Trying to Be a Positive Light
The part of the episode youth sports parents should hear most is Mark's approach to his MP3 Baseball organization. He started by coaching pick-up showcase teams — meeting kids on a Thursday, practicing Friday, sorting it out in pool play Saturday, and rolling by Sunday. Families kept asking to come back.
Now the organization runs on a simple principle: coaches coach. No roster entry, no tournament director headaches, no collecting fees from parents. Team gear is priced as low as possible — a $20–25 hat instead of $40 — and he says the team fee runs about $1,000 cheaper than other top organizations.
"I don't even want to make money off this right now," he said. "Let me be a positive light in youth sports."
And it's working on the field, too. His teams have competed against the top-ranked programs in the country — and he's even brought home a tournament title against teams where families were spending $6,000–7,000 a kid.
Real Talk on Travel Ball
Mark didn't just crack jokes about travel ball — he got into what's wrong with it:
Levels matter. Lower-level travel ball is basically rec ball now, and he doesn't think true competitive levels need to start until around 12–14. "That puberty thing matters a lot."
Save your money early. Skip the weekly pitching and hitting lessons for a 9-year-old. "Save your money until you get through puberty, get to one sport, get into the gym."
Daddy Ball has a shelf life. Dad-coaching works through the younger ages, but around 13–14 the game changes — lineups, substitutions, and understanding different kinds of kids.
Tournament directors don't get enough credit. Mark defended the people running events, saying it's a full-time job from Wednesday to Tuesday — and nobody calls when things go right. Where he'd push back: sanction fees and bracket formats he says need a second look.
High school is a step down for some. For kids playing the highest levels of travel ball, going back to high school baseball can feel like going back to rec.
Quick Hits & Get Off My Lawn
In the one-word lightning round, travel ball parents got a one-word answer: "Poor." Rec ball parents? "Normal." Travel organizations and coaches? "Different everywhere."
On Get Off My Lawn, wood bats won over USSSA bats (and he's all in on the Delano BBCOR-style wood bat), Field of Dreams beat Bull Durham, college baseball beat going straight to the minors, and he's fine either way on the DH, as long as a true two-way guy like Ohtani gets to do both.
The show wrapped with the Monday Morning Ring Post rant — every parent's Monday social feed full of trophy pics — and Mark's take on consolation brackets: just play it like the NCAA tournament and let the winner win.
Watch the Full Episode
This is one you'll want to share with your team parents group chat — the ones who'll laugh, and especially the ones who'll get mad.
Follow Mark at @mpthreebaseball and catch the Daddy Ball Tour when it comes through your city.
Recorded at Get Off My Lawn Studios. Beer League — cheers. 🍺
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