Baseball.....

In less than three weeks pitchers and catchers report for spring training; it is truly the most wonderful time of the year.  I am so amped up (softball, baseball, MLB) for the upcoming season that I can't seem to focus on anything.

It's crazy, I really don't have an off season when it comes to the grand old game; in my opinion the greatest game ever invented.

As soon as the World Series ends I start hitting the baseball sites and reading up on free agents, possible moves, trade rumors, etc, etc....

Not that I understand it all.  There are a lot of things that are over my head that I honestly could care less about.  Rule 5, arbitration, and all the stat junkies and the way they use numbers to rationalize every part of this beautiful game.

In fact, if you were to just say the word "sabermetrics" (the deep statistical analysis of the game) my brain will immediately start to shut down.  To this day I have no idea what the stat WAR is and I could frankly care less.

There are just a handful of stats that I keep track of; the most important ones being the numbers in the W and L column.

Billie Beane I am not....


HONESTY:

As much as I love this game, as a player, I wasn't very good.  I was fast, had a good glove, decent arm.  But I couldn't hit to save my life.

Up until  high school I was short......real short.  In fact, to me personally, it was kind of a big deal when I finally hit five foot tall as a freshman. (And ninety five pounds ---- I was a beast!!!!)

One of the biggest disservices you can do for a young ball player is to tell him when he goes to the plate to just stand there.

All the way through grade school and junior high I went to the plate, bat on my shoulder, with no intention of swinging. I used my lack of height to my advantage and walked constantly.  I had a lot of coaches growing up and I specifically remember being told by one very early into my baseball odyssey (although I can't remember which one) to take the walk.

Not being a very aggressive kid, Eddie Gaedel Jr. was only too happy to oblige. (Any baseball weenies out there know who I'm talking about?)

Then, in the summer of my sophomore year, I stood at five feet, four inches.  It was at this time that the game turned drastically, almost cruelly, against me.  Suddenly, opposing pitchers actually had a strike zone to work with; and at the high school level the pitchers were a lot more accurate.

I went from walking constantly to striking out constantly.  I simply had no idea how to hit a baseball (which is why, as a coach, I work with Toby and Tera constantly on hitting).

You could have sent me up to the plate with a handle on a three foot wide board and I still wouldn't have hit the damn ball.....I was terrible.

In fact, it got so bad that when I went up to bat with two outs my teammates started grabbing their gloves and getting ready to hit the field.

A friendly piece of advice......It doesn't matter how small the kid you coach is, teach 'em to hit, not just stand there and take walks.  That thing on his shoulder isn't a damn prop, it's a bat......Teach him/her to use it.

I'm not bitter about it....(Well, maybe a little)....I was a space cadet anyway with easily the shortest attention span on every team I played for.

The important thing is that (years later) I learned from it.  You can benefit from almost any adverse situation if you can approach it with an open mind.


ONE WORD:

I had a coach, Dale, that I played for who always preached the same word, every practice, every game.

ENTHUSIASM......

I haven't played for Dale in almost thirty years and yet every time I hear the word "enthusiasm" I immediately think of him and it takes me back to a great place.

I remember being that goofy little kid day dreaming in the outfield. I have no doubt in my mind that, given my tendency to space out, I was not an easy kid to coach.  But beyond a shadow of a doubt my best memories of baseball were when I played for Dale.

I couldn't tell you how many games we won....I almost never knew the score in any of the games I played.  I couldn't tell you how Dale ran practice.  In fact, I couldn't tell you much of anything statistically about the time I played for him.

But I can tell you that I enjoyed just about every minute of it.

Today, when I step onto a ball field I just feel at peace, it is my sanctuary.  Nothing matches that beautiful field, the camaraderie in the dugout.  I love the smell of a newly oiled glove (I wonder if they can make that into a candle scent?) and the crack of a bat is like music to my ears.  There is nothing in the world that can match this wonderful game.

Football is all about size, strength and speed; and it's usually the quarterback/running back that gets the lions share of the glory.

In basketball everyone talks about the player with the high scoring average.  No one talks about the defensive specialist or the rebounder that played a significant role in the game.

But in baseball you have nine players; all with a chance to bat, all with a chance to make a great defensive play.  Nine players with an equal opportunity to become a hero.

And that hero can be under five foot tall and weigh eighty five pounds.  I remember the last year I played for Dale I pitched a complete game in our league tournament......one of the smallest kids on the team got to be a big, bad ball player for a day.  He got to feel like a hero.......

All it required was a little hard work and a lot of.......ENTHUSIASM.

Dale, I never properly thanked you for instilling the love of the game in me.  I definitely didn't understand or appreciate it at the time.  But I most certainly do now......

Thanks, coach........


You know what?  I better stop here.  If I don't I'll end up writing a small book.  Perhaps I will share more baseball stories as the season rolls along.

By the way, the experts projected my Cubs to have the worst season record in all of MLB this year.

Hey, that's ok.......Let's play two.  :)