Posts Tagged ‘baseball gloves’
A Week into Spring Training
Well, here we are a week into spring training already, and hopes are running high. Players are getting into shape-some trying to make their first major league team, some older players trying to stay on a team, and some veterans just going through the motions. The Tampa Bay Rays are off to a good start as predicted by several sports writers.
So are the Chicago Cubs, but we have all seen that before. Baseball bats are booming, pitchers look sharp, and baseball gloves are actually catching baseballs-just what they are designed to do. Then comes the yearly Chicago Cubs letdown. I do, however, have a theory. For those of you who know the Bible, my theory is this: if the Cubs win the World Series, then the Lord Jesus will come back again! (I know it’s not actually in the Bible, but it should be!) Talk about faith…
Spring Training Up and Running
Here it is early in March of 2010 (it STILL feels like winter) and spring training is once again up and running. Hopes are high for many major leaguers (and would be major leaguers), not to mention baseball fans all over America. There seems to always be a lot of promise at the beginning of the season.
Players are asking themselves “will I make the team,” and fans are wondering if this could be ‘the year’ their favorite team makes it to the World Series. (Sorry, Chicago Cubs fans are not allowed to participate in this…their time has expired!) So, go ahead and oil up that baseball glove and dust off your baseball bat. It’s time to hear-“PLAY BALL”…
Shields Likely Rays Rotation Starter
The Tampa Bay Rays look to have a strong pitching rotation as well as a stronger bullpen in 2010. Joe Maddon, the Rays Manager, released his starting pitchers for the first five games. In order-they are: James Shields, Matt Garza, Jeff Niemann, David Price, and Wade Davis. Andy Sonnanstine is right there too, but he needs to work to stay in the rotation ahead of Wade Davis.
If Shields does get the baseball on April 6th, it will be his third straight opening day start. James has a way of winning the ‘big’ games, thus the nickname ‘Big Game James’ sticks in everybody’s minds. With a baseball, his Rawlings baseball glove, and a little magic, he’ll be giving opposing batters fits again this season…
Rays Price Ready for 2010
This spring is different for the Tampa Bay Rays David Price. Last spring he started in Triple A baseball which seemed like a slap in the face to him after being called up late in 2008 to pitch to Boston in the ALCS, and then the World Series. It was tough for him to go back to the minors to ‘learn’ a few more things.
Well, now he’s back in the Big Leagues in spring training, and all the cameras aren’t on him like they were last year. Now he has a chance to work on some of his pitches without everybody climbing all over him. It’s a safe bet he’ll be working on his defense by mastering the art of catching with that big baseball glove of his, and a little more ball movement as he delivers to the plate. When David Price pitches, the crack of the baseball bats may not be so numerous…
Your Glove of Choice-(Part 3)
…So, let’s talk about some of the brands and types of baseball gloves, and softball gloves that are offered today. First of all, $50.00 is no longer a “high end” glove or mitt; not in today’s world. Although, you can still get a pretty decent youth glove for $50.00 or slightly under, anything less is strictly for the kid that you are “making” him/her play ball. (No sense buying an expensive glove for that-it’s going to wind up in the basement and you’ll find it two years from now in a spring flood!)
But yes, the major brands are still there as well as several new brands. Rawlings baseball gloves are still the most popular as well as the most widely bought and used. Wilson is big and Spalding is there, but not so popular. There’s also All-Star, MacGregor, Mizuno, and the ever more popular Akadema baseball gloves and equipment. There are other brands as well, but I am writing a blog-not a novel…(see part 4)
Your Glove of Choice-(Part 1)
So, you want to play baseball or softball, or you already do-what’s your glove of choice? With so many brands and types of gloves and mitts to choose from, your decision may not be so easy. There are the “old lines” such as Rawlings, Wilson and Spalding through Mizuno, MacGregor, All-Star, and many others to newer companies like Akadema. Do you buy a glove or mitt because of a friend, coach or favorite major league star?
Usually, you buy what you know or hear about or a recommendation from a trusted coach or friend. Obviously, the position you play has a lot to do with it. There are infield gloves and outfield gloves; catchers mitts and first base mitts, not to mention all the colors and grades of leather. There are youth baseball gloves, slow-pitch and fast-pitch softball gloves…so many choices! Let’s take a closer look at several types and brands. See part 2…
History of Softball-(Part 3)
Softball did go national when the US Army used it for recreation. They didn’t use softball gloves or baseball gloves. They just barehanded it and they also pitched underhand but pitched fast. (Maybe that’s why they started using gloves). At any rate, softball was growing rapidly.
Being a game that mostly men played, it wouldn’t be long before the ladies would join in. Now, of course, softball is huge in the United States and elsewhere in the world. But let’s go back to Chicago where it all began…
The 7th Inning Stretch (Part 5)
So, just when did “Take Me Out To The Ballgame” first get sung during a seventh inning stretch? Well, first we have to look at where it came from. A fellow named Jack Norworth was on a train in 1908 heading to Manhattan when the idea for the song came to him, and he jotted it down. It was put to music, and has become the best known baseball song of all time.
No one is really sure when it first got sung at a ballgame, but Chicago White Sox announcer, Harry Caray had the fans sing it during the seventh inning stretch in 1971. The White Sox owner Bill Veeck, snuck a microphone into the booth & Harry Caray sang it loudly at Comiskey Park, without knowing everyone could hear his not-so-smooth voice. (Maybe that’s why fans were putting baseball gloves over their ears.) At any rate, it was a mainstay in Chicago after that. Caray switched to the Cubs and began to let celebrities lead the singing. The most memorable was Mike Ditka, but that’s another story…
The 7th Inning Stretch (Part 1)
Ever since I was a little kid and watching baseball, there has always been a seventh inning stretch. I never thought much about it, but then I began to wonder; was it always part of the game? Naturally, I had to do some research to see just when and where it all began. These are some fun “facts” I uncovered. Two traditions actually began that day.
Folklore has it (I say this because there is more than one theory on the subject) that it all began on April 14, 1910 at Griffith Stadium in Washington, DC. The game was between the Philadelphia Athletics and the Washington Senators and was attended by the President of the United States, William Howard Taft. Before the game began, the umpire, Billy Evans, on the spur of the moment handed the baseball to the President and asked him to throw it over the plate. Without even wearing a baseball glove, Taft threw out the “first pitch” –a tradition that has seen every president since, except Jimmy Carter, carry it out…
Statue Unveiled Honoring Mazeroski
It was a baseball game you would never forget if you had either seen it on TV or heard it on the Radio. Game 7 of the 1960 World Series featured the Pittsburgh Pirates and the heavily favored New York Yankees. It was the bottom of the 9th inning and Bill Mazeroski hit a game-ending, World Series winning home run to left field.
“Maz” grew up in a one room house near Wheeling, WV and pretended to play baseball with a wooden stick and a rock because his family couldn’t afford either a baseball glove or a baseball bat. The Hall of Famer now has a street named after him, and is getting this 12’ tall statue of him rounding second base with his batting helmet held high in his right hand, after hitting the homerun, erected outside of PNC Park. Thanks for the memories Bill…