Posts Tagged ‘Catchers Mitt’
Starting a Little League Team
Though as a parent you might not be able to form a sanctioned Little League team in your area, it’s always fun to gather up your children and their friends for weekly games or practices. Once you’ve built up a team and a few scheduled weekly events, you’ll be surprised how fast your team gets noticed. To get started, you will need a place to play, and a bit of baseball equipment. If you can find a baseball diamond which is unoccupied during certain hours every week, that will be ideal. In terms of baseball equipment, you can expect other kids to bring their own gloves, and sometimes bats. Equipment you will need to purchase includes two to three bats, catcher’s protective gear and catchers mitts, bases and a pitcher’s mound marker (depending on where you play).
If you can find a place and put together the equipment, you’ll be having youth baseball games and a lot of fun in no time.
Baseball and a Wedding-(Part 2)
…The article doesn’t mention if the bridesmaids will be given anything from the Pirates, but I suspect that they will give Laura a catchers mitt for the “catch” that she made. (Although, upon seeing her picture, Damon is really the one who made the catch!) The names of the people in the wedding party will be written on the lineup board near the main gate. The guys will be dressing in the home clubhouse and the girls will be in the visitor’s clubhouse, and all will have their names written on nameplates above the lockers.
There will be a Presbyterian Church glee club singing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” during their recessional, and then the reception for 165 guests will be held under a tent in the concession area. What a fun-loving couple! Now, if the weather doesn’t throw them a curve and send them into extra innings, Laura and Damon can get busy building a “team” of their own…
The 7th Inning Stretch (Part 2)
That was tradition number one. The second tradition that began that day was the first seventh-inning stretch. President Taft, as you may or may not know, was a very large man. At 300 pounds, he was the largest president our country has ever had. That opening day game between the Athletics and the Senators was beginning to drag on.
In the middle of the seventh-inning, President Taft just couldn’t sit still on that hard wooden seat much longer, so he stood up to “stretch his legs” and move around a bit. When he did that, everyone else did the same thing. Who knows, if he was sitting on a catchers mitt, we might not have a seventh-inning stretch today? At any rate, he didn’t-and we do. Now, for some other theories…
Time to Pass the Baton
With Little League baseball many decades behind me, I had a son of my own. When my son Andy became Little League age, he wanted to play also. We would play catch to improve his skills so naturally, the next step was to buy him a catchers mitt of his very own. Andy was a little excited about being catcher until he found out there was pain involved.
He managed to squeak out one season as catcher, but he really didn’t like it-not like I did when I was a kid. If you don’t like being catcher it’s just too hard a position to play and be any good at it. That was when Andy started his pitching career which I blogged about back in November. At least he was involved with a catcher…
My First Season as a Catcher
After my first year of Little League was over, I couldn’t wait for the second year to begin. I was chosen to be back on the same team that year. I was on Nashville and playing second base again. In our second game, our catcher was up at bat and for some reason I tried on his catchers mitt. My manager saw me and asked if I wanted to be a catcher. Apparently, our catcher wanted to play another position-ANY position!
I said sure and the next thing I knew I was dressed in catchers gear and heading out to squat behind home plate. I was a natural. I loved it. Being catcher was my new favorite position. There was action on every pitch and I really looked like a ballplayer in all that catchers equipment. We finished in first place that year, but I was most excited about being catcher…
Giants Hoping for 2010 Playoffs
The San Francisco Giants finished the 2009 season only four games out of the wild card spot with a record of 88-74, good enough for third place in the tough National League West. They had a sixteen win improvement in 2009, and think they can make it to the post-season in 2010.
In order to do that, they’ll need to add a couple of “booming” baseball bats to their lineup. They have a heavy-hitting, 22 year old catcher named Buster Posey just about to come up from AAA ball, but they really need a seasoned veteran to fill that spot now. With the fifth worst run production in the majors at 4.06 per game, one “hot bat” might just propel them into the playoffs…
Chicago White Sox Training for Kids
Several years ago when the Chicago White Sox were still holding spring training in Sarasota, they held a “training camp for kids.” About 300-400 kids showed up to learn from such greats as Harold Baines and other popular White Sox players. My Babe Ruth League age son Andy was among them, and was quite excited to be learning from major league players.
Living in a spring training town does have its advantages such as; white sand beaches, palm trees, warm weather all winter…well you get the idea. At any rate, being from the Chicago area, Andy was a Cubs fan much more than a Sox fan, but that didn’t stop him from going to the camp, along with his catchers mitt and wearing his Cubs hat. The White Sox were giving away ten prizes after the activities along with a “grand prize.” Some of the prizes were; mini-bats, baseballs, baseball hats, bats, etc. I was hoping that Andy might win a prize, but after they gave away all ten prizes, all that was left was the “grand prize.”
Then they announced, “The grand prize winner is…Andy!!!” Holy cow, we couldn’t believe it. The prize was a trip to Chicago along with a pair of tickets to two Sox games. Also, he got his picture taken with the White Sox Manager Jeff Torborg, with Andy proudly wearing his Chicago Cubs hat…
Why Does a Catcher Need a Different Glove?
Amongst baseball gloves, there are a few field positions which claim to require different types of gloves, though it might seem that a different style of mitt is unnecessary. For some field positions, this is true, but the catcher is unique. Catchers mitts are characterized by their wide diameter, and additional thickness. The width of the catcher’s mitt is necessary for scooping up balls, and also to serve as a target for the pitcher. The extra thickness of the catcher’s mitt is necessary to offer some protection from the pitcher’s fastballs.
Legendary baseball pitchers have thrown balls upwards of 105 miles per hour, with 100-102 as a normal speed for certain closers. This takes quite a toll on a catcher’s hand, and is also one of the reasons they wear so much protective gear.
Will 2010 Marlins Strike Paydirt?
The Florida Marlins have been playing good, not great, baseball as of late. They have been close to making the playoffs in each of the last two seasons, and finished with a record of 87-75, which was good enough for a second place finish in the National League East. They have a bunch of young talent on the way, and already have solid pitching in place.
With a new ball park just two years away, (finally!) some of the “older” players might not be around to play in it. Dan Uggla might prove to be good trade material, but most fans hope he’ll be there to play in the new ball park. The starting pitching rotation is reaching maturity and definitely knows how to find the catchers mitt. Team president David Samson said they were building for the 2009 season, but now says they are building for 2010. I think he stole that line from the Chicago Cubs…
A Boy Dreaming of Spring
As a youngster growing up in the Chicago suburbs, winters were long, cold and dark. Don’t get me wrong, I loved to ice skate, sled ride, and play endlessly in the snow. Winter was one of my favorite seasons, but I also loved baseball. When it was late in February, 17 degrees outside and still snowing, it was starting to get old.
Spring training was already starting both in Arizona and Florida, and here we were still throwing snowballs, and would be for at least another month! I would listen to the Chicago spring training games on the radio and dream of warmer weather, and playing baseball.
Being a Little League catcher, I would lie on my bed and throw a baseball up in the air over and over again, trying to see how close I could get to the ceiling without hitting it, (it would always leave a mark) and catching it with a loud “pop” in my catchers mitt. I would do this little exercise for hours and hours over the next several very cold weeks, trying to hurry Spring along. Oh, if only it would just warm up…