Coaching Manual1.0 Introduction

Thanks for signing up to coach North Stars baseball this summer. Coaching in the NSBC is a great way to teach kids how to play and enjoy the wonderful game of baseball. You will also help them develop teamwork, cooperation, friendship and community, all qualities that will serve them well in the future. While doing all of this, we think you’ll find you’re having as much fun as the kids are - and maybe more!

For some of us starting out, coaching can seem an intimidating task. For others it might seem easy (“I’ve played baseball so I can certainly teach it to a bunch of kids”). The job involves far more than just teaching your kids to catch, field and hit. You have to keep your players interested and focused, evaluate a number of developing skills in each one of the dozen or so kids on your roster, maintain good behavior, and teach how the game is best played, all the while insuring the right amount of enthusiasm, positive support, and fun. Sometimes, it might seem hard to know where to begin.

This manual will help. You will find sections on NSBC’s philosophy and structure, how to teach all of the fundamental baseball skills, how to plan a practice and how to handle game day. We don’t have all the answers - far from it. But this manual should help you get started in your role as an NSBC baseball coach. From there, you can get help from books, videos, web sites, friends, other coaches and your own experiences and instincts - there is a tremendous amount of help out there if you take a few minutes to look for it. Just start asking.

NSBC has provided the structure. Your job is to put it into action. Have fun, make sure the kids have fun, and thanks again for taking a team. You’re going to enjoy it.

1.1 The NSBC Way

The North Stars Baseball Club is a non-profit community organization that provides a summer athletic program for kids in Hazen, Beulah, and the surrounding area, aimed at providing a first-class baseball experience for the boys in our communities.

Last year we had well over 100 boys of age 5-12 playing baseball in our program. Our goal is to increase that number, year after year. And we’ll achieve that goal if the kids are having a lot of fun, and we continue to develop the overall quality of the program.

NSBC is oriented completely around the concept of making every important decision based on what’s best for the kids, the players. We put safety first, then constructive (not frivolous) fun for the kids, then training, then winning - in that order. We call that “the NSBC way”. We want our games to be competitive, but we do our best to keep everything in the right balance.

We want NSBC baseball players to learn the game the right way, without coaches and parents pushing too hard, and without the fear of failure sapping their enjoyment of the game. We want

them to develop their skills in such a way that they have great constructive fun and want to keep playing baseball year after year. At the same time, they should learn sportsmanship and team play, make some new friends and have an enjoyable summer.

Our approach also centers upon the family experience, where the entire family can get involved as coaches, umpires, team mothers, scorekeepers, etc. We’ll all enjoy some warm summer evenings with friends and neighbors, seeing Hazen’s boys have fun playing the great American pastime.

In keeping with that philosophy, “the NSBC way” to coach is to create a positive, supportive environment that lets every player participate and succeed to the best of his abilities. We think every kid in the program should be given about equal and fair attention. The ones with more skills should have a chance to develop their games, while the less-experienced kids enjoy the thrill of their first difficult catch or their first big hit. In this way, a coach can measure his success in terms that are more important than just who won the most games - it can be measured by improvements achieved by each player on the team, and by the smiles on their faces when they show off their new skills.

The NSBC way is not for everybody, and there may be another baseball program around that will serve the needs of kids who want to play all-out to win or lose, for the parents who want their kids to have a more intensive baseball experience. Neither style may be better or worse, but NSBC wants to be the place where kids can learn and play baseball without having to feel too much pressure to perform, or despair for failing to “make the play”. We think the NSBC way is best for most kids.

1.2 NSBC Age-Group Structure

NSBC Cal Ripken baseball is divided into 4 age-group divisions. We will probably change this structure from time to time, but right now we have it set up this way:

T-ball (ages 5-7): Here, the very youngest guys learn some of the basics (how to swing a bat, how to grip a baseball and throw it straight, where to run, etc.). We don’t keep score, and everyone bats and fields. The kids (and their parents) have a great time!

Rookies (ages 7-9): A step up from T-ball, introducing a few more elements of the game. Again, no score is kept, and everyone bats and fields. However, the kids now swing at pitches from their coach and are called “out” if a play is made in the field. This introduces the teamwork that baseball requires, and rewards good fielding, too.

Minors (ages 8-11): This is a transition to real baseball. It starts out exclusively “coach pitch” but transitions into player-pitch in the second half of the season, with an eye toward developing both hitters and pitchers.

Majors (ages 10-12): This is real baseball using Cal Ripken rules but without great pressure. Kids pitch, umpires call balls and strikes, and everyone plays good baseball with an eye toward winning the season-ending tournament and crowning a great season! NSBC’s Majors division provides a quality baseball experience where kids play and learn the game in an exciting and positive setting.

There is some overlap in the age groups, to account for differences in kids, and to help assure that each player is mixed in with others of a similar skill level. NSBC does its best to place each boy into the best division for his own best development and fun. Generally speaking, every kid will play in an age group indicated by his age as of August 1.

Absent specific parental request, we will never force a player into a lower age group than his age indicates. Once a boy is officially older than the oldest age indicated above for an age-group, he will no longer be assigned to that group (regardless of his skill level), unless his parents want it that way and the Club thinks it will work out in his interest and in the interest of his teammates.

To keep things as balanced as possible, however, we will indicate where we believe kids should move up to an older age group even though it is not necessarily indicated by their age. This kind of movement eliminates boredom for kids that have developed more quickly than normal, and also guards against those kids’ dominating or intimidating the younger boys they would otherwise be playing with and against. The NSBC Board of Directors will make these determinations. Where their own kids (or other relatives) might be the subject of such a decision, those particular Board members will not be part of the formal decision process.

To aid our making the best decisions, every registered player (with some exceptions, such as the oldest 12-and-under players, and the very youngest kids) is required to attend Tryout Day (when held) and the early-season Group Practices, where we will put the kids through some simple drills, and add the information gained to what we already know about each boy. What we are trying hard to do is make the season as much fun as possible for every kid out there. To do that, we need to assign the kids to teams that are as evenly balanced as possible. We want every team to have a real chance to win on any given game day. No doormat teams, and no steamrollers either.

1.3 NSBC Process

Although we try to make it as easy as possible for our coaches, the on-the-field work is still done by you, the manager or coach. Your patience, enthusiasm, and leadership will determine whether the kids on your team have a quality baseball experience this summer.

To help you get started, we set the teams up for you, order and provide uniforms and equipment, reserve a practice time and field and provide the umpires. We also organize a coaching clinic, and a player clinic (in the upper divisions), and this manual.

Following is a list (in approximate date order) of some NSBC events you will be interested in as a manager or coach. Additional information about each of these events will be found in Section 4.

    Try-Out Day    You receive the roster of players for your team    Coach’s Meeting    Coach’s Clinic    You receive your equipment    You hold your Parent’s Meeting    Scorekeeper’s Clinic    Player’s Clinic    Your first practice session    Opening Day    Regular-season games    Picture Day    Post-season tournaments    You turn in your equipment    Season ends (and the NSBC Board of Directors begins planning for next year)

That’s the NSBC baseball season in a nutshell. If at some point you decide you’d like to have a part in determining the future direction of the Club, please talk to someone on the NSBC Board of Directors. We need interested people like you to keep improving the Club. Your ideas and efforts may be just what we need to strengthen our program. The door is always wide open.

 Coaching Manual2.0  Duties and Goals of a Baseball Coach

There are many good reasons for coaching youth baseball. One reason is that time spent with kids on the ball diamond is usually a great recreational experience for the coach. A brief opportunity a few times each week to escape into another world, and away from the pressures of life’s monotonous routines.

But the biggest opportunity that coaching provides is the chance to have a positive impact on the youth of our community, to teach our young kids some lessons about baseball. And through baseball, to teach some lessons of real lasting value, lessons that will stick with them throughout their lives.

 

2.1 The Conduct of a Coach

Team managers and coaches are the most important people in the NSBC organization. More than anyone else, you determine the kind of experience your players enjoy. You want to teach your players to honor the game, with respect for the rules, and for opponents, officials, teammates and self.

For better or for worse, as soon as you start coaching a group of kids you become a role model.  Those kids will watch almost every move you make, and hear every word you say - and how you say it. Teach your players, through example and words, how to honor the game.

Recognize that for most kids the baseball diamond is an experiment, especially for the beginners.  They are trying to find out if this new environment is a place they can survive in, and have some fun. It takes some courage on their parts, especially for the kids with the fewest natural gifts. Help them feel comfortable on your team. Smile a lot, and raise your voice only when necessary to make  yourself heard. Keep your own emotions completely in check.

Learn and use techniques of “kid-friendly criticism”, and learn to be very sensitive to how each player responds to each corrective comment you make. Every kid is different, and will respond to your comments in a different way. Remember to praise in front of other players, and to speak critically (when really necessary) in absolute private. Emphasize the “why” of each skill, rather than concentrating too much on the exact form of “how” you want to see it done.

The following are some specific actions you can take to make sure your coaching has the best effect on your players:

Ensure that your players play in a safe manner, under safe conditions, on safe fields, with the  necessary safety equipment (batting helmets, catcher’s gear, etc.).

Be a good role model for your team’s players. Always be on time for games and practices.Never leave a practice or game early unless there is a responsible and competent adult there to replace you in your absence.

Do your very best to provide positive training, care and encouragement for all players on your team.

Do your best to teach the kids the game of baseball, while at the same time making it enjoyable and fun. Organize and conduct well-planned practices for skill teaching. Remember that good coaching is all about teaching. Read Section 6 of this manual.

Encourage good sportsmanship by demonstrating positive support for all players, parents,  coaches, opponents, umpires and Club officials at every practice and every game.

Demonstrate mutual respect toward all other coaches, umpires and Club officials on and off the field.

Place the emotional and physical well-being of your players ahead of your own personal desire to win.

Read and understand NSBC’s current Operating Rules, and familiarize yourself with the current Cal Ripken Rule Book.

Control and be fully responsible for the conduct of your team’s players, parents and spectators.

Remember that the game is for the kids, not for coaches and parents. Honor the game. During games, always be fair toward all your team’s players, especially for playing-time

and positions on the field. Make sure your weakest players get the playing time they deserve, and perhaps a little more.

 If your own son is on the team, be especially careful he is not seen as getting specially favored treatment.  For example, tell your son to call you “coach” (not “Dad”) while at baseball practices and games.  This will help make it clear that your son is not a specially favored player on your team.

2.2 The Goals of a Coach

From your very first day as a coach, you need to have a firm grasp of just exactly what your goals are, and how you intend to reach them. The following is a suggested list of goals you might consider, a list that works for many coaches, and is listed in order of importance:

1. SAFETYBeyond everything else, you must make sure that the kids on your team are participating in a safe environment and in a safe manner at all times, protected in every way you can think of from unreasonable risk of injury. This means paying attention to all aspects of safety, both on and off the field. Read and understand Section 3 of this manual.

Mostly of course, we think about physical injury. But we must also recognize that some kids on each team can be susceptible to mental or emotional injury, especially the weakest and least gifted players. Usually this kind of injury comes from ill-chosen words from unthinking adults, or from other players. Be prepared to act in an appropriate way when you see an emotional injury take place. Because you are the role model, positive words of encouragement from the coach go a long way toward healing off a mental or emotional shock.

You have a right to expect assistance from NSBC in the way of good safety equipment and adequately-cared-for playing fields to help make sure there are no serious physical injuries. But the possibilities of mental or emotional injury are areas where the coach must be the primary preventative guardian.

2. HAVING FUN  We have to make sure that the kids are having a great deal of fun on the baseball diamond. If not, they won’t be back next year, and all our effort goes to waste.

By fun, we aren’t talking about a few hours of frivolous, disordered fun each week throwing and hitting a baseball around. The kind of fun you should have in mind is more complex than that,

and has much more lasting value. It is the warm feeling of fun and accomplishment that each kid can develop by working on his skills, contributing his very best to the team’s goals, and becoming a bona-fide member of a group effort, coming to understand the full meaning of The Team: “one for all, and all for one”.  The very best fun is derived from meeting a challenge head-on by learning the skills necessary to overcome it, then later enjoying the fruits of that hard work.

Fortunately, it is not difficult to make sure the kids are having fun at the same time they are learning how to play this complicated game, and while they are learning the deeper lessons of lasting value that baseball can teach. Hopefully you will find material in this manual that helps you teach at the same time your kids are having the kind of fun that brings them back out for more baseball, year after year. The coach’s attitude and approach have A LOT to do with it.

3. BUILDING BASEBALL SKILLS As coaches, our most important baseball-related duty is teaching skills. Baseball is a complicated game, and if kids are to play it well, they need to learn a lot of different skills - throwing, hitting, base-running, fielding, thinking the game, etc., etc.  Our goal as coaches is to make sure all our kids are much more skillful players when they leave our team at the end of the season, than they were when they first joined the team.

4. THE TEAM  Closely related to the more complex kind of fun described above, is the feeling of The Team. It is hard to describe in writing, but when your kids reach the point each year when they starting playing together like a machine of many well-coordinated parts, then you will know you have accomplished something as a coach. Even the best coaches don’t usually see it happen until at least the second, third or fourth game in a new season, but one day each year you will hopefully find yourself thinking, “Hey, my kids have grown together into a pretty well-coordinated group. They are no longer just a bunch of individuals, with each one concentrating on his own performance - they’re actually talking together and helping each other toward our common goal. They’ve  learned to rely on one another”. It’s at that point that you know you have created The Team. And it’s at that point that your kids will become tough to beat.

That lesson of “team” is perhaps the greatest lesson that baseball can teach. When each kid is doing his best to contribute to a group goal, he will remember that feeling. It will stay with him. And to him, it will seem perfectly natural to go the same way later in life when he is out in the working world, and expected to contribute to a team effort. To him it will all seem perfectly natural and sensible, because he’s been there before, and done that. Several times. You will have helped prepare him for the bigger challenges that lie ahead in his life. Baseball, and you the coach, can do that for every kid on your team.

5. PLAYING TO WIN  The last goal, and properly last, is to win as many of your games as possible. After all, baseball is a competitive sport. If it weren’t for the competition it would all be pretty boring.

But the coach must bury his own desires to win each game, and remember that we do all this for the kids, not to satisfy our own desires and egos. As adults we have to learn to take the failure that a lost game presents and somehow turn it into a useful lesson for our players. And also, we

have to teach our players how to handle victory in a game without gloating or undue celebration, but honoring the game and respecting the feelings of the kids in the other dugout.

A big help toward winning as many games as possible is that concept of The Team. When your kids reach the point where they have clearly come together as a unified group, they no longer need reminders that they should go out on the diamond to win. The winning just seems to take care of itself (well, much of the time anyway), and you and your players find it easy to maintain the best emotional balance. That’s what makes a real sportsman, a real athlete. And that’s when your kids will have learned something from playing baseball on your team that will stay with them their entire lives.

Coaching Manual3.0 Safety

Probably 99% of injuries and accidents in baseball can be eliminated by following some sensible practices. The official North Stars Baseball Club policy and procedure about safety are contained in the NSBC Safety Policy. As a team manager or coach, you must be familiar with the contents of that document.

There are also specific NSBC playing rules that concern safety. You should know those rules and follow them.

The rest of this section is a series of recommendations you can follow to make sure the kids on your team play baseball as safely as possible.

3.1 Keep Safety in Mind as a Coach

Make yourself familiar with the NSBC Safety Policy. And all NSBC procedures concerning safety. Also, memorize those few NSBC game rules that specifically address safety.

Make sure your first-aid kit is always available and properly stocked. You were provided with the kit along with your other equipment, but some things can get used up, so check it from time to time. Tell the players not to open it except with your permission.

Inspect the field before your players arrive. Get rid of any glass, cans, rocks, stray equipment or other hazards that might be lying around.

Be aware of current weather conditions that might present a hazard. Especially lightning.

Give your players a few warm-up and stretchy exercises before the intense activity begins. It need not be a lot, or take much time, but a little stretching of the arm and leg muscles, especially, can avoid a nagging injury later. Pitchers should warm their arms up more methodically.

Be prepared to communicate. If at all possible, have a cell phone available at every practice and game. If you don’t have one, check with other adults that may be present, before the activity starts.

Re ready to roll. Plan ahead, so you are prepared if a serious incident should occur. Know the location of the closest facility where professional help can be called in from, or to where a sick or injured person can be transported if so advised. But be familiar with the advisable limits on movement of any injured person.

Know and enforce the rules. The NSBC Operating Rules contain specific entries about safety.  Be familiar with them, and make sure they are followed at all your games.

Don’t allow any unauthorized person on the field with your team. That goes for spectators, family members and well-wishers, especially.

3.2 Teach Your Players About Safety

One of the best ways to prevent injuries and accidents is to teach your players how to play and practice the game safely. Following are some tips on what to teach:

Teach your players they must wear the right equipment at all times. Batters and base-runners wear helmets. All male players wear athletic supporters. Catchers wear all the prescribed gear, including a protective cup. Jewelry of all kinds is prohibited; it must be left at home. Medical Alert tags are allowed, but must be taped down.

Instruct your players about bat safety. Get them in the habit of carrying bats around barrel-down, not on their shoulders. Tell them they must never swing a bat on the field of play without your direction or permission, and that when they are in a position to swing they must be aware of their surroundings (including the catcher and umpire that may be nearby). Batters NEVER throw their bat. Make sure they always wear a batting helmet when they are swinging a bat. Note that in Cal Ripken baseball, we do not have an on-deck batter. In games, all offensive players stay in the dugout until it’s their turn to hit.

Teach your players about ball safety. They never throw a ball without being focused on a specific safe target. They never distract a player who is about to receive a throw from another.  They never throw in the direction of another player’s head. They never use hardballs in drills or games where safety balls are intended. Guard against arm injury - keep a pitch count for your pitchers, and enforce it; don’t over-use a young pitcher just because he is effective that day.

Instruct players on how to handle dangerous situations. Show your players how to turn away from a wild pitch, so it strikes them on their back when necessary. Rehearse it with safety balls.  Tell your players to avoid head-first dives into a base; sliding should always be done feet-first.  Collision with the catcher at home-plate is to be avoided to the maximum extent possible. Catchers never block the plate except as allowed by the rules. Defensive players stay out of the base-paths except when they must be there. First-basemen give the outside of the base to the runner (and runners should be trained to go to the outside of first, unless the base is wide open).

Teach the mental part of the game. Baseball is often most dangerous when players or parents get distracted from what is happening around them. Teach your players the power of concentration.  Never let them get involved in horse-play when on the field, or in the dugout.

Don’t let your kids get too intense. Concentration is a great thing, but intensity has sensible limits, too. Don’t let any player “play through his pain”. Pain is a warning signal from the body.  As adults, we owe it to our players to heed that warning. This applies especially to pitchers who develop pain in their arm, elbow, wrist, or shoulder. Catchers must not be allowed to play on if they get a hand or finger injured. Runners who get an ankle twisted should be closely checked on before being allowed to continue play on that day. Better safe than sorry later.

3.3 Lightning Facts and Procedures

There may be some controversy about the need for some of baseball’s specific safety procedures.  But about lightning, there can be no controversy. Experience has amply demonstrated the danger.  Lightning has caused serious injury or death to many, many persons caught in the open at the wrong time. It is NSBC’s policy to take no chances with lightning whatsoever. We will vacate the field and get our players and adults to a safe location whenever lightning appears to threaten. We do not test our courage - we move out when lightning comes even within a few miles.

Consider the following facts:

The average lightning strike is six to eight miles long. The average thunderstorm is six to ten miles wide, and travels at a rate of 25 miles per

hour. Once the leading edge of a thunderstorm approaches to within ten miles, you are at

immediate risk from the possibility of lightning strikes coming from the storm’s overhanging clouds, even if they are not yet overhead.

By the time you can hear the thunder from an oncoming storm, you are already in the risk area for lightning strikes.

The real truth about lightning is that it is unpredictable. Therefore, any manager or coach who feels the least threatened by an approaching storm should immediately stop play, get everyone off the field, and move the kids and adults to a safe location. When in doubt - move out !

When moving off the field, do not carry metal objects like aluminum bats. Leave them on the field.

No place is absolutely safe from lightning, but some places are safer than others. Large enclosed shelters, like substantially constructed buildings, are safer than others. When no large structure is available, the safest place available may be inside a fully enclosed metal vehicle, with the windows rolled up. But DO NOT stand on the ground with your body close to, or in contact with the metal machine - you want to be completely inside and enclosed.

When caught in the open with lightning occurring close by, get down low with your feet together.  Cover your ears to help prevent hearing damage from a nearby strike. 

 Avoid high places and open fields, isolated trees, unprotected structures like dugouts, gazebos, rain or picnic shelters, dugouts, flagpoles, bleachers (especially metal structures), metal fences and water.

Anyone who lives in lightning country is well advised to do some reading about it, and teach their kids about the life-threatening hazard it presents every spring, summer and fall. Lightning is no joke and no myth - there’s a lot of it in the Midwest, and it hits people every year.

3.4 Emergency Care Tips

Broken Bones: Immobilize. Ice if available, but never next to broken skin.  If compound (open) fracture - cover with sterile dressing and do not move until medical help arrives. If absolutely required to move, keep broken area in position of most comfort.

Unconscious: Need to establish if patient fell and hit head; if so, do not move at all until medical help arrives. Someone can maintain stabilization of the head until help arrives. If fainted or out for a few seconds, keep patient completely flat. If patient should begin to vomit, log-roll to side, maintaining head stabilization if necessary. If patient has stopped breathing or has no pulse, begin CPR, but only if you know what you are doing; use barrier devices at all times.

Shock: Keep patient flat for blood flow to brain. Keep warm, and reassure until help arrives. Shock can occur from many injuries. Keep patient as warm as possible.

Cuts: If cut is minor, rinse with cold water and cover with sterile dressing. If bleeding persists or is heavy, place a dry clean dressing over the wound and apply continuous pressure. Do not stop until someone relieves you. Use shock precautions, and elevate area that is bleeding.

Nosebleed: Contrary to “old school” thought, do not have patient put head back. Firmly press bridge of nose with two fingers and do not move until help arrives. You can apply ice to nose and back of neck.

Stings and Bites: First find out if patient is allergic. If so, do they carry an EPI pin? If so, help patient administer - they should know what to do. If not allergic, wash area with cold water and put ice pack on, with area that has been bitten elevated.

Burn, Lightning: If someone is burned, cool burned area with cold, clear water and then cover with dry dressing. Treat patient as needed for shock. Do not apply any ointment or medications.  If someone has been struck by lightning, move them out of danger area, but only if safe. Otherwise, do not go near patient until emergency help arrives. If patient is reachable and you know CPR, it is probable you will need it. Use shock precautions as noted above.

Dehydration: Signs of dehydration can sneak up on you. In hot or humid weather the best precaution is hydration. Schedule water breaks and even fruit slices for a little sugar pick-me-up.

If someone appears very red, with no sweat, and disoriented, immediately seek help. Treat for shock, except instead of keeping patient warm, remove as much clothing as possible and sponge on cool, but not cold, water.

3.5 Contents of First-Aid Kit

Your first -aid kit should always contain the following minimum items:   20 -Latex gloves 2 - Rolls athletic tape   4 - Instant cold packs 1 - First-aid cream   20 - Bandages, 1 x 3 inches 10 - Non-stick pads   6 - Large bandages, 2 x 4.5 inches 1 - Tweezers   1 - Large scissors Saline rinse   20 - Antiseptic wipes Miscellaneous Band-Aids

 

Coaching Manual4.0 Administration of Your Team

You didn’t sign up to be a baseball team’s manager or coach so you could spend hours tending to paperwork and red tape. Your interests and fun are out there on the field with the players. We recognize that.

Nonetheless, if our baseball club is to operate as smoothly as possible, and provide the best experience possible for the kids, we must stay organized. That requires good communication between all of us adults, including coaches, parents, and NSBC Board members.

NSBC has set up a proven structure within which we can all operate successfully. If we follow the suggested procedures that implement that structure, we will all have more fun. And at the same time minimize administrative chores and disputes, eliminate unnecessary meetings, and avoid making the same mistakes over and over. We’ll stay organized.

The purpose of this section of the Coaching Manual is to acquaint you with some of NSBC’s structure, and to suggest some things you can do to help assure that your team has a good season.

So here goes:

4.1 Assignment of Players to Teams

Early in the process each season, you will be given the list of players that are assigned to your team.

The NSBC Board of Directors goes to a lot of trouble to divide the kids into teams in each division that are as balanced as possible. The only kid you can be sure is assigned to your team is

your own son (or other designated relative). The Club does try its best to satisfy parent requests to assign certain kids to certain teams if there is a really good reason for it, such as car-pooling needs. But our main aim is to keep the teams as balanced as possible, because that makes the games a lot more interesting - every team has a good chance to win each of its games.

The Board works hard on team balance, but it does not always get it exactly right on the first try.

So we do reserve the right to switch players around some, right up until the end of the practice games, before the official games begin. We know switching players runs the risk of displeasing someone, so we try hard to avoid it. Nevertheless, if driven to it by an obvious misbalance, you could be hearing from us - but let’s hope not.

 

4.2 The Role of Parents

It’s very important to your success as a coach that your parents support your efforts to teach their kids how to play baseball. You should talk about this at your Parent’s Meeting. Parents must understand that if they contradict the coach at home, their young player will only become confused and is likely to stop making progress. In the best case, parents make an effort to get on the same page as the team’s coaches, and reinforce the skill teaching at home. If you as a coach have a parent on your team that is a particularly difficult case to work with, you should contact your division coordinator to help decide how the situation should be resolved.

Try to encourage your parents to stay at the practice sessions, especially in the T-Ball and Rookie divisions. There are many situations which can arise that need the attention of a parent; for example, injury, player frustration, weather problems, conflict with another player, etc. One possible solution is to encourage parents to pool their efforts, so there is always at least a couple of parents present at each practice.

A really great thing you might be able to do: Find a parent who likes to take pictures. Get them to take pictures at every game, of every player. Then at any time, have a party or get-together where everyone can go over all the pictures, sharing impressions, laughs and plans for next year. This can be a real spirit builder, and even help build The Team.

Finally, make sure your parents understand how they can help with equipment. Parents have to provide their players with a decent glove, and perhaps a bat or two. Too often they buy the wrong stuff, out of simple ignorance about what is best. You should review the information in Appendix K, and pass it along to your parents.

4.3 Your Division Coordinator

Each of our player divisions (T-ball, Rookies, Minors and Majors) has an NSBC Board member who is designated as the Coordinator for that division. He/she is your main conduit for

communication back to the full Board. The NSBC “chain of command” is Team Coacheam ManagerDivision CoordinatorLeague CommissionerPresidentBoard of Directors.

One of your Coordinator’s responsibilities is to keep you informed of everything you need to know to run your team effectively, and to discharge your administrative responsibilities as easily as possible. The Coordinator of each division should be in contact with all his/her managers and coaches very early in the season. As a coach or manager you should feel free to contact your Coordinator at any time, on any issue of interest to you or your team.

For every officially-scheduled game which your team wins or ties, your team’s manager is responsible for reporting the score to the Coordinator within 24 hours after the game is played. That is so the Coordinator can keep the division standings up to date, something that’s likely to be of interest to a lot of people. It is not necessary for the manager himself to contact the Coordinator , but it is his responsibility to be sure someone is doing it.

Also, in case the head umpire for one of your officially-scheduled games should terminate the game before it becomes Regulation (see the NSBC Operating Rules for definition), the managers of both teams are responsible for contacting the Coordinator (within 24 hours) for re-scheduling the game.

Hopefully there won’t be any, but if there should be some kind of dispute that involves your team or your players, parents, etc., you should contact your Coordinator ASAP so that he is informed and has an opportunity to bring about a resolution just as quickly as possible.

4.4 Club Calendar

You should receive a printed copy of the official NSBC Club Calendar for the current year very soon after you are officially made a manager or coach. Your Coordinator is responsible for getting the Calendar into your hands. The Calendar does not include a game schedule; that is a separate document. But the Calendar does list every significant NSBC event (other than games) that will take place during the current Baseball Year, along with other detail such as the location and time of the event. You should, of course, keep a copy of the Calendar in a prominent place at home so you can refer to it from time to time. And perhaps make copies for any parents on your team who have taken on jobs that might require the information on it.

4.5 Your Team Parents Meeting

Even before you take the kids out on the field for the first time, it is strongly recommended that you call a meeting of all their parents (without the kids). Interestingly enough, we call this your team’s Parents Meeting. Hold the meeting at your home, or that of one of your parents.

Appendix H contains a sample letter to which you can make appropriate changes, and send out to all your parents, announcing your Parents Meeting. Using the U.S. Mail is more likely to get good attendance than simply calling them on the telephone. Phone calls get forgotten; pieces of paper get hung on refrigerator doors.

It’s probably a good idea to include a copy of your team’s roster with the letter, so all parents know as soon as possible who else is on the team. Also include anything else you think might be appropriate.

Also in Appendix H is a sample agenda for your Parents Meeting. Following is a short discussion of some of the items on the suggested agenda.

You will want first to welcome all your players, and their parents, onto your team. And just to avoid any possible misunderstanding, you should probably explain to your parents that their kids were assigned to your team, not selected by you.

You should give each parent a copy of the team roster, a printed list of all the players on your team, and the coaches and associated adults as well, along with their addresses, phone numbers and email addresses. You were likely given such a list by your division coordinator. Just make any additions or changes you think are appropriate, and make the necessary copies.

Tell your parents that if they have even the slightest doubt, they should have their child examined by a doctor before being allowed to play organized baseball.

The eyesight of many young kids changes during the growing process, and good eyesight is very necessary for some baseball skills, especially hitting and pitching. Any parent who suspects their son may have a vision defect, should probably have him examined by an eye doctor. Ask that doctor if he should wear glasses on the baseball diamond. If so, be sure to send him out there with safety glasses. And by the way, there is no shame in wearing glasses - many big-leaguers need and wear glasses (nowadays they’re usually contact lenses, but that might not be possible or practical for youngsters).

Explain the goals you have set out for your team this year. There is a suggested list of goals in Section 2 of this manual. Give the parents an opportunity to comment - make sure this is a community effort even if you are the one who is going to make it all happen.

Go briefly over NSBC’s safety procedures. Describe our policy about lightning threats. Give each parent a copy of the Parent Tips for Preventing Baseball and Softball Injuries sheet in Appendix H of this manual. Remind parents that it is THEIR RESPONSIBILITY to assure their male players wear an athletic supporter. Obviously, managers and coaches cannot check compliance with this rule.

Then it is time to discuss (hopefully for the only time this season) the “heavy” topics that must be mentioned. That mainly has to do with player and parent conduct, attendance at practices and games, and the selection of positions on the field that each kid will be designated to play. Player conduct is discussed farther down in this Section, as is the Spirit of NSBC. Parents are required to adhere to the Spirit - we don’t want any incidents like those you read about in the newspaper from time to time about other leagues.

If you have any specific Team Rules, now is the time to explain them to your parents. See the section below about Club rules and suggested team rules.

You should explain to your parents that it is the coaches on your team who will decide which position each kid will play for each game, and that pressure from the kids and parents is not wanted.

For some reason there always seems to be a surplus of kids who want to play first-base, so it’s a good idea to mention that parents should not encourage their kids to strive for that position - the manager and coaches will decide what’s best for The Team, for each game. All this position stuff is of little interest in the youngest age groups, because you will be shifting kids around a lot anyway; but for the older kids it can start to become important.

Player appearance is part of building the concept of “The Team” during the season (one of the suggested team goals). Parents should understand that their player must wear his team uniform to every practice and game.

You should explain to your parents that if they hear you yelling at their kids, it is only to make yourself heard. You never yell at a player out of emotion, because you do not allow emotions like frustration and anger to become a part of your coaching technique. This is not professional football.

Similarly, you never touch their kids except when it is necessary to teach a skill, to help them recover from a temporary injury or accident, or some other obviously good reason.

The only pieces of equipment that each player is required to come on the field with is a glove, and wearing their athletic supporter. At the Coach’s Meeting each year, we will be discussing the best kind of gloves (and bats) for young players, and you should pass this information on to your parents. One of the biggest problems that youngsters have is that their parents give them gloves that are too small, or not broken in properly. The wrong glove delays the building of confidence and enthusiasm, and that can slow down the learning process enormously. So this is an important topic for parents to understand.

Suggest that parents use a wood-burning tool or soldering iron to “engrave” the family name and phone number into their kid’s glove. Kids leave their equipment on the field every year; it seems to be a part of growing up.

Parents of pitchers and aspiring pitchers must understand that pitchers, more than any other position, need to practice almost every day so they develop adequate control of their pitches.

Parents can go a long way toward success by helping their kids practice for any position, but especially pitching. Good pitching is a prime ingredient of a winning season.

NSBC has player-participation rules, and parents should be made aware of those. See the Operating Rules for the current season.

You will need a Medical Release Card for every player on your team. If you don’t already have a complete set, get your parents to sign them at your meeting, and then carry them with you

whenever you are with your team; you never know when an accident can happen to one of your players.

You are going to need help from the parents on your team. You should look for volunteers and assign a Team Mother, a Scorekeeper, Assistant Umpires, an every-official-game Refreshments Organizer, and perhaps a post-season Team Party Organizer. You might also look for someone to help with field maintenance and preparation. And perhaps a Team Photographer, too.

It’s a good idea to have someone responsible for publicity. Their job is to feed information to the Hazen Star about your team’s wins - and the players’ accomplishments, too. A good publicist will write a little summary of each game, and give it to the Star, so the kids see their names in print.

He/she should try to be sure that every kid gets some complimentary mention over the course of the season.

Also, if you should have any female player on your team, you need someone to assure there is an adult female present for the entirety of every practice and game. That’s a Club Rule, and the most likely person to take on that responsibility is a parent of that female player.

You may also need one or two extra dads to help with practice. You can decide about that later as the season unfolds. But it’s a good idea to alert the parents of that possible need.

Finally, for that one or two sets of parents that don’t show up at your meeting, send them a copy of the agenda, and tell them they should contact you for assignments and any questions they may have.

Tell them the team rules, and give them all other essential information.

4.6 Club Rules and Team Rules

You should receive at least three copies of the NSBC Operating Rules for the current season, from your division coordinator. In addition, you may wish to set up some Team Rules for your specific team. These rules might address such things as:

Player conduct (see below). Attendance at practices and games. Only those who arrive on time can be starters

(rewards those who show the most enthusiasm and hustle, and do show up on time).  Strong players who straggle in late should never replace weaker players who show up on time.  Coaches must show loyalty toward their players, and this is one way to do it.  Once you have established this policy, you will have very few late arrivals.

Players keep quiet when coach is teaching. No nagging of coach for specific playing positions - coach will decide. Come to practice or game even when it seems rainy - only coaches and umpires can

decide to cancel or postpone.

4.7 Player Conduct

Hopefully you will not have a conduct problem with any of the players on your team. But if you do, it should be taken care of by the PARENTS of that player, NOT by you. It should be OK for you to speak sternly to any kid who is throwing dirt on some other player, for example. But if any kid is rather consistently causing some kind of trouble or disrupting your games or practices, you should contact his parents as soon as possible. Also let your division coordinator know, so if there is any recurrence, he knows the full history. As a last resort, kids that refuse to behave in a reasonable manner can be removed from your team and the Club, but that is a decision that only the full NSBC Board of Directors is authorized to make.

4.8 The Spirit of NSBC

The Spirit of NSBC is a big part of the success we expect to attain as a baseball club. It means: 

We honor the game. We appreciate the positive effect that baseball can have on young kids.

As coaches, we do our best to communicate our positive attitude to our players, parents and all others associated with our team.

We understand that positive commentary and cheering is constructive, but negative commentary about any other person or team is destructive to what we are trying to accomplish. So we stress the positives, and let others know we disapprove of the negatives.

We honor the game. We make sure ALL our kids are having a good time, especially the youngest, smallest or least-capable players. We make sure to spread the playing time around so no player ever starts feeling left out.

We understand that the baseball experience can have lasting value when coached in a balanced manner. So we don’t put excessive emphasis on winning every game.

4.9 Sponsor Appreciation

The businesses in Hazen support NSBC, and we appreciate their contributions to youth baseball.

Your team has probably been assigned to one specific sponsor, so try to show your team’s appreciation. Your team will have extra funds for equipment just because of that sponsor. Go and see the boss, and give him/her a copy of your game schedule. Invite them to come to your team’s opening day, and throw out your team’s first pitch. Invite them to Picture Day so they can be photographed with your team. Make sure they get a framed copy of the team picture (NSBC should provide the frames, one way or the other). Many businesses will want to hang that picture at their main office or somewhere else the public can see it. It’s good for community spirit, and for NSBC’s future. Also, if you have a team barbecue, picnic or party, be sure to invite your sponsor.

4.10 Group Practices

In years when we hold them, most players are required to attend the annual Group Practices. The reason for these sessions is so that we can evaluate the players and get them into the right division for each one.  And so we can balance the teams in each division as well as possible. The procedure for each kid is just three or four simple drills, with no pressure of any kind. They do a lot of it together, so no kid feels like all eyes are on him. We just want to see them in a relaxed environment, and hopefully spot the ones that are developing more quickly than average, and the ones that need more experience at a lower level so they don’t become discouraged. Team balance helps enthusiasm, and enthusiasm will bring the kids back out, year after year.

4.11 Coach’s Meeting

Very soon after you are officially appointed a NSBC manager or coach, you will be invited to the annual Coach’s Meeting. This is a get-together for the specific purpose of all coaches meeting one another, and to go over all administrative issues we need to deal with each year. Figure it will take an hour or two of your time one evening. You may also receive your team’s equipment at this meeting, and perhaps some first-aid training.

4.12 Coach’s Clinic

Each year NSBC holds a Coach’s Clinic, an opportunity to learn new coaching skills, as well as what and how to teach your players. It’s an extension of what you will find in Section 5 of this manual. Usually the clinic will start out in a classroom, and then move to a baseball diamond for demonstrations, so it’s usually held on a Saturday or Sunday. New and different material is presented every year. This is an opportunity you won’t want to miss. And if you didn’t get your team’s equipment yet, you may be able to pick it up at the clinic.

4.13 Equipment Responsibility

Every sports club has a problem keeping track of its equipment. NSBC has its own method. As a team manager your part in our method is to pick up your equipment bag at the designated time and place, keep track of the gear during the season, then return the bag at the end of the season. The bag will contain bats, balls, catcher’s gear, throw-down bases, a home plate, batting helmets, etc. You will be asked to sign for all of it (you are not held responsible for the balls you get). Normally you will pick up your bag at the annual Coach’s Meeting. You return it to a designated place at the end of the season.

4.14 Player’s Clinic

NSBC holds a Player’s Clinic each year, to teach specific skills. The content of the Clinic will vary from year to year, but every year there will be some emphasis on pitching and catching skills for the Minor and Major divisions.

4.15 Scorekeeper’s Clinic

Each team at every game should have a scorekeeper. The scorebook is a resource for the coach, and an official record for the Club. Scorekeeper should always sit together at each game, and the books should be compared at the end of each half-inning to assure the storybooks are kept in agreement with each other.

A Scorekeeper’s Clinic will be held every season before the official games start, to instruct new scorekeeper on how to get the job done.

4.16 Picture Day

Picture Day usually takes place about midway through the last half of the season. The Club sends a professional photographer to take a group photo of the entire team (with sponsor, if present), plus shots of the individual players. Parents are given a sign-up sheet beforehand, so they can purchase the individual photos of their choice. Coaches will be given the schedule for their team’s photos at least two weeks before the event; it may consume some of your team’s official practice time.

4.17 Player Awards

 

4.18 Glove Break-in

Note that Appendix K contains a procedure for breaking in a new glove.

 

4.19 Player Evaluations

You may be given a (confidential) form for evaluating your individual players at the end of the season. Please treat this form with care, fill it in, and return it to the address requested. We need the information to help balance next year’s teams. Only the necessary and designated Club officials will have access to this information.

4.20 Post-Game Refreshments

Kids being kids, they all like a treat after a hot time on the old ball diamond. Your team’s Refreshments Organizer can arrange to have a different parent bring a post-game refreshment for the players after each game. Juice boxes, cookies, popsicles, etc., are the usual things. After an exceptionally stirring win, you might think about taking the whole gang down to Sizzling Sundaes or Frosty’s for an ice-cream cone, if it’s a warm day and the parents like the idea.

4.21 Team Barbecue or Picnic

If your team’s parents and players have enjoyed each other’s company, a picnic or barbecue can be a great event. A parent-player game might even be part of the fun. You can have the event on an off-day, or maybe right after one of your games. These things enhance the concept of The Team, and so can even improve your kids’ chances in future games.

Coaching Manual5.0 Teaching Baseball Skills

In this manual we will cover several fundamental skills that should be taught to young baseball players to bring out the best in the aptitudes they were born with. We will start with the three fundamental skills of throwing, hitting and fielding. Then later we will turn to the more specialized skills of pitching, catching, and playing each of the other specific positions on the field.

This manual can’t cover everything there is to know in each skill area; that would take a book much bigger than this one (and a much smarter author!). But we’ll try to cover the most fundamental elements of each essential skill, to get you off to a running start.

To simplify explanation, almost everything here will be in terms that seem to indicate all players are right-handed. For lefties (which are just as valuable, and sometimes even more so), just reverse the “handedness” of each explanation.

There has been a lot written and published about baseball over the last twenty years. You can find many good books at retail outlets like Barnes and Noble, and at Amazon.com. You can also find a lot of good material on the internet. Some of what you read in one place will differ from what you see in another place, so you will have to decide what makes the most sense to you. Check out the Good Books and Videos section at the end of this manual to get off to a quick start on your reading.

There is no one magic system that works best for everybody. There are as many good ways to teach baseball as there are variations in kids, and that is a LOT. So look for what seems to be working best for your own players, and stick to that. You’ll probably find it varies a bit from year to year.

The ideas that follow below are just one coach’s take on how and what to teach. I may or may not have it all right. As you get more experience you will develop your own ideas and opinions.

The material at the beginning of this Teaching section is primarily aimed at beginning players, players that have not been taught much before. So it will seem that we are talking about very young players a lot of the time (except for the sections on pitching, catching and other specialized skills).

But for older beginners, the same things will apply. For players who already know the most fundamental elements of each skill, just concentrate on the more advanced material (but make sure their fundamentals really are right).

Finally, one last thought before we get into the specifics that follow: When things seem to be going backward for your team or your players, never hesitate to return to the real fundamentals. Like football is made up of blocking and tackling, so baseball is all about throwing, hitting, pitching and fielding. When a player (or the whole team) seems to have gotten off track, figure out which basic skill is most in need of improvement, and go right back to the fundamentals of that skill for a refresher course. That process works - time spent on the fundamentals always pays off big-time.

Your 12-year-olds may think you’ve lost your mind when you tell them they need an hour of “refresher instruction” hitting off a tee to recover their batting strokes, but they’ll think otherwise when they hit twice as well in the next game. It really is all about fundamentals, fundamentals, and more fundamentals.

5.1 Teaching How to ThrowGood throwing is the most important skill for a young player to develop as early as possible.  Hitting is more fun, but good throwing form is more important. The main reason begins with the fact that so many throws will be made in a player’s first season that he will definitely begin developing “muscle memory” and habit patterns around his own natural throwing tendencies, and some of those natural tendencies might not be good ones. Bad habits will have to be rectified later, and straightening out bad throwing form is very frustrating, difficult and time consuming, usually much more so than bad fielding form or even bad hitting form.

So, it pays off later if a player learns how to throw a ball well very early in his development. Then he can spend his time learning the other skills, never having to waste time re-learning the principles of good throwing.

As with hitting, the single best way to throw a baseball can be broken down into a series of elements. Start with a very fundamental throwing stance. Feet spaced a comfortable distance apart, with the toes of neither foot out in front. Shoulders square to the coach, who stands similarly, about 10 to 20 feet away. The young player can “point” to his target with his gloved hand, if that feels right to him. If not, he can delay that element for later.

5.1.1 Throw Overhand

The throw will be overhand, always overhand. Never practice anything else in the beginning.  Never even plant the idea that sidearm throwing, for example, might be OK. There are other ways to throw that come in handy from time to time (especially when time is limited on a play), but right now we are concentrating on fundamentals.

Now the player brings his throwing hand back to cock his arm for the throw. Ideally, the elbow should be at about shoulder height, pointing in the general direction of the target. The forearm is

at an acute angle with the upper arm. At the same time the arm is cocked, the thrower steps a short distance straight toward the target with the left foot, then brings the right arm straight forward to throw. The pointing with the left arm and glove can be combined with the step forward. As the ball is thrown, the shoulders rotate so that the right shoulder ends up closer to the target than the left.

And as the ball is thrown, the left (pointing) hand is pulled into the body (toward the left armpit), offsetting the forward momentum of the right arm.  That improves balance and increases angular velocity so the ball comes out of his right hand at higher speed.

To a great extent, the ball is thrown across the body. The entire torso and arm movement is sometimes described as a swimming motion. The young player will find his own release point, and correct it for accuracy over the many, many repetitions he will need to get the proper form cemented in his mind and muscles. Note that during the actual throw, there is no right-arm movement except forward, and the hand and wrist stay in the same plane with the forearm. No wrist action except forward, especially no wrist turning. With this form, the ball tends not to go left or right, and the player only has to concentrate on finding the right release point for hitting his target.

5.1.2 Arm Motion

There is one slight complication here. The straight-fastball throw for a pitcher (and sometimes an outfielder), and the straight throw for infield positions often differ just a bit. For the pitcher and outfielder, the forearm moves in a more near-vertical plane until the ball is released. It takes more time, but gets the last little bit of oomph into the throw. For a catcher or infielder, who has less time to get the throw off, it is better that the forearm forms a more acute angle with the upper arm, so the hand starts more “behind the ear”. That allows quicker throwing.

The cocking of the arm is sometimes described as “feeding an apple to the giant”. The player imagines there is a giant (maybe the coach) standing behind him, slightly bent over toward him and facing the same direction. The player’s job is to feed an apple to that giant without turning around.

To accomplish this, he will have to bring his arm and hand into just the right position for throwing a baseball. The wrist will be cocked, that is, it will be bent back, palm up, at perhaps a 120-degree angle with respect to the forearm. The ball is out on the fingers, not in on the palm. The throw is then completed by simply moving the arm forward, and “snapping” the wrist forward also. The arm should follow through after the ball is released, with the throwing hand ending up more-or-less at the opposite thigh.

(A slightly more advanced element is for the thrower to arch his back as he cocks his arm. He does this by thrusting his hips and chest a bit forward. This stores energy in his spine, legs and back muscles; that energy will then be released when he brings his arm forward, helping to drive the ball rapidly toward the target.)

There is an important principle involved in all this, and it applies to hitting and other baseball skills as well as throwing. The idea is stay compact in your form. Avoid “gangling” movement that gets  the arms and legs far from the torso. That is why, for example, we pull the left hand back into the armpit area while the throw is being made with the right arm - it improves compactness, and thereby converts stored momentum into quicker, more powerful, movement (in this case with the right arm).

Overhand is the best way to throw for several reasons. First, it makes the most efficient use of the muscles involved in throwing, and so produces the most velocity. Second, properly performed, it results in the most accuracy. Third, it develops strength in the right muscles – the ones that are most important for throwing. Fourth, it entails the least risk to the tendons and ligaments in the joints of the elbow, wrist and shoulder. As stated before, there are other good ways to throw, at the right time and place, but right now we are teaching fundamentals.

You might have concluded by now that this overhand throwing form is very similar to the form that a baseball pitcher employs to throw a good fastball, and that is exactly right. So if your young player wants to later become a pitcher, he will have already learned the most fundamental pitching throw. And all the time between now and then will have been spent developing strength and the right memory in all the right muscles.

So, most fundamentally speaking, that’s it. It now just takes practice and more practice. Slow, short throws at first. For the young kids, use a safety ball, not a regular hardball. The player’s goal on every throw is to throw straight into the coach’s chest. Never mind speed at first, it’s form and accuracy we want to develop. Use whatever speed allows him to hit his target as often as possible.

When he can do that with some consistency, increase the spacing of coach and player. When his form begins to waver, and it will from time to time, remind him about the giant, about staying compact, and about stepping and pointing, and coming straight “over the top” with his throw. It will take time, but if you keep after it, you will develop an accomplished thrower in several week’s time, in just 15 minutes a day. And next year he will be a half-mile ahead of where he would be otherwise.

There is a good alternate drill you can use. Have the player kneel with his throwing-side knee (only) on the ground, that upper right leg vertical, and the left foot flat on the ground a little out in front. Then commence throwing with a similar form as above. The advantage of this drill is that the player will have to do all the throwing with his arm and upper body. His legs cannot help out.

This allows both you and him to concentrate on the form he is using with his right arm, wrist and hand. It can help a lot in the teaching process. Of course, the strength of the throw will be reduced, but we are trying to develop form and accuracy with this drill, not velocity.

5.1.3 Gripping the Ball

A word or two about grip. Unquestionably, the best grip to teach is the “four-seam fastball” grip. If the young player’s hand is still too small to employ this grip, just approximate it as best you can.

The index and middle fingers grip the top of the ball, with the thumb underneath. The ball is out toward the end of the fingers and thumb, not in toward the palm. The two fingertips are right on top of the same seam (which runs sideways with respect to the fingertips); they sort of grip that seam.

The idea is that the last contact the throwing hand will have with the ball should be at those two fingertips. Both fingertips will lose contact with the ball simultaneously. The ball “rolls” off those fingertips, with the top of the ball rotating toward the thrower, the bottom toward the target. This produces the one rotation (spin) of the ball that is ideal for straightness – the ball rotates around an axis that is horizontal and perpendicular to the flight of the ball. The four-seam grip is the one that all young pitchers should use, too. Nearly all other grips help produce “movement” which can be difficult to control, even the “two-seam” grip. No matter what position your young player ends up playing, the four-seam grip will be the most important one for him to employ whenever the play allows him time to have a choice (which is most of the time).

A good way to practice this grip is to toss the ball repeatedly into the glove, or opposite hand, and then reach for the ball without looking, obtaining the proper grip as quickly as possible. The goal is to “feel” the correct fingering of the seams.

Finally, don’t worry if your young player doesn’t seem to get all this down exactly right in his first year. If you put in the time and the teaching this season, you will know you did the right thing when you see him start throwing early next year and see how much better he looks and throws compared with the previous year. And he will know, too.

5.2 Teaching HittingHitting a round, fast-moving baseball (or softball) with a round bat is not easy. Even the professional players will tell you that, and do. And even the professionals seldom get more than one hit out of every three trips to the plate.

If you watch professional baseball on TV, you will see many different batting stances, many different-looking strokes, many different approaches to this difficult skill. It almost seems as if the best hitters are those that simply have a gift from God, each one a little different maybe, but each one successful simply because he has followed his own natural tendencies.

Well, that is not true at all. Baseball has been played, studied and analyzed for a long time now, and the best coaches and players are pretty much agreed. There really is an optimum way to hit a baseball. True, there are many successful variations on that optimum approach, and some improvements will probably keep coming along from time to time. But, one way or the other,

they almost always incorporate the same elements -- the elements that maximize success.  Young players need to be taught what those elements are; they will not even come close to achieving their full potential just by doing what seems natural to them.

Every professional player will tell you about the coaches that made a big difference in their careers, the coaches that taught them their skills. Babe Ruth was a case in point, and he was unquestionably the greatest all-round baseball player the game has ever seen. Because his parents owned a bar, they didn’t want him hanging around the family business after school. So they sent him off to live (and play baseball) at a nearby Catholic boy’s home (an “industrial school”) in Baltimore. It was there as a kid that the Babe said he learned his batting stroke, from a clergyman and teacher named Brother Matthias. If you watch films of Babe Ruth, you will see his batting technique was made of the same elements that are still being taught today. (Where do you suppose Brother Matthias learned it all?)

The essential elements of hitting comprise a fairly long list, and everything on the list is important.  You can’t teach it all at one time. It literally takes several years for a young player to come to an understanding of all the elements, and get them fit properly together. I believe the best approach is to start your players as young as possible, and begin showing them some of the elements from the very beginning. But only some of them. This approach has worked very well for me.

There are two big reasons you want to start teaching your young players as early as possible. First, at age 5, 6 and 7 they have great enthusiasm and desire to succeed. Especially in hitting, because that skill is the one that’s the most fun. If you help them with early success as hitters, they will develop a positive self-image, and that can make all the difference. Second, you don’t want them to form bad habits and “muscle memory” that is just plain wrong. Bad habits can be very difficult to rectify later.

It is a real challenge for kids that start late to ever catch up with the ones that got started when very young, assuming the early starters got decent coaching.

5.2.1 Foot Positioning

On to the elements. For the youngest players, from the very first day, you can teach them how to position their feet at the plate. That one element is absolutely crucial. If a batter does not stand properly with respect to the strike zone, pitchers will see that, and he ruins his chances of hitting his way on base. Proper positioning should become an automatic habit very early in the process. But for young players it requires constant reminders. Most kids just don’t get the importance of foot positioning for quite a long time - often their entire first season. But the essence of coaching and teaching is repetition, so here’s a chance to practice your technique.

I’m not going to go through a full description of exactly where a typical batter’s feet should be. In all likelihood, you already know something about it anyway. Suffice it to say that the “sweet spot” on the hitter’s bat must be able to reach all parts of the strike zone. And to start with, he should not be all the way either up (toward the pitcher) or back (toward the catcher) in the batter’s box. A good compromise is to have him line his belt buckle up with the back corner of

the plate (not the sharp tip where the baselines converge).  In the batter’s box, he should stand just a bit pigeon-toed.

You can take it from there, and we’ll cover more detail about it in the coach’s clinics.

5.2.2 Gripping the Bat

Young players can also learn how to grip the bat. Not the very best grip; that will come later because it is a bit “unnatural”. But an acceptable grip for very young players. Left hand about a half-inch above the knob of the bat, and right hand up against the left. I used to tell the youngest players to keep their hands touching, because that is what I meant. But lately it has occurred to me they seem to understand better if I tell them to keep their hands “mooshed” up against each other.

In all skill-teaching, use the language that seems to work best for your kids. Watch them to make sure they don’t forget and start spreading their hands; it’s a very common problem. Also, note that the back of the left hand should not be facing the “opposite side” (first base for a right-handed batter); it should be turned more toward the pitcher. Also don’t let them grip the bat so that it is buried in the back of their hands - we want a looser grip on the bat, with the bat handle about centered at the base of the fingers, not back in the palm. More about these last two points at the clinics.

5.2.3 Positioning the Hands and Bat

Next, show them where to position their hands (in respect to their body). The young hitter’s hands should be held back (not in front of his chest), so the entire swing is simplified. There need be little or no backward movement of the bat as the pitch approaches; the whole hitting stroke is forward.  Later, maybe even next year for one or two, they will learn the “inward turn” or “cocking the bat”, but that is a more advanced element that’s way too much for the youngest players to pick up on.

Vertically, the hands are best held near the top of the strike zone. Batters can then be trained to avoid swinging at any pitch above their hands.

The bat should be held up and back at about a 45-degree angle, with the upper hand (right hand) at just about shoulder height. Don’t be concerned with keeping the right elbow up. That technique has become popular lately for some reason, but many good coaches and professional players discount it. It might work for some players, but does has definite disadvantages. First, it tends to cause the bat to be jammed into the web between thumb and index finger of the right hand, and that hurts power and bat control. Second, the elbow will later have to be dropped anyway, so the bat can be swung properly. And it lengthens the swing, which is bad. I think the best approach might be to let players keep the elbow up if it comes naturally to them that way, but don’t force other players into worrying about that elbow -- let them hold it for now wherever it feels most natural for them (though not WAY down against the ribs), and where it gets the best results for that player.

The shoulders are more important. For most beginners, it is best to teach them to stand at the plate with their shoulders level. But if you have a player who just naturally likes to have his front shoulder dipped a bit compared to the back shoulder, that will probably be OK for him. Just don’t force other players into that same mold. But don’t let any batter develop the habit of having his back shoulder below his front shoulder. That will encourage him to swing too radically up on every pitch, like he’s trying to drive the ball over the Green Monster at Fenway. That will make it more difficult for him to make solid contact with the ball. Ideally, we do often want a slight upward swing, because the pitched ball just naturally sinks as it approaches the plate (and the pitcher is throwing downhill), but we don’t want that upwardness to become very pronounced. In fact, you will find coaches constantly yelling to their players “swing level, swing level”, and that is to de-emphasize the upward swing when the coach spots it. The idea is that you want the path of the bat’s tip to be as parallel as possible to the flight of the pitched ball at the point of contact. That maximizes the chance of getting a solid line-drive hit, and that line-drive is what we are looking for now.

5.2.4 Weight Shift and Head Movement

Then you can show them how to shift their weight onto their back foot as the pitcher goes through his motion, and then take a very short stride forward with the front foot just before starting their actual swing. This shift-and-stride weight shift (back, then forward) sounds pretty complicated for young kids, but in my experience nearly all of them learn it very quickly from a simple demonstration. Once they try it, it somehow seems entirely natural to most of them. Remember that the stride should be quite short and directly toward the pitcher, with no movement of that front foot in any other direction but toward the pitcher. The right time for the stride is when the pitcher is releasing the pitch.

In hitting it is important to minimize head movement. Moving the head makes it more difficult for the eyes to track the flight of the pitch and direct the bat toward the ball. So the front-foot stride should be quite short, to avoid pulling the entire head down. (Later I will point out that the head must rotate slightly to track the pitch to the bat, but that is not meant to contradict the idea of minimizing head movement.) The head should not be tilted to either side; keep it upright, with the eyes level. It can be good, however, to have the head tipped down just slightly (i.e., with chin tucked a slight bit), so the sight-line is not horizontal, but directed a bit downward.

5.2.5 A Critical Point

Finally, note this important point: No matter where the hands started in the initial stationary batting stance, the CRITICAL THING is where they are as the front-foot stride comes down. At that critical moment, you want the hands at about shoulder height, and a bit behind the back foot. Watch for that, and work on corrections if it is not happening. It is VERY important.

Have your young batters take lots of practice swings until it all begins to smooth out. They will enjoy that, and you can watch them and offer suggestions to correct the defects in hand positioning, hand movement, weight shift and stride, and the actual swing of the bat.

Get them to relax, with their muscles loose, not tensed up. They can even be using a little constant rhythmic or orbital motion with their arms and upper body if it helps them stay loose as the pitcher makes his delivery.

I believe that completes the list of elements for first-year hitters. There are more elements to add in later years. Things like optimum grip, the pigeon-toed and knock-kneed stance, the inward turn, hip rotation, variations for expected pitch, etc, etc. And bunting, of course. But they are all too much for young players, and trying to teach them all early-on would simply overload them.

5.2.6 Keep a Goal in Mind

When a player is hitting off a batting-tee, or hitting a pitched ball, constantly remind them of their goal. The goal is to hit the ball into LEFT field. Young players have a great tendency to swing late and hit the ball toward second base. But that makes them an easy out over at first. Explain to them how important it is to hit line drives to the left. It is amazing how fast kids respond to challenges like that. If they are just told what works best, they really try to do it, and soon start to succeed. It helps a lot to make them goal oriented. A line drive over the shortstop or third-baseman’s head into left field is a beautiful thing to see, and it raises the confidence of a young hitter immensely.

5.2.7 Left-Handed Hitters

At this young age, left-handed batters are a challenge. To develop their swing, they must be taught how to hit the ball to the right side of the diamond. That makes them vulnerable to the problem I just explained - the short throw from second to first for the out. So lefties, even more than righties, need to develop some strength and power as quickly as possible, so they can drive the ball into the outfield. Later in their careers, when they are older and stronger, being a left-handed batter can have some distinct advantages (consider how a left-hander starts out closer to first base, for example), but early-on it’s usually a challenge. Some young lefties, like righties, will have a tendency to hit the ball to the opposite field (left field in this case), and so you might be tempted to let them keep this tendency in the interest of seeing them get safely to first base. But this ignores the development of their needed skill for pulling the ball strongly to right field. There is a balance in there somewhere, and you will have to find it for each naturally left-handed batter. Note that the most successful (older) left-handed hitters are power hitters, not singles (”scratch”) hitters. A wonderful solution for some lefties is to make them into switch-hitters, but unless the particular kid is naturally quite athletic, that may not be a smart path to take when they are still trying to learn the fundamentals from their most natural side.

5.2.8 Practice and More Practice

What every player needs now is proper repetition, repetition and more repetition. There is no substitute for that, and that is why they cannot become skilled baseball players at NSBC’s “official” practices. Young players MUST practice at home, and that is best done (by far) with an interested adult coach who can show them how to adhere to the best techniques. Best of all is Dad or Mom.

Start with a 9” safety ball, not a regular hardball. And get them used to wearing a helmet whenever they are going to bat. Nasty injuries kill enthusiasm, and you don’t want that to happen to any player. Some kids will want batting gloves, and if the family budget permits it, using them is OK.  But in my experience, for the youngest kids they are more of a psychological crutch than a necessity. (But when using a wood bat, they can be a real help; see Appendix K.)

It’s important that practices always have a big element of fun. That means that there must be variety in what the players are doing, and little standing around waiting, or listening to lectures.  Start your players hitting off a batting tee. The big attraction here is that all elements of the swing can be practiced, and the ball hit, without having to track a pitched ball. The kids have fun whacking the ball, and the coach can make sure their entire technique is correct, including all the elements described above. Also, the hitters can be trained to keep their eye on the ball, and can be taught about the “sweet spot” on the bat (mark it with tape). Most will often be hitting the tee itself rather than the ball, from time to time. This defect points up how they must develop their hand/eye coordination. When they can consistently hit the ball off a tee, you know their eyes and hands are working together pretty well.

5.2.9 Using a Batting Tee

Batting tees should always be placed in such a way that the ball is sitting over a point several inches out in front of the hitters body (toward the pitcher). An easy way to accomplish this is to butt one edge of the tee up against the front edge of the real home plate; turn the tee if necessary to get the ball the right distance out in front of home plate. NEVER place the tee directly on top of home plate, as seems to be implied by the construction of commercial batting tees! The reason for all this is that we want our young hitters to eventually develop a habit of hitting the pitched ball before it ever gets to home plate. We want them to learn an aggressive attitude toward the pitch - search and attack before it ever gets close to them.

Tee work often has to be repeated frequently. But hitting a pitched ball is not as difficult for many young players as you might expect. Typically, they will be eager to try it. So as soon as you see the slightest indication they might be successful, give it a try. Don’t abandon the tee altogether; keep going back to it to smooth out their stroke, and work on the fundamentals. But let them have a go at pitched balls as well. It raises enthusiasm, and the more of that you have, the faster your kids will learn.

5.2.10 Practice Pitches

When pitching to young players, do your best to throw them flat pitches, rather than looping ones.  Flat pitches are easier to hit, and how many looping pitches do you think they will ever see in real baseball games? Stand as close as necessary, and don’t be afraid to try a little more velocity than you might think appropriate at first. These young tigers are often able to hit faster pitches than might be expected, and they like the challenge. But the main rule, at least in the beginning, is to throw at whatever speed and arc helps the particular hitter be successful in connecting with the pitch and building his confidence. Confidence and enthusiasm are key.

A variation on the pitched ball is to use golf-ball size wiffle balls. You can buy these for as little as 2 dollars per dozen at golf shops or sporting-goods stores. The advantage here is that the balls are small, so later the regular 9” ball will look like a fat watermelon. The hitter’s eyes get sharpened.  And wiffle balls almost never do any damage, no matter how hard they are hit. You can even use them indoors, or in the garage when the weather is bad. They’re also available in the 9” size, but cost more. There are probably some good prices available on the internet, but you’ll have to check current prices. You can hit 9” wiffles off the tee, too, even in the garage.

There is also a fairly new training device that has become available that’s pretty reasonably priced, and really works in developing hand/eye coordination. It’s called the Hit-Away device, and costs about 20 dollars. You strap it to a tree or pole, and a young player can operate it entirely by himself (although you should be there in the beginning to get him off to a good start). It’s a great aid in helping him learn to hit the ball on the nose, and two or more kids will quickly think of ways to turn it into a competitive game, and so hold their interest for a period of time. Even 10 minutes a day with Hit-Away can be of enormous help. For the price, it’s first-rate.

A variation on Hit-Away play is for the hitter to hold the bat with just one hand -- pushing the bat through with the right hand only, or pulling it through with the left hand only. This can help teach what the job of each individual hand is when hitting the ball. It’s best done when you are there, so you can correct any defects in hand use. But when they are really serious about hitting the ball well, they should use the regular two-hand grip, of course.

5.2.11 Tracking the Ball

A common problem that many players have is that they don’t keep their eye on the pitched ball as it approaches the plate. They keep their eyes directed out toward the pitcher while the pitched ball passes through the strike zone; they don’t turn their head to follow the ball. You want to train them to watch the ball all the way to the point in space where the bat smacks it. That means that at the point of impact, the head and eyes are pointed somewhat down, looking right at the event of bat-meets-ball. Players that develop that habit are the ones that turn into the best hitters. No surprise there, right? If the batter does not watch the ball all the way to the bat, he may as well be closing his eyes when the pitch is half-way to the plate, and that would certainly not produce good hitting. Vision is critically important in hitting.

A good teaching technique for keeping the eye on the ball is to station a batter at the plate, and have him track the pitched ball with his head and eyes all the way into the catcher’s mitt, without taking a swing. If you do this a few times each practice session, it often helps young hitters develop good technique for tracking the pitched ball all the way to the bat. It also helps them to learn a good feeling for where the strike zone is, if an umpire is calling those practice pitches, balls or strikes.

When coaching young players, use praise lavishly. Good batting is tough to learn really well, so coaching technique is really important. When you compliment a player for doing something well, no matter how small, they have a tendency to remember what earned that praise, and repeat it again and again. Criticism and negative comments, on the other hand, kill enthusiasm, and enthusiasm is the mother of accomplishment. So no matter how poorly a player executes a drill

at first, look for the part they are doing well, and compliment them for it. That compliment will help cement that well-done part, so you can then leave that behind (at least for awhile) and concentrate more on what they are not yet getting right. Praise leads to smiles, smiles to enthusiasm, enthusiasm to real skill.

5.2.12 The “Natural”

One last thing. Not all young kids should strictly follow the hitting formula described above. From time to time we get lucky and encounter a kid who somehow just naturally knows how to swing a bat effectively, with no help from the coach at all. It’s God-given; that kid is a “Natural”. Such kids are very rare, but they do exist. They just seem to know from the very beginning how to hit a baseball, even if it’s not quite the way you are teaching. When you recognize you have such a kid on your team, be careful. Don’t force him to do anything much different than he wants, unless and until you are sure you won’t confuse him and ruin his effectiveness with that bat. Later in his development his coaches might show him an even better way to do some things, but for now, if he’s hitting the ball effectively, you don’t want to force anything like a big change upon him.

The Natural is just an extreme case of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. Work only on the aspects of hitting that need attention. The Natural has nearly everything working so well that he’s getting a lot of good hits. So for him we initially leave almost everything alone.

In 16 years of coaching, I’ve had a grand total of exactly one true Natural. What I was able to help that player with was not the mechanics, but the mental part of batting. Especially learning to be a smart hitter, waiting for the right pitch, how to out-fox the pitcher.

5.2.13 Hitting 102

So far, what has been described is “linear” hitting, where the hitter’s body moves along a straight line toward the pitcher. It can be described as a technique for delivering momentum to the ball through the process of shifting the hitter’s weight straight forward, into the pitch. After young players have two or three seasons of fundamental linear hitting behind them, many are ready to learn how to add a great deal more power to their stroke - through an additional process of “rotational” momentum. Some players maybe even sooner. The new rotational movement I am going to describe can double or triple the hitting power of most batters.

The most important new element that rotational hitting brings in is what some people call “hip rotation”, though it really involves rotation of nearly the entire body. Until they are taught this new addition, what almost all players do is turn their shoulders into the pitch as they swing the bat, dragging their hips along behind. The result is that they usually have trouble getting the bat to an optimum angle with the flight of the pitched ball. So, too often they hit the ball to the right side of the diamond (or at best, up the middle). The much better technique is to bring the hips around before the shoulders, so the hips help pull the shoulders, instead of the other way around. What this results in is a much more optimum angle of the bat to the flight of the pitch, and more balls hit with the most power, and to the left side of the diamond. Result - much more success as

a hitter. The batting average goes up, and balls are hit with more authority, into places where they are harder to defend against.

Adding in hip rotation, then, means the sequence of events for the hitter changes to something like this: weight shifts onto the back foot, then as the pitch is released by the pitcher a small stride forward with the front foot on every pitch, just as before. Then, if the pitch is judged a candidate for hitting, the hips start coming around (or “opening up” as you will commonly hear it described).

Then the shoulders start turning, and the hands start coming forward (but the bat does not yet start to come out over the plate), then finally when the pitch is judged to be something the hitter wants to commit a swing to, the wrists bring the bat around. At the point of impact, the hips are very nearly square to the pitcher, and the shoulders not far behind. The final decision on whether or not to swing is delayed until just as the shoulders are getting committed. This technique brings the bat to a point where it is nearest to a 90-degree angle with the pitch (or even a bit beyond that), and the bat velocity maximizes just at the point of impact (which delivers the most energy to the ball). The body rotation initiated by the hips is what delivers the additional power into the ball as it’s hit.

The hips are brought around using a technique often called “squashing the bug”. This technique, and all the other parts of rotational hitting, will be demonstrated at the coach’s clinics.

The batter’s mental attitude is that he is on an aggressive seek-and-attack mission against that pitched ball. He is not even letting the pitch get to the plate. He is going out to attack the ball before it can get in close to him. This mental picture of seeking the ball, and getting to it before it gets in close, is very important. Good hitters are very proactive.

How to teach this?  Use a tee, even with older players, and practice the sequence described above with practice strokes off that tee until it becomes ingrained into the player’s muscle memory.

Because this hip rotation business has been delayed until now, we are forcing the player to sort of “unlearn” his previous stroke, and adopt this new more effective one. That will take some time, so don’t expect this to take hold immediately when you first show it to your hitters. But when they start getting it down, you will see some eye-popping hits start coming off their bats, really dramatic improvement in your team’s ability to hit the ball. Babe Ruth learned it when he was 8 or 9, from Brother Matthias. Hopefully, your players will learn it from you.

The second improvement you can teach at this point is “proper” grip. Up until now, we have been letting the players grip the bat in whatever manner feels most comfortable for them, only checking to make sure they keep their hands up against each other. For most hitters that will mean they line up the first knuckles on each hand with the second knuckles on the other.

But since bat speed is so critically important in hitting, what if there was a better grip that automatically improves that bat speed? Well, there is such a grip. It only requires hitters to rotate their knuckles so the middle knuckles of the top hand are about midway between the first and second knuckles of the bottom hand. It will feel a little unnatural for many players at first, but

when they get used to it, they will find more and better hits coming off their bats, and they’ll be hooked.

In the beginning, good knuckle alignment feels a little weird for many hitters, but it produces better bat speed, and real results.  Miguel Tejada, who is now a member of the Baltimore Orioles, is a particularly good example of a major-leaguer your kids can watch for good hitting techniques. Like so many other big-leaguers, he pays a lot of attention to his grip on the bat. If you watch him, you can see it.

5.2.14 Hitting 103

For the most advanced young hitters we might add one or two more wholly-optional elements: the inward turn, and the knock-kneed, pigeon-toed stance.

The inward turn is just a little motion that cocks the bat (storing up a little extra energy) just as the pitcher’s arm comes around. Just before he starts his front-foot stride, the batter rotates his front shoulder just a bit in toward the plate and away from the pitcher. And he may lift his front foot and cock his front knee (and hip) by pulling it back a little. Then he goes into the forward stride with his front foot. It’s that simple. Some batters may like it, others not. You will have to experiment.

The knock-kneed, pigeon-toed stance is an optional answer to the problem of “balance” in the batting stance. What balance refers to is the stability of a hitter as he stands in the box. If you walk up behind a lot of hitters and give them a little shove from behind (toward the plate), they will topple right over. That instability does not help to get good hits. Turning the knees and toes toward each other a bit improves this situation for some hitters. An obvious example to watch for this kind of batting stance is Moises Alou, who will be playing the 2005 season for the San Francisco giants.  Check him out on TV if you are interested.

Finally, a carefully-guarded secret about bats. Your reward for reading along this far. The best, most effective swing is short and compact. Wood bats encourage that sort of swing, because hitters quickly learn (through simple experience) that the “sweet spot” on a wood bat is relatively small, about half as long as on an aluminum bat. The aluminum bat has a bigger sweet spot, and so encourages longer, less compact swings (which is not good). Consequently, you’re smart to practice with wood bats, and then play your games with aluminum bats. Hitters that have developed the short, compact swing as youngsters will have a much better chance of “making the team” when they get into the older, more advanced levels of play. Experienced coaches are looking for that compact swing - and they can spot it from a mile away.

A compact swing is one where the arms, hands and bat are kept in close to the body until the very last possible instant. This aids the build-up of rotational momentum. Then, when the hitter decides he really does want to swing at that pitch, his wrists bring the bat out over the plate to hit the ball.  Full arm extension does not happen until the time of impact, or even an instant later.

You may have young players that complain about the wooden bat stinging their hands. It’s caused by the vibration set up when the bat strikes the ball. There’s not a lot you can do about it,

except suggest your kids wear batting gloves (and make sure the wood bats are not cracked or broken).

5.3 The BuntBunting is an essential part of baseball, a wonderfully effective weapon for the team that knows how to do it well. Here I will talk only about a very basic bunting technique, but extensions from there should be pretty obvious. The basic technique can be used for sacrifice bunts, surprise bunts and slap hits. Even quicker techniques can be added later.

Basic bunting takes much longer to explain than to execute. The batter takes the same stance in the batter’s box as though he were up there to bang out a long line drive.  But as the pitcher’s arm comes around, rather than striding forward a bit with his front foot as he normally does, the batter moves up in the box. His left foot ends up about parallel to the third-place line, a comfortable distance from his right foot, which is very near the inside line of the batter’s box and just in front of the plate. His shoulders are about square to the pitcher. He bends his knees so that he assumes a partial crouch, and faces the pitcher as the ball approaches. (He is up in the box so that when he gets the bunt down, it goes down in fair territory.)

He slides his top hand up to the end of the bat’s grip wrapping, and maintains a loose grip so he can direct the bunted ball in the desired direction. The left hand does not shift. He holds the bat out in front of him (toward the pitcher), with his arms extended (but the elbows not locked). He lowers his body and leans out over the flight line of the pitch until his line of sight is almost lined up parallel with it. He holds the bat so it appears to him to be at a 45-degree angle (tipped toward first base), and also tips the bat’s head a little toward the pitcher. He then simply places the bat in such a position that the “sweet spot” will intercept the ball. When the ball strikes the bat, the bunter deadens the blow by letting his arms absorb the shock, so the ball rebounds only a little off the bat.

5.3.1 The Vision Line

Note a few things about this technique: The batter gets his line of vision lined up with the flight of the pitch, so that there is little change in his vision angle as the ball approaches the plate. This maximizes the chance that he will get the bat into the right place to intercept the ball as he wants. 

5.3.2 Gripping the Bat

The batter does not try to “pinch the bat” or hide his upper hand behind the bat in an effort to avoid its getting hit by the pitch. By keeping his eyes open, he will protect his hand and fingers by putting the fat part of the bat in front of the ball, not his hand. Even if the worst happens, and he loses control of the situation, all he has to do to avoid being hit is to drop the bat, or pull it back. But that is very seldom necessary, and by keeping a secure (but loose) grip on the bat, the bunter is able to control where his bunt goes (usually down one of the base lines), maximizing the effect of his bunt.

The batter’s grip on the bat is loose so that he can cushion the shock when the ball strikes the bat.  The bat is held at a 45-degree angle (tilted toward first-base) for very good reasons. If held in a vertical position, the batter would find it almost impossible to direct the ball left or right; it would just go wherever it wanted after striking the bat. If held horizontal, the risk is that the batter could pop his bunt up to the catcher or pitcher (you even see big-leaguers make that mistake from time to time). But if the bat is held at 45 degrees, a popped-up bunt will almost always go foul and out of play. And with the bat at 45 degrees, the batter still retains the ability to direct the ball left or right, as he desires, when he puts the bunt down.

5.3.4 Foot Positioning

Note that during all of this, the batter’s feet are still 100% inside the batter’s box. That’s important, because if the batter contacts the ball with a foot outside the batter’s box (or worse, in contact with home plate), he will be called out by the plate umpire, who has an excellent view of what is going on right in front of him.

Before actually offering at the ball, though, the batter will normally want to make sure it’s a buntable strike. If the pitch appears to be out of the strike zone, the batter will usually want to pull the bat back (but not always, since he may have baserunners to think about), to make it clear to the umpire that he did not try to contact the ball. The batter wants that bad pitch called a ball.

5.3.5 The Slap Hit

A slap hit can be made by using the same foot motion and semi-crouch (to pull the infield in), then pulling the bat back at the last instant, sliding the left hand up to the right, and banging the ball past the charging third baseman who is usually unable to react fast enough to knock the ball down. Slap hitting takes more practice, of course, but is a beautiful tactic when executed properly in the right situation.

5.4 Teaching FieldingFor the most young players, I don’t believe in teaching much fielding in their first year of organized baseball. The reason is that fielding is the least fun of the three fundamental skills (hitting, throwing and fielding), and it’s harder for 5-, 6- and 7-year-olds to learn because their attention spans are still pretty short. Besides, they don’t really need to know much about fielding at this age anyway – they have a lot of fun just hitting and throwing. They don’t understand the rules, and no one is keeping score yet anyway. And finally, fielding often involves getting hit by the ball, which can dampen enthusiasm. There will still be plenty of time to learn fielding over the coming seasons, and there is little likelihood of their developing bad fielding habits at this age that would have to be rectified later.

But having said all that, I still want to set down some words about what can be taught at home to get them started thinking about how to field ground balls. There are some very fundamental things that you can explain to them so they learn at least something about how they are supposed to go after grounders. If you plant those seeds in their minds this year, then over the winter they will somehow sprout, so that next year they will get off to a quicker start.

5.4.1 Get in Front of the Ball

The very first and most basic thing the young player should understand is that to field a grounder, he should do his absolute best to get in FRONT OF THE BALL. For youth players (and most others too), attempting to field a ball that is off to the side of their body is destined to fail 90% of the time, or worse. They MUST learn to move to the ball, and get in FRONT of it. You can drill them on this simply by rolling balls to their left and right, and encouraging them to “slide” their feet in the right direction so they get squarely in front of the ball before it gets to them. No cross-over steps yet, just simple sliding to left or right. Start slowly, then increase speed as the skill develops.

Use safety balls, not a regular hardball – players are bound to get hit from time to time, and we don’t want them to develop a fear of the ball, because that kills enthusiasm and the learning process.

5.4.2 Using the Hands and Glove

The second fundamental thing they must learn is that the ball is best fielded with the HANDS, well out in front of the body. Once the player gets in front of the ball, he should try to field it with his glove (primarily) and bare hand, not letting the ball get close to his body, or worse, in between his legs. There are two big reasons. First, if the ball is played well out in front, the player can see the ball into the glove most easily – the angle of his vision to the ball changes the least as the ball approaches. Second, if the ball takes a bad hop, he still has some time to adjust before the ball gets in so close to his body that he’s likely to lose sight of it, and lose control of the situation. In later years he will learn how to make moving backhand and forehand catches of ground balls, and those too are best made out in front. So playing the ball well out in front should be learned early and well. It pays off big later.

Use the “clamshell method” of glove and hand positioning. The glove’s fingertips are touching the ground; the glove face is at about a 60-degree angle (more vertical than horizontal) to the ground.  The throwing hand is just above the glove (with fingers splayed out) to protect against bad hops. As the ball enters the glove, the glove cushions the impact, and the glove and ball are drawn back and up into the stomach while the bare hand covers the ball and seeks a proper grip for throwing. The player then shuffles his feet so he steps toward the target with the left foot, and throws - all in one continuous motion.

5.4.3 The Basic Technique

The best fielding position (except for the head) is something like sitting on the edge of a chair, while reading a newspaper that is on the floor out in front. The feet are spread rather wide. The knees are bent, so the butt is down, with back at a low angle to the ground. But the head is up, so the eyes are peering almost level to the ground. The glove is held comfortably out in front, with the finger tips (only) in contact with the ground.

The last few paragraphs are fundamental. But there’s a bit more to it than that. The main additional thing is that the arms, legs and body are part of good fielding technique also. The old

mantra “knock it down, pick it up, throw ‘em out” comes into play. What this refers to is that a fielder must understand his first responsibility is to keep the ball in front of him (“knock it down”), so that he can get control of it (“pick it up”), and then make the right throw. Grounders are usually skipping and bouncing over the playing surface, so getting control cannot always be done with the glove and hands alone. The arms, legs and body become a backstop for getting control.

Three things cause a ground ball to skip and bounce: the velocity with which it moves, the spin on the ball, and the roughness of the playing surface. A good infielder counters the skipping and bouncing by keeping his glove low (so the ball can’t get underneath), with his bare hand just above it, palm down, with the fingers splayed out so the ball can’t bounce through the glove and into his upper body. He makes his body as wide as possible, so he almost surrounds the ball. His elbows are out, butt down, so if the ball takes a last-second crazy bounce it is most likely to hit some part of his arms, legs or body and stay in front. In a very real sense, he gathers the ball into his body, gets a good bare-hand grip on it, shuffles his feet a bit toward his target, and makes a straight throw.

Note that part about keeping the glove low. That is the most important defense against the bad bounce. The glove protects against the ball that fails to bounce as expected, and instead hugs the ground. (That’s the hazard Billy Buckner forgot to guard against.) The arms and body defend against the bad bounce that goes higher than expected. On hot grounders, good fielders seldom err by keeping their glove (initially at least) lightly in contact with the ground, even when the bounce seems sure to come in a foot high.

They should also be taught that, when picking up a ball that is lying on the surface of the ground, they should push it lightly into the ground while picking it up. That is to help ensure they don’t reach for it, but miss. And to kill any latent spin the ball may still have.

With all this to understand, it’s easy to see why learning good fielding is not easy. And we have not even touched on more advanced techniques required for going after balls that are almost out of reach, how and why to charge the ball, how to play the ball on a “short hop”, etc, etc. Good infielders are developed over a period of years, not weeks. It’s a lot of repetitive work, not suitable for the youngest players. But you can get started.

For the older players, good fielding skills are developed only from practice, practice and more practice. As a coach you will be hitting infield practice a lot; it’s an essential part of almost every practice session. That’s because you will learn sooner or later that it is good defense that wins games more than any other single thing.

More advanced infield techniques like some of those mentioned above will be covered in our coaching and player clinics, but it’s really the basics that you must practice the most. It is the basics that will save games for you by far the most often. The more advanced skills come in handy from time to time, but usually only for the most advanced 12-year-olds. The younger kids should spend 95% of their practice time on the basics: know where you will go with the ball if it is hit to you on the next pitch, then get in front, knock it down, pick it up, throw ‘em out.

If you preach that mantra over and over, you will produce a good defensive team in the 12-and under age groups. Then use the more advanced skills as nothing more than icing on your team’s cake.

Coaching Manual6.0 Running a Practice Session

This section of the manual is not devoted to showing you a lot of drills you can put your players through. There are already plenty of books and videos written and produced that do that. Much is available right here in Hazen, and we’ll be adding more to what we already have. Check the Books and Videos section at the end of this manual, ask around, borrow (and return!) what looks interesting, and pay attention to what seems to be working for other coaches. If you’re just starting out, do your best to learn all you can as quickly as you can. Once you’re underway, you’ll probably discover that will be a lot of fun.

This section is written to get you thinking in the right direction about baseball practices. There is no magic formula that works for every coach. To be honest, it’s only experience that will make you well skilled at running practice sessions. But if you approach the chore realistically, you’ll start figuring out how you want to do it soon enough.

6.1 The General ApproachAs a new baseball coach, there is something you learn pretty quickly. Most kids are a lot more interested in playing games than they are in going to practice. Practice sessions are times for teaching the rudiments of specific skills, for focused exercise of fundamentals, and for rehearsing some game situations. But it is not the time kids find the most interesting, or when they’re most likely to exercise their attention spans the most intensely.   In a real sense, it is not practice that makes perfect, but games. Practices are really just the necessary preparation for the games to follow. And they are your biggest and most difficult challenge as a teaching coach. Your job is to make practice interesting and fun as well as instructive.   All this is true of practice sessions for most sports - it is not unique to baseball. Games are fun; practice sessions too often a lot less so.   So what do you do? Go with the flow. Recognize (maybe with some relief) that the two or three weeks of pre-season practice sessions your team will go through is not where all your teaching will get done. More will get accomplished during the actual games of the regular season. And during the practice sessions between games - because there you can concentrate on the specific things your team did wrong or not so well in the previous game, while the game-time mistakes are still fresh (and interesting) in everyone’s head.   So be prepared to keep right on teaching, right through each game and the next. Practice sessions are just those few essential hours that are mostly focused on specific skill development.

Skills like throwing, hitting, fielding, pitching and the special skills that specific defensive positions require.   Now, with that all said, you still need to have some clue as to how you might run those dreaded practice sessions. Start with a plan for each session. Preparation is your biggest defense against boredom, and your biggest chance to make each practice session something your kids might actually look forward to.   Typically you will have 60 to 90 minutes in each session. Perhaps a little more with 12-year-olds. Know ahead of time what each kid will be doing in each minute of the session. List out the one, two or three things you want to cover in a given session, then make a schedule for which kid will be working on which item on your list during each minute. Not really so hard to do, right?   Then decide on just how you will teach each of the items. Read the books, watch a video or two. Check out some web sites. Attend the coaching clinics. Watch how other coaches do it. Ask for help where you think you can use it. There’s usually someone around who knows a few specifics and is willing to help.   Figure out how many different stations you can divide the kids into. The more adults you have to help out, the more stations you can have, and the busier you can keep the kids. The more busy they are, the less bored they’ll be; there won’t be so much standing around, waiting for action.   When you are teaching your kids something really new (which will be often for the youngest players), you won’t want to split them into more than two groups. But when they are only practicing what they have already learned the fundamentals of before, you can split them into more stations. If you have 12 kids on your team, three or four stations is going to be about a max. More kids, more stations.   So it can pay to have assistants. But make sure all your coaches are teaching from the same page. Confusing the kids with contradictory instruction from several different adults can make a real mess. So rehearse your coaches on what they will teach. As manager of the team it’s your responsibility (and authority) to decide what and how the kids will be taught. Never allow any individual out on your practice field that insists on a different way for any skill. If he really feels strongly that he has a better way, he should take his own team - not yours. We have room in the Club for more than one approach to coaching and teaching, but not two on the same team.   After you plan out a couple of practice sessions, you’ll begin to realize how little time you really have to teach your players. The thought will creep into your mind that most of your kids are going to need a lot more attention than you have available time for. That’s normal, and absolutely true. You can only teach them, show them (and hopefully a parent) how a specific skill is best performed. It is really the repetition and practice at home, and in games of course, that will develop the skill in a particular player. They must practice on their own; those that do will improve their capabilities immensely, others not. So don’t feel like it’s wholly your responsibility to turn each kid on your team into the next Willie Mays.  

In a real sense, your parents are your most important “assistant coaches”. The parent who takes the time to work with his/her son is the one who will eventually find his home occupied by a real baseball player. Parents who prefer to watch TV have no right to expect their kids to develop real skill; only the lucky ones. You get the kids pointed in the right direction, the parents have to continue the journey.   Therefore, don’t agonize over how much progress your kids are showing at the practice sessions. Do what you can to show them how and why, fill your practice sessions with real instruction, and then relax. Enjoy your time with them, and let them enjoy their time on the field with you. Keep the pressure level low, and realize you are really doing all that can reasonably be expected.  

6.2 Tips for Running a Good Practice Session  

Now here are a few specific ideas directed toward your practice-session procedure: ALWAYS be on time yourself for your practices and games. You’ve told your players (and their parents) you expect them on time, so don’t ruin that discipline by messing it up yourself. Punctuality is an important part of your ability to develop that feeling of The Team, that wonderful lesson your kids will take away from this season, and that certain intangible that will win more games for you (especially late in the season when the going gets more serious). Try to be there before even the earliest arrivers.   Start your session right on time. DON’T wait for the stragglers. If you start promptly, they will learn soon enough that they only lose out by arriving late. Next time, they’ll pester their parents to get them there on time. If you do wait for the late arrivals, you will lose time every practice, your sessions will likely start off chaotically, and your practices will seldom develop into really productive sessions. Your players will never learn you really mean it when you say “be on time for practice”.   For players that arrive early (and there should be more and more of those as the season wears on, if you’re doing it right), teach them how to get into one- and two-man warm-up teams to play catch, practicing their overhand throwing with speed and accuracy. And teach them how to play little games of pepper. Never let them just stand around waiting for you to start the first drill. You want to get across that practice is a time of constant ACTIVITY, that they should always be hustling, always looking for the next thing to do.   Practice sessions are your opportunity to practice safety. Teach and enforce good safety all the time, at practice as well as games. All batters and base runners wear helmets. All catchers wear their gear, especially the mask and helmet, when they’re stationed behind the plate (even if they’ll only be there for one or two batters). No exceptions. Players warming up pitchers, or playing catcher for pitching practice, should also wear a mask. Never allow your players to pick up a bat and start idly swinging it when there are other players anywhere nearby --- teach and enforce proper bat etiquette.  

It’s a good idea to keep a written record of attendance at both your practices and games. In case you begin to have a chronic attendance problem with a particular player, your written record will be invaluable when talking the problem over with that kid’s parents and/or Club officials. Let the parents know you keep such records.   Skill-development drills that simulate games or game situations are the most fun for kids. And they tend to keep more kids involved and challenged at the same time. Less waiting, less boredom.   When coaching really young kids, try to get down to their level -- physically. If you’re talking to a particular player about something important, get down on one knee, so you can have your face at about the same level as his. This helps overcome the idea that you are some kind of imperious giant out there, constantly bossing them around. Kids will react positively to this little effort.   The more movement the kids go through, the more fun and interest they are likely to find in the session, and in the individual drill. The less movement there is, the more boring the drill becomes. Kids, especially the young ones, like to be on the move a lot, and that is a good thing to encourage in baseball.   When you’re throwing pitches for batting practice, have a couple kids shagging the balls that get hit, and throwing them back in. Then rotate them often, very often, at least every 5 to 10 minutes. Keep them hustling as much as you can. Teach them early-on that no one walks on a baseball field, except the coach. Players always hustle (run) to their next position, their next assignment, their next drill.  For throwing drills, use little games like relays that involve races to see which team can get a ball from player to player and on to home the quickest. Little games bring out enthusiasm and hustle.   When doing infield drills, have the various kids involved fire the ball around after each successful fielding attempt, so more kids get involved in every little success. But be careful with this, temper it if your kids are still throwing the ball away too often, because that will slow down the drill and allow waiting and boredom to creep in. Make sure your outfielders are backing up the bad throws so things can keep moving along in the way you want the drill to go.   When telling your pitchers to throw practice pitches, have them count and record the number of balls and strikes they throw (as called by their catcher), and keep a record for each practice. Check to see they are improving from week to week. Pitchers should never throw “practice pitches” except for a few warm-ups. After that, EVERY pitch should be thrown to a specific target, or not at all. It develops a strike-throwing mentality, and command of pitches.   When doing infield drill, put your outfielders in their normal positions. Then make sure they are backing up all the balls hit on the infield. Surprise them with an occasional smack into the outfield. Make sure they understand their backup responsibility, and that the outfield is a busy position to play, NOT a boring place well-suited for short naps while standing in one place for several minutes at a time. Rehearse relay throws all the way to home from your outfielders. Then switch outfielders for infielders and start all over. Make sure you have at least two players

who can play every position, and understand the responsibilities. (The third baseman and left fielder, for example, have to work together, so they make an obvious pair to switch positions from time to time on a lot of teams.)   Read through some of the books in the Books and Videos section in this manual, and pick out some of the suggested drills you will find there. Try them, and if they don’t quite turn out as expected, modify them, or try some others. Talk to the other coaches about what they like, and try those. Check out the recommended web sites.   At the end of a practice session, have your players run the bases, so they go home winded. They’ll enjoy it, especially the younger ones, and it helps to give them a feeling of having done something dynamic out there on the field -- it raises enthusiasm.   Always end your practice sessions right on time. You expected the parents to have them there on time; now it’s your turn to show some sensitivity to the parent’s schedule. Announce to the kids in a loud voice that practice is over for that day, and shoo them off the field. The head coach should always be the last one to leave the practice field. Before you go, make sure all your players have gotten rides home. NEVER leave a kid standing there on the field, trusting that some adult will eventually come for him. Then police up the field, making sure no one left equipment behind, and that your troops didn’t leave any mess for the next team to clean up. Then head on home yourself, satisfied you had a good hour, that your kids learned a little something that day. And had a good time doing it. Finally, if you are new to teaching kids, recognize that you will not become a polished coach in one year. It will probably take at least two or three seasons before you start feeling like you’re really comfortable coaching other people’s kids. And we never stop learning. Baseball is a complicated game; it can take several years before you feel like you’ve developed your own solid system for leading a group of youngsters through a good season. And even then you’ll be making more adjustments from year to year. It can all be a lot of fun if you don’t expect too much of yourself, don’t push yourself too hard. Trust me - you’ve started a great adventure, with experiences you’ll remember the rest of your life. 

Coaching Manual7.0 Managing the Game

Following are some hints about running your team during a game.

7.1 General StrategyGet your kids onto the field a few minutes before Game Time, and have them all field a few grounders. Then run a quick batting practice, so each kid gets at least three swings, and one bunt. Do it in the deep outfield if the other team is using the infield. If you’re really squeezed

for time and space, run a couple stations of side-toss for batting practice. Any batting practice you can work in just before a game starts is likely to help a lot, because it refreshs hand-eye coordination.. Note the rules about which team is entitled to the field for warm-ups at which time just before Game Time.  Don’t let your kids stand around idle waiting for the game to start. If they aren’t busy with anything else, have them play pepper with each other. Anything to get their reflexes and hand/eye coordination refreshed just before the real competition starts.  When your team is finished with their on-the-field warm-ups, pick out some landmark about fifty yards away, and have them all run down there and back into the dugout. That is to get their blood circulating and rid them of “tired blood”; it really does help with getting the game off to an energetic start.  Go over and introduce yourself to the plate umpire, and the opposing coaches. If some sort of dispute should develop later in the game, it will be a whole lot easier to handle if you’re all on a first-name basis.   Remember that good defense will win most baseball games. Hitting is a wonderful skill to develop, and a lot of fun for the kids, but it is good defense that will win you the most games (assuming you have decent pitching).  Teach your kids how to think themselves to victory. The naked truth is that most youth baseball games are lost, not won. By that I mean that most teams beat themselves by making too many critical mistakes during games, and it is the mental mistakes that kill your chances the most often. So teach your kids how to think during their games. Then you will usually find the other team making the most mistakes, and your team walking away the winner.  Yes that is easy to say, less easily done. You have to teach your kids an awful lot, because baseball is such a complicated game, with so many different situations that can, and do, come up unexpectedly.  Start by getting your kids to understand that they have to plan ahead for every defensive play. They have to know where they plan to go with the ball if the next pitch is hit to them. Every pitch, for the entire game. There is no time for short naps when playing defense in baseball. Then you have to teach some of the essential special skills that apply to every defensive position. Here are a few examples: Young first-basemen have to learn that their first responsibility is to get the ball when it is thrown to them. Don’t stay glued to the bag if the throw is off-line - go after it. Let that batter-base runner have first base if necessary, but don’t let him go to second base just because you stayed on the bag - go after the ball and get it under control. Freeze the runners. 

For most games in Minors and younger, and very often even in Majors, outfielders should think ‘run’ first, and ‘throw’ only second, when the ball is hit to them. By that I mean that outfielders can very often freeze the base runners simply by running the ball back into the infield, rather than throwing it into the infield like teen-age and older players do. When the ball is thrown a long distance, it’s like a long forward pass in football - too many things can go wrong. Things that can lead to runs being scored against you that need not be: bad throws and bad catches being the main ones, but unprepared infielders being very common also. So play it conservatively, forget the close play at the plate, let that runner score. But choke off any others that might score if the ball is thrown awry, or to the wrong place. Teach your outfielders to think of using their legs first, and throwing only when they know they just have to. Keep your risks down. Teach your catchers and pitchers how to pace the game. When everything is going well, and the pitcher is in his groove, catcher and pitcher should be brisk and all business, wasting little time between pitches. But when the pitcher’s control is wandering, and/or there are runners on base, they should slow down, let the pitcher catch his breath and get his mind settled between pitches so he can get the situation back under control.  Teach your catcher how to circle the ball that is hit as a “nubber” right out in front of home plate. How to smother the spinning ball with his glove, how to get lined up for the long throw to first. Also, teach your catcher how to back up first base when a throw is coming over there (imagine how surprised a runner is when he rounds first base after a bad throw over there, but gets thrown out at second by the catcher).  Teach your shortstop when to play inside the baseline and when to play outside it. It mainly has to do with how long a throw he will have to make. When he can make a short throw to second for a force out, he can often afford to play back. But when he will have to go to first with a long throw, he might be better off playing inside the baseline. You will be telling him where to play from the dugout, but he has to be prepared to understand what you are telling him to do. Similar for your third-baseman, although he will normally play inside the 2nd/3rd baseline, to guard against the bunt.  Every defensive player must always know how many outs there are. A good technique is to have all fielders raise their throwing hand after every out, to indicate to each other, with their fingers, how many outs there are.  Make sure your second-baseman is especially alert when a left-handed batter is up - there is a big chance the ball will be hit to him, so he needs to be prepared by knowing what he will do with the ball after he fields it. Often he can afford to play farther back - he has a short throw to first.  Teach your outfielders how to back up your infielders on every ground ball. Let the batter get first base in case the ball is muffed in the infield, but choke off any aspirations for extra bases by using your outfielders to freeze the runners. Too many youth teams let their outfielders think that outfield is a boring place to get exiled to. Good outfielders are busy on every pitch, changing their position so they can have the best defensive effect. It is NOT an easy job.  

For pop-ups in the infield, the pitcher should seldom field the ball unless it is very obvious that he is the right one to get it. Much more often, the pitcher should act as traffic cop, yelling out who should be catching the ball, so collisions are avoided.  On fly-balls, both in the infield and outfield, the magic word is MINE. The player who intends to catch the ball should fend off any prospective collision by yelling “MINE...MINE... MINE... MINE... MINE...” until the ball is in his glove. When two players start yelling MINE at the same time, it is the most assertive one who should take charge (and in the infield, the pitcher should be doing his traffic-cop job to help out). Discourage use of “I’VE GOT IT”. Encourage “MINE”, for two reasons: First, MINE is a sound that carries and stands out better than I’VE GOT IT, and is less likely to get drowned out by crowd noise and other background goings-on. Second, there is often a heckler in the stands who will start yelling I’VE GOT IT, just to confuse your defense. Seldom do the hecklers ever yell MINE. The fielder who is called off can act as backup, and also direct the throw (”THROW 3, THROW 3”, for example).  For conflicts between the infield and outfield on pop-ups, the outfielder normally has priority, because the ball is coming down in front of him. For the infielder that same ball may need a circus catch. Make sure your outfielders understand that, and yell MINE...MINE....MINE to assert themselves when they can catch the ball.  On conflicts between the catcher and the pitcher, third-baseman or first-baseman, it is usually NOT the catcher who should get the ball. The ball is coming down in front of the infielder, whereas it is falling away from the catcher (making it a tougher job to catch it). Again the infielders need to use MINE...MINE...MINE, and the pitcher should be directing traffic (or yelling MINE...MINE if he intends to catch it himself).  Teach your runners that they should lead off third base on the foul side of the baseline. Then if they get hit by a sudden line drive, they are still safe, because it is obviously a foul ball. 

7.2 Signaling Systems  In professional games, you see the managers and coaches flashing hand signals all over the place, on both offense and defense. What in the world is that all about? Is it just so the old guys have something to do, or do they just have to stroke their own egos by putting their oar in the water for every play? After all, these are million-dollar professionals playing out there; why do they need those pesky coaches telling them what to do?  Well, on defense the signaling systems are used to give the manager authority over how the defense will be played, and often over what kind of pitch will be thrown in tight situations. He does have the responsibility for the overall result of the game, so it’s only fair that he get authority over the tactical decisions from play to play. But in Cal Ripken baseball, we won’t usually be using signaling systems for defensive purposes (although you certainly can if you think it’s a good idea). We coaches will normally just use plain old English when we want to shift players around, and maybe one or two secret signals to occasionally call for a special pitch from our pitcher. 

 But on offense, there is a very practical reason why we need a signaling system. That is to coordinate the efforts of our batters and base runners, without letting the other team in on what we’re up to. Your baserunners need to know when the batter is being told to bunt the next pitch. The batter needs to know when the runner on first will attempt a theft of second base on the next pitch (so normally he will swing at that pitch, no matter how bad it might be, to delay the catcher’s throw that little bit that might make the runner safe at second).  So you need to teach your batters how to take signals from the third-base coach (usually the manager). And you need to teach your base runners how to pick up every signal the third-base coach passes to the batter. It’s a pretty simple thing to teach, but very wordy to describe it all, so we’ll just plan to explain everything about signaling at the coach’s clinic each year. Be sure you and/or your assistants are there.  And there is one other signaling system you also need in Majors baseball, especially at the tournament level - the one the catcher uses to call for particular pitches from his pitcher. Most of our young pitchers will only have, at the very most, three different pitches they’ll throw (e.g, four-seam fast-ball, two-seam perhaps, and a change-up), but still the catcher needs to know what’s coming (and where) so he can be prepared. Catchers don’t like surprises - they lead to passed balls. So we’ll talk about that at the clinics also.  

7.3  Game-Time Substitutions I've been asked how often I move players around on defense.  Following is some commentary and opinion about that.  These comments are directed most toward the Rookie age group, but a lot of it is worth thinking about at the Minors and Majors levels, too.  It's worth reading.

I believe that Rookie-age players need to get some extended experience at more than one defensive position over the course of a season. And I'm not talking here about moving from left field to center field. - I mean experience at WIDELY differing positions.

I don't, however, believe in substituting a lot in any one game. Better is to change your defensive lineup from game to game. The reason is that it takes kids a number of plays (and innings) to "settle into" a position. If you move them around a lot from inning to inning they never get comfortable in any one position, simply because they're never there long enough to start "feeling" that position.

So what I like to do better is to start with a certain defensive lineup for a particular game, and stay with it for AT LEAST two innings, and better three or four. Then go to something different for the next game, so all the kids get extended experience at more than one position.  Here's an example from a game my own team played recently. Most infielders started in a position they had never been a starter in before - the (fielding) pitcher, catcher, first-baseman, shortstop, third-baseman.  I stayed with them for three innings before I started to shift players around.  Next game, the defensive lineup will be different again. Within the same game I don't

like to substitute too much, because of the reasons stated above. But toward the end of the game, I substitute more freely, if only to get the outfielders into the infield for at least an inning of that game.

At this point this season, I have three kids who alternate playing catcher, four at "fielding pitcher", two at first base, four at rover, four at second base, three at shortstop, three at third base, and everyone plays outfield at one time or another in almost every game. As the season wears on, those numbers will gradually keep increasing.

One important thing to keep in mind is that at Rookie age, many of the kids on our teams, even most, are DESPERATE to feel some real success at playing this game. Our job as coaches is to do our best to help them find it. So we note the way they stand at the plate and swing the bat, and pitch to them in a way that matches into their strengths and away from their weaknesses. On defense we help each one by stationing him in a position where he has a real chance of doing at least a few things well. That builds their confidence, so you can start thinking about moving them to more demanding positions.

Simple exposure to a particular defensive position does not really accomplish much all by itself.  It is SUCCESS (in at least a few plays) at a particular position that works the real magic. They MUST have some success at a position because that first raises their confidence level, and then their enthusiasm - and enthusiasm is the mother of all real sustained accomplishment. We best build a team of kids by setting things up so that every kid experiences some success somewhere on the field as early as possible. Then they all start to feel like real contributing players, and "The Team" concept begins to arise within them. And they get hard to beat.

So you look for the position for each kid where his chances of achieving some successes are maximized. Sure you wish it was an infield postion for every kid, but the reality is that that is almost never the case. Some kids MUST start in the outfield, because sticking them in the infield too much will lead to too many failures, poor self-image, lack of self-confidence, etc.

So play kids mostly in positions where they are likely to succeed after getting some experience there. WHICH position depends on each kid's particular characteristics. Here are some examples:

You have at least one kid who is clearly bigger than average on your team. He might be a good candidate to succeed at first base if he can catch the ball fairly reliably. Even if his throwing is way below average, and his quickness is not the best. A kid who learns to play first base well raises the confidence of your entire infield.  He becomes a rock that all the other kids lean on - especially when their throws to first are not the best (which we know is very often at the Rookie level). Typically he is one of your older players.

(BTW - the most important thing to teach a first-baseman is to GET THE BALL. Get off the bag when and if necessary to get to a throw, then come back to the bag. Better to let the batter get to first than to let the ball get past you so he goes all the way to second, or worse. Freeze that baserunner! You do that by getting the ball under control just as soon as possible. It is remarkable how many first-basemen have still not learned that fundamental lesson even at age 10 or 11.)

Only put kids at shortstop who are among your best all-round athletic types. They catch well, throw well, have good quickness, and are mentally sharp. Putting other kids at that position accomplishes little because they will make so many errors that they feel very self-conscious about their play and can't concentrate on business. Marginal kids can work themselves up to shortstop by playing positions like second and third base (or centerfield), where there's usually less pressure.

(Another BTW: When I say catch well, throw well, have good quickness, etc., I'm talking RELATIVE TO THE OTHER KIDS ON YOUR TEAM. We'd all wish for an Ozzie Smith to play SS for us, but we have to work with the kids we have. One or two of your kids are likely your better athletes, and they should normally end up as your most frequent shortstops until one or two others begin to look like they are catching on.)

Kids with good quickness but weaker throwing ability can play positions like second base and the rover between first and second. If they can catch reasonably well they can succeed there despite a weak throwing arm. The throw to first or second from the rover position is usually a short one. Some of your smaller kids can learn to play these positions successfully. A year or two later, some of them may play shortstop on other teams, because they learned the fundamentals and self-confidence on YOUR team. You put them where they could learn to succeed, and they end the season with a lot of enthusiasm because of that success. They don't end up with a lot of memories of failure at positions they just weren't yet ready to handle.

Kids without good quickness and ability to field the ball initially belong in the outfield a majority of the time, for their own good, their own potential development. On each play, they typically need extra time to evaluate what's happening before they respond to it. You can bring them in to the infield late in the game, AFTER their minds have had some opportunity to adjust to the tempo of the game they are playing in. You make them infield starters in the SECOND HALF of the season, AFTER they have had plenty of opportunity to learn the fundamental thought processes of defensive play. If you do it right, they will learn that, despite making more physical errors, they can sometimes make up for that by learning how to play a SMART game, often even smarter than the more physically gifted kids on your team. One or two plays that work out for them because they play SMART raises their confidence, and that leads to better physical play. They will still be your secondary infielders, but you will have done just about everything you can for them this year if you follow this approach of not burdening them too much with play at positions that are over their heads.

The key is to lead them GENTLY and gradually to higher levels of play, and do it by teaching them how to play SMART, even if their physical play is still below average.

The best way to play outfielders is to get the idea across to them that the outfield is really nothing more than a second defensive line behind the infielders. To borrow a football term, the outfielders are your linebacking corps.

Too many people let their outfielders be the sleepers on the defensive team. Kids are allowed to believe that the outfield is that boring place where you almost never have anything to do. And

Coach seldom talks much to you, like he does with the infielders all the time.

The way to do it is to regale the outfielders with constant descriptions of how they must be moving on EVERY hit, and always putting themselves into the best position to be helpful. Most often it means getting into the best and most useful BACKUP position to cut off overthrows and muffed catches in the infield that would allow the runners to keep moving around the bases. Once they begin to understand how they can have the effect of freezing the runners on many plays, they stop seeing the outfield as such a bore, and they start to THINK the game. Then you are over the hump in teaching them something with real lasting value. And those new thought processes will carry over into their infield play when they get opportunities there, which will help boost their confidence, and increase their chances of at least some later successes there in the infield.

You can put a Rookie kid at catcher who catches the ball pretty well, but lacks quickness. Even if his throwing is downright poor, because he is seldom called on, at the Rookie level, to make a difficult throw. About the most he will have to do as a thrower is to get the ball to first base on a dink hit out in front of the plate. And even that will go away when we start to enforce the fair-but-foul rule. As a catcher, he will see a lot of plays in full view, so hopefully he might develop into one of your better thinkers. Be sure to teach him some of the fundamentals of playing catcher - they are relatively few at this level, but essential if he is to make some good plays that will build his confidence.

I always tell my kids (all of them) at the beginning of the season that they are going to learn how to play SMART baseball, and that because of that they are going to win some games even when they get outplayed physically. They don't really understand that at first, of course, but over the stretch of about a month they begin to catch on. And they love it, especially the physically weaker players - they discover a way to compete effectively against the more talented (but less mentally alert) players they have always feared or felt inferior to on the ball diamond.

Don't forget this about kids' baseball: Most games are not won; they are lost by the other side. Lost because they made more mental mistakes than the winning team. Teach your kids how to make fewer mental mistakes and you can afford more physical mistakes. First teach them how to avoid losing. Only then are they ready to start learning how to FORCE wins. If all they learn this season is a solid sense of how to avoid losing, you will have ACCOMPLISHED A LOT.

This question always comes up: HOW MANY different positions should a kid learn to play in a given season? My opinion is not very many. Sure it would be nice if every kid learned every position. But let's be realistic. EVERY position is complicated, there is just plain a lot to learn. And time is very limited. So I tend to concentrate on two positions for each kid. For the older kids, with longer attention spans, maybe three (or even four for the very most advanced). Any more than that spreads their attentions too thinly, and they don't learn ANY single position very well at all - they don't get themselves best prepared to do better next year.

I especially like the idea of one infield position, and one outfield position. One good example is third base and left field, because when well played at the youth level, those two positions form a "team within the team". Same might be said for shortstop and centerfield. And first base and

right field, etc.

When, for example, you develop a rightfielder that knows how to back up first and second base, you start getting outs at first THROWN BY THAT OUTFIELDER, simply because he gets himself into position to cut off balls that got by the firstbaseman, rover or secondbaseman. Imagine the startled batter who gets thrown out by the alert RF'er who hustled into position behind the rover and grabbed an errant ball in time to throw for the out at first. Or picture the beauty of a RF'er who nabs a ball that's overthrown to first base and throws out a greedy batter/baserunner who tries to stretch the hit into a double after the overthrow. Those are examples of how outfielders can be taught to be your linebackers. It teaches them to think, it hugely builds their self-image, and it helps your team do well, all at the same time.

The outfielder behind a particular infielder has a great opportunity to watch how that infielder plays that position. Then later he has a better idea of how to get the job done when he himself moves into that position. So trading those two nearby positions back and forth makes sense to me. I've done it for years, and it works well.

In summary then, I say substitute a lot between games, but not as much within any one game. Especially after you have figured out where each player is most likely to find some real success. Teach your younger players how to play two positions reasonably well for their age, especially closely related positions in the infield and outfield. Don't expect any player to see real success at more than three - it's just too much for 98% of kids at this age. And it's not necessary for any really good reason I can think of. There is one time you should definitely get your youngest/weaker players into positions where they would not normally start a game.  That is when the outcome of a particular game is no longer in doubt.  If you are very far ahead or behind, and there is only a very small number of innings left to play, that is the time you should get kids into positions they have indicated they would like to take a stab at, or positions that you would like them to start aspiring to.  Use the opportunity to put some of your strongest players on the bench, and get your strongest/weakest players on the field.

By following the guidelines above, my kids have a lot of fun. And it's the kind of fun that comes from learning something that will carry over into next year. They get that "feeling of accomplishment", and there's just nothing better or more important. It makes the hard work all worthwhile, and leaves them wanting more. Then you know you had a good season.

All of the above is my OPINION. You will develop your own opinions over the years that you coach and teach. But I really believe that if you give this method a real try, you will have more happy players, enthusiastic parents, and more success for your team. And along the way, you'll find ways to modify what you get from this philosophy to suit your own style of coaching and player development. 

 

Appendix C

THE REWARDS OF TEAM SPORTS FOR KIDS   A good question is “why should kids get into team sports, anyway?” The answer you hear the most is that athletic competition “builds character”. If by “character” it is meant that sports teach the value of hard work that builds skill, and how to celebrate victory and handle defeat, that is all true and fine. But beyond learning to have a new kind of constructive fun, I believe there are at least two other good reasons with real tangible lasting value.   When a kid goes out on the athletic field each year from a very young age, competes to find his place on the team each year, and works hard to have fun by contributing to the team effort, he is unlikely to feel intimidated later by the competitive effort required of him as an adult in the American workplace. He will have been doing that for years; the workplace is just another game where he will work to find his place, contribute to the team, and make his job an enjoyable experience. He has come prepared to work his way into a leadership position. Contrast that with the kid whose parents let him opt out of athletic competition altogether. That kid’s reaction to the competitive environment presented by the adult workplace is likely to be much more passive and uncertain, much less positive, constructive and successful. He has too many lessons to learn about becoming a contributing team player, and how to survive and prosper in a complex game. Other things being equal, he will probably end up working for that kid that spent ten or more years in competitive sports while growing up. And he is likely to enjoy his job less than the former athlete. Yes, you can find many exceptions to all this. But I don’t believe the exceptions deny the principle.   A second tangible benefit that kids get from team sports is something called a positive self-image.  You read a lot about that thing called self-esteem these days. Many professionals seem to agree that the reason a lot of kids do poorly in school is because they lack self-esteem.  They say a vicious circle sets in where kids do poorly and so don’t feel good about themselves, which saps their energy and enthusiasm. And that leads to more sub-par schoolwork, etc., etc.  The solutions offered have too often boiled down to simply lowering the bar, making it easier for kids to qualify for higher grades - not by doing better work, but by having to do less to get that better grade. There must be a better way.  I believe the real solution to the self-esteem problem revolves around enthusiasm. Get kids involved in something, anything, that they have an interest in. Then show them how to do it well, and let them experience a little resultant success. That gets the vicious circle turned around

so it’s working to the kid's advantage, and is building, rather than tearing down, his/her self-image.  For boys, that’s where baseball can make a major contribution. There is nothing like some success in a competitive activity for building self-confidence, and a can-do feeling. It’s not even necessary to be one of the best players on your team, because kids have a great tendency to remember (and relish) the good things they do on the ball diamond and forget, or laugh about, the failures.  So I believe that for many, many boys baseball can be a real self-esteem builder if they are getting decent instruction and coaching. That’s a real, tangible benefit from team sport, and I can’t help believing that, properly handled, that positive baseball-derived self-image has some real carryover value into other activities, including schoolwork.  At the very least, they have learned that hard work and persistence build skill, and that it’s skill that produces positive results. Maybe that’s what people really mean when they say team sports build “character”.    "Know what you're going to do with the ball before you get it."  As a kid playing baseball in Carlisle, Ohio, just south of Dayton, I had heard my father repeat that phrase so many times I actually thought he invented it.  So, like any good teenage son, I ignored him and his stupid advice. One night, late in a championship playoff game, our junior high-school team was locked in a scoreless tie against a great opponent.  The crowd went into a frenzy when the opponent's speedy lead-off batter ripped a triple in the bottom of the ninth inning.  I paced nervously around my position at first base. As our pitcher tried to regain his composure, I happened to glance at my father in the stands.  The minute our eyes connected, he immediately began pointing at the side of his head. What?  Is he crazy?  Now?  I' supposed to stop and think about every possible thing that could happen on the next play - now?  There are ten different ways a runner can score from third with less than two outs, but why consider them now?  Any ground ball hit my way goes to first base for the out, right? No, wait.  Then the runner would score.  How 'bout I scoop up the ball and hold the track star at third, protecting against the run?  That won't work either.  We desperately need that first out. I was killing a billion brain cells trying to figure out the best options.  I finally decided that if a ground ball was hit to me, I could prevent the run from scoring by sprinting down the first-base line toward home, tag the oncoming runner, and keep Road Runner at third. 

I'll never forget the feeling I had when all of this raced through my mind as our pitcher went into his windup.  What a total waste of time, expending so much energy on something that had virtually no chance of happening. It took exactly one pitch for my father to become a genius. Big swing.  Slow roller.  Right toward me.  Crowd screaming. I reacted without thinking.  I sprinted down the line toward home, tagged out the oncoming batter, and watched The Flash scurry back to third.  Perfection. As I flipped the ball back to our pitcher, I glanced again at my dad in the stands.  His huge grin told me that he knew his message had been received loud and clear. A few years later, I began working in customer relations for a commuter airline that flew out of Monroe, Louisiana.  I was only 18, and worried if I was good enough for my job.  But eventually I figured out how I could apply what my father had taught me on the baseball field to what I was doing at the airport. It's all about anticipation.  Canceled flights, rerouting passengers, medical emergencies, security problems:  All of this requires a certain what-if mentality.  So just as I had done that night on the baseball diamond, I approached my new job by covering all the bases. My attention to detail didn't go unnoticed, and I was quickly promoted into management.  It normally takes 10 or 11 years to reach that level - and I was able to accomplish it in a third of the time.  Eventually I took an early retirement.  For that, I can thank my dad. Whenever I speak at professional training seminars, I enjoy retelling the play-by-play of my favorite baseball story, and how my dad's "stupid" words made all the difference in my life.  If they could help my team win the championship - and yes, we held the other guys scoreless and racked up 13 runs in the next inning - then they can help others too.     

Appendix DBASEBALL REFLECTS LIFE

Something I like about baseball is that it reflects real life. To begin with, baseball (like life) is a complicated and complex game. You don’t learn to play it quickly. It takes practice, and it takes experience. As they play and learn that complicated game, baseball will teach young kids some valuable lessons that will apply throughout their lives.

One such lesson stems from the fact that baseball is all about overcoming failure.  Baseball may be the only team sport where they actually count (and publish) every error a player makes. And no batter ever consistently gets himself on base more than a third of the times he goes to bat - the

other two-thirds of the time he fails.  Even the best teams experience failure in many of their games, and they stay on top only by learning to overcome those failures, correcting their mistakes, paying attention to business, and pouring everything necessary into their efforts until they have achieved the success they want.

That repetitive lesson in overcoming failure is wonderful training for young kids to get while they are out there on the ball diamond, just thinking they are having some fun.  

Another thing I like a lot about baseball for kids is that it is not always a fair game. That may seem like a strange thing to say, but consider this:

Things happen frequently out on the baseball diamond that just don’t match any reasonable person’s idea of fairness. Umpires make bad calls, the other team has better equipment, the game gets called for darkness just as your team is catching up, your team has more weak players than the other team, you have to play on a crummy diamond with too many ruts and it costs you the game, your best pitcher is sick for an important game, etc, etc. Even if you look at the official rule book, you will see it really does not specifically cover many situations that can and do happen in games. It is left to the local officials to decide what to do, and often they make “bad” decisions.  So how does this all come out a positive for the kids? Simply stated, it is because we are looking for lasting value from youth sports, and if the game was always fair, it would never provide good lessons for real life. As adults we quickly learn that life is not fair, that right from birth some people get more lucky breaks than others. Better that lesson is learned earlier on the ball diamond than later in the adult workplace. When a kid has learned to persevere through misfortune, he has learned a great lesson with real lasting value. For better or for worse in specific situations, baseball provides that lesson, and I appreciate the game’s ability to teach it.  Sure my blood pressure goes up when misfortune causes my kids to lose a game they deserved to win, but I try to remember to tell them it’s a good lesson in real life. They don’t often like to hear that kind of comment from the coach, but I think it’s the best way to get them a positive return from a bad situation. At least they carry away a lesson of real value from an undeserved loss.  And later I try to explain that the best way to handle misfortune is usually to ignore it and soldier on through. And that hard work has a way of producing its own good luck.    

Appendix ECOACHING YOUTH BASEBALL IS AN OPPORTUNITY

 There are many good reasons for coaching a youth baseball team. For one, you will end up having an awful lot of fun. If you’re not careful, you may find yourself addicted, making plans

for the next season even before the current season is over! Many of us who have spent a few years coaching baseball have learned that the rewards of helping kids develop their skills, and helping them learn the lessons that baseball can teach, go way beyond anything we expected going in.  But for those of us with our own kids in the game, there is a much more important reason than fun, both for you and for your family. What follows is an effort at describing what I mean.  As kids get older, the parent-child bond just naturally begins to loosen, and a distance begins to develop between them and their parents. Communication between parent and child, which was spontaneous and intimate in early childhood, slowly evolves into a more considered and careful form as kids get to and through their teenage years. Kids gradually feel less inclined to share all their thoughts with their parents, and parents often become less and less able to understand what’s going on inside their kids’ heads.  In a very important way, this is a perfectly natural and healthy process - we want our children to grow up independent and able to stand on their own. But left entirely to itself, this process can also be a hazardous one, both for the kids involved and for their parents and families. When kids make decisions (especially important ones) without parental guidance, too often they make poor choices which work against them and those around them. So this maturation and distancing process is one that caring parents need to be conscious of and manage carefully. A parent wants to see the process develop in a normal and healthy way, but still maintain the strong bond and communication that allows him to be sure his child’s judgment is developing in the best way.  The problem we have today is that in far too many cases the parent-child communication bond starts breaking down way too early, and by the time kids are teenagers they are too much like entirely independent people who just happen to live in the same household as their parents.  What’s causing this? I think it’s things like television and the internet. Time was, some decades ago, when kids (outside of school and church) got almost all their information at home, from their parents. Sure, there were always exceptions to this rule, but compared with the situation today, parents generally found it fairly easy to keep track of what their kids were learning and doing, and how their thoughts were developing. The only voices kids heard at home were those of family members. There was no television. I think kids and parents talked a lot more together than they do nowadays. And because they talked, they had more understanding between them.  Nowadays, kids get much of their information from television and the internet, far too much of it of dubious value, and very little of it something that both parent and child are likely to find of real, lasting, common interest. So the distance between parent and child slowly grows, and communication gradually breaks down.  To fix this problem, there is nothing better than finding an activity that both parent and child can develop an intense interest in. That’s where baseball can be a real help. One of the best ways to keep the bond tight between you and your child, and keep the communication channels open, is to share important experiences with him. Taking a close and

persistent interest in his schoolwork can help, and so can pursuing your religion together. Sharing time together in common interests like hunting and fishing can be a big help, too. But in the opinion of many who have “been there”, nothing beats shared competitive experience on the athletic field. There is simply nothing that bonds parent and child together more than going into “battle” together over and over on the baseball diamond.  Once exposed to the sport, boys often develop a close interest in baseball that intensifies each year, sometimes starting as early as age 5 or 6, sometimes later than that. By the time many boys are 12, their interest in baseball has become VERY important to them, especially if they have gotten decent coaching along the way. (See the attached piece “Lessons in Baseball” to get an idea of how an 11-year-old often thinks about baseball.) This tendency in boys provides their parents with a great bonding opportunity.  If you go out there, and help them understand the game, help them learn their skills, help them make the best choices during their games, help them celebrate success, and help them learn to handle defeat, the result is like magic for your parent-child bond.  There is just nothing like sharing the competitive experience. Your boy sees and feels what a help you can be in a difficult endeavor that is important to him, and that experience just naturally carries over into the other parts of his life. When he needs to make important decisions, he’s likely to remember that coach Dad is always there to talk it over, or to offer a suggestion or reminder. And when he’s forced to make a decision entirely on his own, he’s much more likely to think about what Dad might do in that situation. When your bond with your son is tight you’re never completely out of his mind. Baseball builds that bonding. I know that’s true. I’ve seen it, over and over.  Think about the payoff you will get later from tightening the connection with your child while he is still young.  The truth is that your boy will still need you even after he is fully grown. If you think you understand and believe that, then think how much more he needs you now. And you need him.   

Appendix FHOW TO KNOW YOU HAD A GOOD SEASON

 Many beginning coaches worry too much

Appendix GSOME FACTS ABOUT BABE RUTH

 NSBC is affiliated with the national baseball organization that is named for Babe Ruth, so it might be good to tell your players a little about who he really was, and what he really did. As a baseball idol his life reflects both good and bad examples for our young kids, and if they understand both they might learn from both. George Herman Ruth Jr. is considered by many to have been the single greatest all-round baseball player who ever lived. A recent book, “Baseball’s 1000 Best Players”, by Derek Gentile, says so. Same for many other books and lists. Gentile rates Ruth (pitcher and outfielder) as number 1, followed by Willie Mays (outfielder), Ty Cobb (outfielder), Honus Wagner (shortstop) and Walter Johnson (pitcher). Then come names like Mickey Mantle and Ted Williams. The big home-run hitters we hear so much about these days are farther down the list. Gentile rates Barry Bonds, perhaps the most feared hitter of all time, #19. Babe Ruth was born February 6, 1895, at his grandparent’s home in Baltimore. He died of throat cancer in 1948, two months after he was given a special celebration at Yankee Stadium to honor his many accomplishments, and to recognize the fondness our nation had for him. More than 100,000 people came out to see his body lying in state at Yankee Stadium, and to line the processional route to Gate of Heaven Cemetery. Tobacco killed Babe Ruth; he was only 53.   The Babe was born into a loosely-knit family. As he said himself, he was an unruly kid. His father owned a water-front saloon, and sent young George off at the age of 7 to live at a Catholic home for orphaned, wayward and incorrigible boys - St. Mary’s Industrial School, in Baltimore. That became George’s home until he was 19. There were four times when he was taken back to his parent’s home for brief periods, but in each episode family circumstances always sent him back to St. Mary’s. His parents seldom, if ever, came to see him there. His mother died when he was 13.   At St. Mary’s, George had the great good fortune to meet the man who, if anyone could be so considered, would act as his father during his most formative years. Brother Matthias, Prefect of Discipline at St. Mary’s, shaped both George’s character and his baseball skills. Ruth said in later life that he learned to love and respect Brother Matthias and his ideals, and that he had no idea what he could have ever amounted to, had it not been for the influence Brother Matthias had had on him. Ruth even taught himself to walk in the same pigeon-toed manner of Brother Matthias. (It reminds me of the way John Wayne said that when he was young, he tagged along in Hollywood after the then-elderly Wyatt Earp, and taught himself to walk, move and talk like Earp.) Babe Ruth said it was Brother Matthias that taught him right from wrong.   Brother Matthias was a physically big man, and evidently a rock of character and integrity. He had taken vows, and dedicated his life to giving disadvantaged young boys a decent start in life. Even when offered promotion to a more “comfortable” position within his Xaverian Order, he declined, preferring to stay at St. Mary’s to work with the boys he knew there. Babe Ruth said he would never forget the first time he saw Brother Matthias hit a baseball. He stood out in front of home plate, tossed the ball up with his left hand, and hit it one-armed. He would sometimes smack one over the fence that was a long, long distance away. And that

despite the fact that the baseballs in those days were soft, and “mushy” as the Babe later called them (”especially after St. Mary’s got possession of them”). Little George paid attention when Brother Matthias taught him how to swing the bat, and how to play the game of baseball.   Over the next several years, George played a lot of baseball at St. Mary’s, and along the way Brother Matthias taught him how to pitch. He was a natural, and he said he felt “at home” on the mound. He enjoyed throwing the ball past batters, despite having started out as a catcher. In February of 1914, when Ruth had just turned 19, he was visited at St. Mary’s by the boss of the Baltimore Orioles (then a minor-league team). He was surprised to be told he could leave the school and play some baseball for the Orioles. And even more surprised when he was told he would be paid for it. Young George started with a $600 per year contract. St. Mary's barred gate was opened, and George entered the adult world.   When he ran out onto the Orioles training field for the first time, George Herman Ruth was 6-foot-2, and weighed 160 pounds. He was mainly a pitcher, and a good one. He had a blazing fastball, and he had practiced. Most days, he could throw that fastball exactly where he wanted it to go. At that time, the veteran players often referred to the new rookies as babies, and George was no exception. They called him the manager’s newest “babe”, and that name stuck.   Babe Ruth didn’t stay in the minors long. The Orioles sold his contract (for $2900) to the Boston Red Sox, after just a few months with Baltimore. He stayed with the Red Sox organization almost six years, nearly the entire time as a pitcher, though toward the end he started to play in the outfield as well. He found that he enjoyed hitting as much as anything, and the Red Sox liked having him in the batting order as often as possible. So gradually, he moved away from pitching every fourth day to becoming a part-time, then full-time, outfielder.   During his years on the mound for the Red Sox, Babe Ruth was one of the leading pitchers of his day. He had many duels with the likes of Walter Johnson (the best pitcher he ever saw, Ruth said) and Grover Cleveland Alexander. He pitched in two world series, and was the star pitcher of the 1918 Series, winning two games. (He also started and won one game in the 1916 Series, setting a pitching record that still stands today - the longest complete-game victory in World Series history, 14 innings.) He won all three games he started as a World Series pitcher. In those three starts, he gave up a total of just three runs. He set another World Series pitching record in his last Series with the Red Sox, too, and it stood for nearly 40 years: 29 scoreless World Series innings in a row. Not until Whitey Ford came along in the mid-1950’s was that record broken (and then by a pitching specialist who never was much of a hitter). Ruth’s lifetime postseason earned-run-average (ERA) was 0.87.   But despite his pitching and hitting for the Red Sox in 1918 and the years before, and the 29 home runs he hit for them in 1919 (an unheard-of number in that “dead ball” era), the owner was rather desperately in need of money. So he sold Ruth to the New York Yankees in January of 1920, along with some others of his best players. Then as now, the Yankees were the richest team in baseball, and simply bought what they wanted. They paid $100,000 (plus a $350,000 loan) for Babe Ruth. Then they gave the Babe a $10,000/year contract. 

The infamous Black Sox scandal hurt baseball badly when it broke in 1920, but Babe Ruth was just what the game needed to resurrect itself. The World Series of 1916 and 1918 had brought him to the entire nation’s attention, but his hitting in 1919 and in the years after he joined the Yankees quickly became legendary. The Black Sox were soon forgotten. Babe Ruth was 100% legitimate, and boy could he play baseball.   As a Yankee after 1919, the Babe only pitched a handful of games. He had become an every-day outfielder. But of those infrequent games he did pitch for the Yankees, he won every one, and pitched the entire game every time but once. At the end of his full career, he had established a lifetime ERA of 2.28, well up on the all-time list of most memorable pitchers.   Many of Babe Ruth’s hitting accomplishments with the Yankees are well known. 60 home runs in 1927, and a total of 714 lifetime homers, just to name two. Records that were not broken for many, many years. And then by players that specialized in hitting, never pitching even one major-league game. There has never been another player that excelled so highly in both of the most difficult and complex skills on the baseball diamond - hitting and pitching. Babe Ruth’s lifetime slugging average was 0.869; still never closely approached by any major-league player, in any era.   Ruth had an interesting personality and character. He was far from perfect. He loved to have a good time, and seldom refused a good cigar and a bottle of beer. He liked most people, and loved to party with his friends. Some of his bad decisions got him into a bit of trouble, many times. Never with civil authorities (as far as I know), but often with the baseball establishment.   And he had a temper, too. Especially when he was young, he sometimes let that temper ruin his judgment, and then apparently felt rather penitent about it later. There are many stories of apologies he issued after one kind of misstep or another. Once, when he was pitching for the Red Sox, he even slugged a plate umpire who had “blindly” awarded a walk to a batter Ruth was certain he had struck out. He was a perfect subject for newspaper articles, and the reporters made the most of the near-constant opportunities.   One of his most remarkable traits was that he really loved kids, even though he had no natural children of his own (just one adopted daughter). Many, many times he went out of his way to visit kids who were sick at home or hospital, or to do other things that showed kids were a big part of what he thought was truly important in life. Near the very end of his days, when he was weak with cancer, he was visited by one of those kids he had helped. He said, “Isn’t it something; I went to see Johnny when he was sick and thought I could cheer him up, and now he’s here with me, right when I need him most”. That was John Sylvester, who had recovered from a crippling childhood disorder, and was by then a Navy veteran of World War II, and a successful businessman.   And Babe Ruth never forgot St. Mary’s Industrial School. Or Brother Matthias either. He made a top salary of $80,000 at the peak of his career, and he shared it. He remembered the kids at St. Mary’s, and sent money there every year after he got “in the chips”. He even bought Brother Matthias a brand-new Cadillac, and when it was smashed in an accident, Babe Ruth bought him another.

  As youth coaches, we can all hope to have a kid on our team that someday becomes another Babe Ruth. The nation could use one. And though none of us might have the skills and influence of a Brother Matthias, I suspect we all like Cadillacs. 

  

Appendix H

 

Parent Tips for Preventing Baseball and Softball Injuries

To help your child avoid injuries while playing baseball or softball, follow these safety tips: 

Before your child starts a training program or plays competitive baseball or softball, you should consider taking him or her to a doctor for a physical exam. The doctor can help assess any special injury risks your child may have.

Male players should wear an appropriate athletic supporter. Catchers should wear a protective cup. This is a parent responsibility - it is obviously impractical for non-family adults to enforce compliance with this rule.

Make sure first aid is available at all games and practices. Make sure your child wears all the required safety gear every time he or she plays or

practices.  Insist that your child wear a helmet when batting or running the bases. Shoes with molded cleats are recommended, but not required. NSBC rules prohibit use of metal spikes. If your child is a catcher, he or she will need additional safety gear: appropriate glove or mitt, face mask and helmet, throat protector, long-model chest protector, and shin guards. Insist on it.  Wrist protectors are optional.

If your child will wear glasses at baseball, make sure they are safety glasses. Insist that your child warm up and stretch before playing. If your child is a pitcher, make sure pitching time is limited. Young arms do tire, and

tired arms can get more easily injured. Teach your child not to play through pain. If your child gets injured, see your doctor.

Follow all the doctor's orders for recovery, and get the doctor's OK before your child returns to play.

Talk to and watch your child’s coach. Coaches should enforce all the rules of the game, encourage safe play, and understand the special injury risks that young players face. Make sure your child's coach teaches players how to avoid injury, especially when sliding, pitching or catching. And how to deal with a wild pitch when batting. Head-first sliding is prohibited in NSBC’s Cal Ripken divisions.

When you are present at practice or a game, help your coach keep an eye on the weather. Get everyone off the field if nearby lightning seems even slightly possible.

Above all, keep baseball and softball fun. Recognize that too much focus on winning can make your child push too hard and risk injury.

INSIST ON proper safety precautions at every practice and every game, whether your child is invo.

 

Appendix JLAST YEAR’S SPONSORS

 

Appendix KTIPS ON GLOVES, BATS, BALLS, ETC.

 This appendix provides some advice on how parents can best equip their kids to play good baseball. At minimum, a parent has to provide their youngster with a decent glove. After that, everything is somewhat optional, and the sky’s the limit. Many kids will want their very own bat, and some will want batting gloves. Following is some information that may help in making the best choices. 

K.1 Baseball Gloves  Gloves should be pretty big, and well broken-in (see below for break-in procedure). For an average 6-year-old, a glove with overall length of something like 10 inches is about right, measured across the palm from web-tip to the extreme opposite corner of the glove’s heel. This glove might seem a bit large for them, but they will learn to handle it soon enough, and it will allow them to make catches they would not otherwise make. That builds confidence and enthusiasm. They won’t need another glove until they are about 11 or 12, when they will switch to a glove about 2 inches bigger, and that will last them until they are out of high school. So it’s just two gloves for an school-boy’s entire baseball career. A well-used glove of the right size (but still in good condition) is very often the best choice.  Note that most players are best off with a glove that has an “open” web. That provides more overall flexibility in the glove. Pitchers, however, should prefer a “closed” web. That allows them to better conceal the ball, and their grip on it, from the batters. For very young players, an open web is always best, but for pitchers about 11 years old and up, the closed web starts to become more important.   New gloves are too stiff. Here’s a way to soften one up, and form a good pocket:

Allow 5 to 14 days for the entire process, depending on the weather.       1. Immerse the entire glove in a bucket of warm to hot water for no more than a minute

(60 seconds). This will soften and seal the leather, leaving the padding inside as dry as  possible.

    2. After removing the glove from the water, squeeze out as much excess water as possible.     3. Now work the glove to limber and shape it. Do the following:

   A. Push the tops of the fingers down and toward the pocket to create a basket shape.    B. Work the little finger so that it turns out, away from the pocket.    C. Smooth all wrinkles out of the pocket.    D. Form the flex line of the glove along an axis away from the center line of the web   to

the hinge point of the heal under the little finger.    E. For 10 to 15 minutes, snap (quick, short throws) a 9" hardball into the glove to  form a

pocket while working the closing action along the axis described above. The pocket should be centered at the intersection of the bottom of the web and the

body of the glove. DO NOT form the pocket in the palm of the glove.    4. Place the ball in the newly-formed pocket, fold along the axis described above, making 

certain the little finger is laid open and DOES NOT wrap around the ball. Don’t wrapstring or laces around the glove.

    5. Prop the glove and ball in a “seated” position. Place in a warm location of your home, orin the trunk of your car in summer. Avoid direct heat and sunlight.

    6. Check the glove daily. Repeat steps 3 - 5 until the glove is at least 90% dry. When theglove is almost completely dry, lubricate thoroughly inside and out with Rawlings GloveSoftener; or equivalent. Follow label directions.

    7. Avoid use of Neetsfoot oil - it slowly rots the leather. Use the more modern softeners.     8. Glove is now ready to use. Lubricate it again in two weeks, and after the season ends

(before putting it in storage for next season).    9. Questions? Talk to Bob Nelson.

K.2 Bats 

Bats should be short and light. For the smallest kids out there, a lightweight 25-inch bat is about right. The biggest 7-year-olds can effectively swing, at most, a 28-inch bat. Older kids can handle a bigger bat, maybe up to a 30-incher for the oldest kids. Perhaps even a 31, for a really big 12-year-old. But be careful - parents tend to buy gloves that are too small and bats that are too big. Longer bats get dragged, rather than swung, through the strike zone. We’re looking for bat speed, so long bats are usually a liability. It’s probably OK to give your boy a bat that’s an inch too long, if he understands he will have to choke up on it for at least a year. The lightest aluminum bats are generally better quality, but cost more. It is also very good to have a wooden bat available for practice, leaving the aluminum bat for use only in games (see Section 5.2 on hitting).   Young kids have a tendency to believe that long, heavy bats are the most effective, but the opposite is closer to the real truth. Bat speed is the most important parameter, and too much length (especially) or weight slows down the bat. It’s better to err on the side of shortness or lightness than to go wrong the other way.

  RULE OF THUMB: A bat that is too long is a bigger liability than one that is too heavy. In other words, batters are more sensitive to length than weight. So if you can’t find just the right bat, go for one that is a bit too heavy, rather than one that is clearly too long.   For nearly all kids, it can be very effective for them to do their practicing with a wooden bat, and play their games with an aluminum bat. The wooden bat helps teach them to use a short, compact swing, and that gets more and more valuable as they progress to the more advanced levels of baseball. Young kids can start out with a wooden bat - these are less costly and parents can delay buying an aluminum bat until their young players have at least one or two year’s experience behind them. Just be sure to discard that wood bat if it gets cracked or broken; it constitutes a safety hazard at that point. 

K.3 Batting Gloves

For the very youngest players, batting gloves are usually a luxury, not a necessity. If the family budget permits, there is certainly no harm in a parent providing them. But until a player gets to be eight or nine years old, they’re not desperately needed.

When a player begins practicing with a wooden bat, however, things can change. He will develop better hitting skills with a wood bat than with an aluminum bat, but wood bats can sting the hands. The sting is due to vibration of the bat when it hits the ball. If a player begins to complain about using a wooden bat, it’s usually the sting that he is objecting to. Batting gloves can help solve that problem.   Because gloves make it easier to get a secure-feeling grip on the bat, they are also an aid in teaching that the grip should be rather loose, not vice-tight on the bat handle.  So for the very youngest players, batting gloves are not particularly necessary. But when your young players start to get serious about learning to hit well, and especially when they begin to concentrate on batting practice with a wood bat, batting gloves begin to make a lot of sense.  

K.4 Balls  A lot of the practice at home can be done with a safety ball. That will minimize the chance of injury, and also the chance of the legendary broken windows. One safety ball is the patented “Incrediball”, but there are others that are nearly identical.   Another good choice for practice is the “wiffle ball” - both the standard 9” size, and golf-ball size. They’re cheap, and rarely cause damage of any kind. On bad-weather days, you can even use them in the garage to sharpen hand-eye coordination. Boys can hit them off walls without hurting much of anything, and it really can boost their hitting skills.   There is a relatively new ball for T-Ball players, called the “Joost Ball”. At five dollars each, they are not cheap. I don’t have any experience with them yet, but they are said to delight the

very young players, because they go so much farther when hit. You might want to get one, and see how it works out. 

K.5 Sliding Pads

Sliding into a base can be hard on a player’s hide. The skin on the hips and upper legs can get badly abraded and bloody on a rough field. An energetic slide can actually put a player out of commission for a week or two, just because his skin is so badly bruised and abraded. Sliding pads can be a big help. They can be purchased at a sporting-goods store, but good ones can be made at home as well. If you go for the home-made variety, use heavy canvas or perhaps lightweight leather. Velcro strips will hold them in place very well.

 

K.6 Marking Your Equipment

Because kids have a tendency to be absent-minded from time to time, it’s a good idea to mark all your young player’s equipment with his name and phone number. A wood-burning pencil is a good device for marking gloves and wood bats. If you don’t have one, check with Bob Nelson. Aluminum bats can be marked by wrapping a distinctively-colored tape around the lower handle (right next to the knob), so they can at least be easily spotted from some distance away. You might also find an indelible pencil you can use to write name and phone number on them. All these marks should be checked occasionally, because they usually  rub off over a period of time.

 

K.7 Suppliers

Scheel’s may not be the best place to buy equipment. The choice is rather limited, and prices seem somewhat on the high side. Use their store to get acquainted with equipment characteristics, then check out the internet for better prices. Or if you’ll be in a really big population center before the season starts, check out the big sporting-goods stores there. If there are at least two big competitors in that city, prices may be quite a lot more attractive. Just remember when it comes to equipment try to factor in fit, quality and price.