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You have read Shanley's Corner. Now read these famous baseball quotes: Baseball is our national pastime, that is if you discount political campaigning. Ronald Reagan Baseball? It's just a game - as simple as a ball and a bat. Yet, as complex as the American spirit it symbolizes. It's a sport, business - and sometimes even religion. Ernie Harwell in 1955 With those who don't give a damn about baseball, I can only sympathize. I do not resent them. I am even willing to concede that many of them are physically clean, good to their mothers and in favor of world peace. But while the game is on, I can't think of anything to say to them. Art Hill in I Don't Care If I Never Come Back Say this much for big league baseball - it is beyond question the greatest conversation piece ever invented in America. Bruce Catton, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Baseball is almost the only orderly thing in a very unorderly world. If you get three strikes, even the best lawyer in the world can't get you off. Bill Veeck Baseball, it is said, is only a game. True. And the Grand Canyon is only a hole in Arizona. George F. Will When he hit it, I knew that it was my ball. But I had to catch it and it seemed like the hardest catch of my life. I said to myself, 'Two hands, just like your dad taught you.' Darin Erstad on catching the final out in Game 7 Grantland Rice, the great sportswriter once said, 'It's not whether you win or lose, it's how you play the game.' Well Grantland Rice can go to hell as far as I'm concerned. Gene Autry What does a mama bear on the pill have in common with the World Series? No cubs. Harry Caray People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring. Rogers Hornsby You spend a good piece of your life gripping a baseball, and in the end it turns out that it was the other way around all the time. Jim Bouton in Ball Four It's designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything is new again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains comes, it stops, and leaves you to face the fall alone. A. Bartlett Giamatti, former Comissioner of Baseball A hot dog at the ball park is better than steak at the Ritz. Humphrey Bogart The other sports are just sports. Baseball is a love. Bryant Gumbel Nothing flatters me more than to have it assumed that I could write prose, unless it be to have it assumed that I once pitched a baseball with distinction. Robert Frost You teach me baseball and I'll teach you relativity...No we must not. You will learn about relativity faster than I learn baseball. Albert Einstein It’s still the best game in town because you don’t have to be big to play, and everybody plays. Even your grandmother probably played baseball. Tommy Lasorda
What I've Learned From Baseball by Coach John Peter
Posted by Patrick Piteo at Nov 25, 2002 4:00PM PST
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The game of baseball is infinitely more complex than most give it credit for. Most that I have learned about baseball is common sense…but each lesson took someone with more common sense than I to point it out. For Dads with Kids The 1st lesson a boy needs to be taught is how to love the game! This starts young and are the memories that keep them going through the inevitable hard times. How?… Take him to Spring Training, to Cooperstown, to a High School game, play catch with him on Christmas day (even if it is out in the snow). For Pitchers Pitchers are made in the off season! Yes, this was in the last issue...it is that important and bears repeating! For Coaches Long Toss, done properly, will do more to developing a strong, healthy arm than most anything else I know.
Question: I am shopping for a new bat for my son. He is 11 years old, medium height and build, with above average bat speed. How heavy should his bat be? As a personal hitting instructor and a former high school coach, I've been asked this question many times. Choosing the correct bat size isn't easy. There is no hard and fast rule about how to figure it out. It depends on many variables: the player's size, bat speed, swing type, and confidence at the plate. In the end, the best way to find the right bat size is to try out a few different ones. Have your son use the bat of a few teammates in batting practice or a game situation. He'll find the right size soon enough.However, there is one thing to be on the lookout for. Each year, bats become lighter thanks to advances in technology. This typically results in younger players using bats that are of the same weight, but a few inches longer than they should be. Consider this: many 12-year olds use 30-32 inch bats because they usually weigh close to 20 ounces. In contrast, Tony Gwynn used a 32 inch bat for most of his major league career. I believe in most cases, many common hitting problems (wrapping, hitching, slow bat speed) can be solved by using a slightly shorter bat.
From Wrigley Field to the White House Ronald Reagan was the 40th President of the United States, but his career path began as a radio announcer for the Chicago Cubs in 1933 with radio station WHO in Des Moines, Iowa. As the station’s chief sports announcer, Reagan broadcast studio recreations of the Cubs’ home games based on telegraph reports from Wrigley Field. Aside from the bare facts, he used his imagination to tell the story of a game taking place 335 miles away. Reagan was well known for an improvisation he did in 1934 when the wire went dead during the ninth inning of a scoreless Cubs-Cardinals game. Handed a note that simply stated, “The wire has gone dead,” he smoothly provided a fictional play-by-play until the ticker was restored six minutes later. Did You Know? Since the White Sox won the 1917 World Series, no Chicago team has won a postseason series in 14 tries. In the spring of 1937, while attending spring training on Catalina Island with the Cubs, Reagan he made a screen test for the Warner Bros. movie studio, which would soon lead to a career change. “One day at Catalina, Charlie Grimm, the Cubs' manager bawled me out for not even showing up at the practice field. How could I tell him that somewhere within myself was the knowledge I would no longer be a sports announcer,” he said. By June 7, he reported back to the studio to appear in his first film. In 1940 he played the role of George “The Gipper” Gipp in the film Knute Rockne All American, from which he uttered the famous line: “Some day, when things are tough, maybe you can ask the boys to go in there and win just one for the Gipper.” In 1952, he played Hall of Fame pitching legend Grover Cleveland Alexander in The Winning Team. Reagan's movie career spanned more than 20 years and over 50 movies. By 1966 Reagan had left Hollywood for the Governor’s mansion in Sacramento, California. The Republican became President in 1981, and served for two terms, during which he kept an active interest in the game. For starters, he signed a proclamation naming May of 1983 National Amateur Baseball Month. On September 30, 1988 he finally got to announce a game from Wrigley Field. After throwing out the first pitch, Reagan broadcast 1 1/2 innings of the Pirates-Cubs game on the radio, telling legendary broadcast partner Harry Caray, “You know in a few months I'm going to be out of work and I thought I might as well audition.” Six months after he left the office he attended the 1989 All Star game and did some more broadcasting. From the announcing booth to the big screen and the Presidency, one thing has remained constant: Although Reagan is the longest-lived person to have served as President (age 91 as of 2002), his beloved Cubs have yet to win a World Series in his lifetime.
Amateur, Youth & High School Coaches
Posted by Patrick Piteo at Nov 25, 2002 4:00PM PST
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Join a great baseball organization! The National High School Baseball Coaches Association is a service organization assisting high school coaches and their programs with recognition, an annual convention, and publications, including the popular 10-issue EXTRA INNINGS newspaper. Check out and join the BCA at www.baseballcoaches.org Coach JP: The dues aren't much and the benefits are great. Also -- If you are in driving distance of St. Louis, you will even be able to visit the annual convention. The exhibit hall and coaches lectures are truly top flight! Baseball Coaches Association Phone: 479/876-2591 Fax: 479/876-2596
