Last time I shagged hardballs in the back yard my dog got hit in the head really hard with a baseball and staggered around for a few seconds.
― felicity, Monday, 14 April 2008 21:04 (sixteen years ago) link
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v134/tracerhand/DSCF0286.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v134/tracerhand/DSCF0292.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v134/tracerhand/DSCF0328.jpg
― Tracer Hand, Tuesday, 22 April 2008 07:43 (sixteen years ago) link
How did I miss this thread?
Where do you guys play, Tracer?
I'm starting my 3rd year of playing softball, for a team (loosely) affiliated with 3rnst and Y0ung, of all places. I've somehow fallen into pitching most of the time, 'tho I'd rather be pretty much anywhere else in the infield.
― G00blar, Tuesday, 22 April 2008 12:32 (sixteen years ago) link
!
― gabbneb, Tuesday, 22 April 2008 12:37 (sixteen years ago) link
I was the worst player in my Little League, they always put me in right field whenever I was played, but with two little incipient tomboys who drive by Shea Stadium (and the new one) all the time, am looking forward to getting involved in batting practice, etc.
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Tuesday, 22 April 2008 12:43 (sixteen years ago) link
^^^tough infield, don't forget yr cup
i played in a wood-bat league in dc a couple years ago. broke a lot of bats at first -- unsatisfyingly, too, cause they splintered slightly instead of exploding and impaling an infielder. i can still field, though my range is for shit. but my arm is horribly horribly nightmarishly inaccurate ;_;
― mookieproof, Tuesday, 22 April 2008 17:01 (sixteen years ago) link
My first year of little league I had zero hits for the entire season, but lead the league in HBP. In my second year I realized that I could pretty much get a hit every time by drag bunting towards third base and basically milked that trick all season because the other teams didn't have advanced scouting.
In my first year, the coach asked us what positions we wanted to play. I said Shortstop, and proceeded to make a terrific catch in our first practice, and then gradually they realized that I run like a slower Benji Molina and slowly moved me farther and farther away from the action.
Also, one time I told my coach "I'll get 'em next time" and he said "Yeah right."
― polyphonic, Tuesday, 22 April 2008 17:52 (sixteen years ago) link
"led" the league, rather.
― polyphonic, Tuesday, 22 April 2008 17:53 (sixteen years ago) link
whoa, ive very impressed tracer! i assumed what you were talking about was a lot more ramshackle than that. what sort of league is that?
― deeznuts, Tuesday, 22 April 2008 18:14 (sixteen years ago) link
i want sidewinders (not tucson) box scores
― mookieproof, Tuesday, 22 April 2008 18:28 (sixteen years ago) link
!!!! this is possibly the cruelest thing i've ever heard!
― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 23 April 2008 00:46 (sixteen years ago) link
Wasn't that a line in the Take No Prisoners version of "Coney Island Baby"?
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Wednesday, 23 April 2008 00:47 (sixteen years ago) link
for mookie, my 2 K's:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v134/tracerhand/DSCF0331.jpg
however - WE WON. and i tagged a guy out trying to steal.
deez it IS pretty ramshackle but yeah it's the british baseball federation:
http://www.baseballsoftballuk.com/baseballnews.php
― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 23 April 2008 00:51 (sixteen years ago) link
I would like to join a fast-pitch or hardball league, but I have no depth perception.
The last time I played in an actual game of baseball was sixth grade gym - kept striking out for the first few at bats so I switched to a longer, heavier bat with everyone laughing it up. Proceeded to make perfect contact, pulling the next pitch over the (high-school size) left field wall.
Retired immediately.
― milo z, Wednesday, 23 April 2008 00:54 (sixteen years ago) link
Tracer, if P. G. Wodehouse were alive today, he'd be writing about your team.
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Wednesday, 23 April 2008 00:56 (sixteen years ago) link
One of my summer team coaches would come up with the most terrifying/hilarious shit and we often couldn't tell whether he was joking or serious. A ball got past me in right field, which allowed a run to score, and he yelled "THAT'S YOUR RUN, K*LLM*N -- YOU'RE BRUTAL -- I THOUGHT YOU WERE AN ATHLETE." Another one of his favorites was "DON'T SCREW UP THIS TIME." He was a low-level scout for the Dodgers.
Heard a lot of awful stuff from fathers (and one mother) of much younger players (8-12), worse than Greg Kinnear's character in the newer Bad News Bears. Wish I could remember some of it.
― Andy K, Wednesday, 23 April 2008 02:04 (sixteen years ago) link
Look at all those walks and wild pitches!
― Andy K, Wednesday, 23 April 2008 02:10 (sixteen years ago) link
Tracer, are you trying to grow the 80s Red Sox facial hair? If so, kudos!
― David R., Wednesday, 23 April 2008 02:25 (sixteen years ago) link
Should grow one handlebar and change name to Tracer Fingers.
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Wednesday, 23 April 2008 02:27 (sixteen years ago) link
tracer, do you get paid to play
― cankles, Wednesday, 23 April 2008 03:30 (sixteen years ago) link
awesome
― mookieproof, Wednesday, 23 April 2008 03:57 (sixteen years ago) link
Congratulations to the Herts Spring League Division 2 champs The Sidewinders!
That score card looks so cool with the Japanese characters mixed in with the normal scoring symbols. Funny how they use a dot for runs instead of filling in the diamonds.
The coverage in the British Baseball Federation website is so adorably Americanized British.
"The Sidewinders got off to the best possible start by putting eight runs on the scoreboard in the top of the first inning."
teehee "on the scoreboard."
Tracer this is awesome. Do the Sidewinders have a John McGraw/Leo Durocher-esque player manager?
― felicity, Wednesday, 23 April 2008 06:06 (sixteen years ago) link
thank you! "our goal is to win all our games" as our language-school administrator and right fielder, eisuke says (the middle guy in the first photo up there).
we do not get paid to play, hahaha as if!! in fact, we have to pay the umpires and also we have to pay for club insurance, in case one of us hits an old lady in the head with a line drive.
yeah it was a sloppy game - first game of the season, everyone was very rusty, and as you can see the pitchers really hit a wall near the end. the dragons' big mistake was bringing in their relief pitcher though - he was garbage.
one thing i have learned all over again is there are probably 1000 gradations of excellence in baseball. i'm somewhere around 120, 130 out of 1000.
― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 23 April 2008 10:23 (sixteen years ago) link
So now you understand the units of the batting average.
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Wednesday, 23 April 2008 10:30 (sixteen years ago) link
if only i hit that well :/
― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 23 April 2008 12:51 (sixteen years ago) link
I wish I could play baseball!!
― Mark C, Wednesday, 23 April 2008 14:33 (sixteen years ago) link
I can hit 70mph cricket balls (sometimes)
for parts of middle school and high school, i went to an international school in new delhi, india. i loved it when we played baseball in gym; since i knew how to hold and swing the bat correctly, i was automatically about 50 times better than everyone else in my class, most of whom were like danish and malaysian
― n/a, Wednesday, 23 April 2008 14:40 (sixteen years ago) link
I played little league for a few years in grade school, but I had like zero self-confidence. Sure it was fun to be a part of a team and play in a league, but I was usually too shy to even swing at the ball, resulting in me being either the worst or second-to-worst hitter on each team I was on. The coaches usually stuck me in right field for three or four innings and then pulled me when I played the minimum requirement for each game. I believe I averaged two or three hits a season. However I did have one shining RBI moment when I hit a double off a relief pitcher, surprising everyone on both benches.
― Michael F Gill, Wednesday, 23 April 2008 16:42 (sixteen years ago) link
^ worth it
― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 23 April 2008 16:46 (sixteen years ago) link
I was fairly good in Little League, but never got any decent coaching/training. By high school I was a weak-armed 2nd baseman who stupidly let on that he knew how to keep a scorebook. So I never got to play -- the coach needed me to keep score. About 2/3 of the way through my first season I handed him my uniform and said "I signed up to play, not keep score." He was such an aggro asshole -- I think that took more courage than just about anything I ever did.
― Rock Hardy, Wednesday, 23 April 2008 16:50 (sixteen years ago) link
ha my sr year in HS a kid a class below me 'joined' the baseball team for the sole purpose of being the scorekeeper (he had little interest in baseball). i made fun of him for this for about 2 weeks before becoming v envious (because by that point i was going as a spectator to all the home games + some of the away ones anyway).
― deeznuts, Wednesday, 23 April 2008 18:25 (sixteen years ago) link
I wish I had kept playing in high school, I was pretty good (relatively) in little league. I was my own Retrosheet, too, I remember diligently recording my stats after each game. One year, when I was like 10 or so, I realized I was hitting so well that I should try to flex my power. Three massive uppercut swinging strikeouts later I was back to line drives.
I haven't got the first clue about how to go about getting onto a team now, anyone in NYC have ideas?
― mattbot, Wednesday, 23 April 2008 18:53 (sixteen years ago) link
worse than Greg Kinnear's character in the newer Bad News Bears
Kinnear played Vic Morrow?!?
― Dr Morbius, Wednesday, 23 April 2008 19:23 (sixteen years ago) link
The equivalent, yeah.
― Andy K, Wednesday, 23 April 2008 19:28 (sixteen years ago) link
dude i just found out that one of our players (the guy with the goatee) was on the same high school team as fukodome!!
― Tracer Hand, Thursday, 24 April 2008 12:25 (sixteen years ago) link
fukudome
you might impress him by pronouncing it "hoo koo dough meh"
― Steve Shasta, Thursday, 24 April 2008 15:17 (sixteen years ago) link
why would mispronouncing his name be impressive?
― Tracer Hand, Thursday, 24 April 2008 15:20 (sixteen years ago) link
two caps to the ...
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Thursday, 24 April 2008 15:22 (sixteen years ago) link
that's how you pronounce it! it would be more impressive than misspelling his name, that's for sure.
― Steve Shasta, Thursday, 24 April 2008 15:35 (sixteen years ago) link
nyc metro baseball league
― mookieproof, Thursday, 24 April 2008 16:47 (sixteen years ago) link
If you were born in August, you have no excuse for failing to make the Show.
http://www.slate.com/id/2188866/
The magical date of Aug. 1 gives a strong hint as to the explanation for this phenomenon. For more than 55 years, July 31 has been the age-cutoff date used by virtually all nonschool-affiliated baseball leagues in the United States. Youth baseball organizations including Little League, Cal Ripken/Babe Ruth, PONY, Dixie Youth, Hap Dumont, Dizzy Dean, American Legion, and more have long used that date to determine which players are eligible for which levels of play. (There is no such commonly used cutoff date in Latin America.) The result: In almost every American youth league, the oldest players are the ones born in August, and the youngest are those with July birthdays.
― Dr Morbius, Thursday, 24 April 2008 19:00 (sixteen years ago) link
steve, my buddy pronounced it with an "F" at the beginning though! i assume he knows what he's talking about
― Tracer Hand, Friday, 25 April 2008 10:03 (sixteen years ago) link
"NY Beers" - sounds like my kinda team
― Tracer Hand, Friday, 25 April 2008 10:04 (sixteen years ago) link
They use the same letter for 'h' and 'f' but that doesn't mean every Japanese person pronounces an 'f' like an 'h'- They don't call France "Huransu."
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Friday, 25 April 2008 10:42 (sixteen years ago) link
OK, I asked someone who knows a lot more than me. "Fu" is in the row of "h" sounds, but it is actually pronounced more like "fu" than "hu."
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Friday, 25 April 2008 10:50 (sixteen years ago) link
"fu" and "hu" are identical in japanese pronunciation... there is no distinction in the syllabaries.
― Steve Shasta, Friday, 25 April 2008 16:18 (sixteen years ago) link
but that said, i think people might pronounce things differently to english speakers.
― Steve Shasta, Friday, 25 April 2008 16:20 (sixteen years ago) link
Never played but this thread is sooo awesomes keep up the good work, esp. Tracer!!!
felicity, pls to tell if doggy is a-ok??
― Leee, Friday, 25 April 2008 20:24 (sixteen years ago) link
Back in my Amoeba days we used to play a yearly softball game between the two stores (before the LA store opened). I think our team generally got whooped.
― polyphonic, Friday, 25 April 2008 20:32 (sixteen years ago) link
Speaking only of softball here. 2nd is my primary position and indeed it is fun. You don't get a whole lot of balls your way so you won't tank your team if you're having a bad night but you usually get like 4-6 plays plus you get to attempt double plays sometimes (key word here is attempt). Also the throw to 1st is much shorter which is important, you don't often sky it over the 1B's head like so many SS and 3B's do. In their defense a slow hit ball to the left side of the diamond is really tough to hurt into an out if the runner is fast at all.
― Maggie killed Quagmire (collest baby ever) (frogbs), Wednesday, 20 August 2014 20:53 (ten years ago) link
it would be a little awkward on balls hit to your right, but jeez it's not the majors -- make them let you play third or short sometime
it's less the catching and more the turning my ass to the plate to throw the ball that makes it tough... i occasionally try it but it fucks w my throw pretty bad
― Neckbread (Will M.), Wednesday, 20 August 2014 23:28 (ten years ago) link
yeah, that's what i meant -- you definitely don't want to be moving to your right, and a total spin takes time and will fuck you up. but maybe guard the line a little bit at third/circle the ball a little bit at short so that you're at least moving toward first. still have to turn slightly to get your arm clear, but it's not at all insurmountable
― mookieproof, Thursday, 21 August 2014 01:22 (ten years ago) link
From what I understand playing 2nd is harder than 3rd at major league level, but from personal experience, mainly because of the throw to first, 2nd base is easier.
― Van Horn Street, Thursday, 21 August 2014 04:33 (ten years ago) link
in rec leagues/beer softball leagues etc playing third is much more difficult because the majority of right-handed hitters pull the ball and the fact that there are very few double play opportunities
― k3vin k., Thursday, 21 August 2014 13:53 (ten years ago) link
VHS - send me a webmail! I'll give you all the details. we're playing sunday at 11am :)
― Neckbread (Will M.), Thursday, 21 August 2014 14:25 (ten years ago) link
I remember 3rd being the most nerve-wracking position I played in my yout' and 2nd being the hardest work.
― Cindy Operahouse (WilliamC), Thursday, 21 August 2014 15:18 (ten years ago) link
yeah the ball comes in a lot hotter and it's a tough throw because you don't get much time to get set and it's way too easy to miss the 1B and give up an extra base.
― Maggie killed Quagmire (collest baby ever) (frogbs), Thursday, 21 August 2014 15:20 (ten years ago) link
i have recently once again started to play baseball, in the back of our house with our six yr old. We started by playing catch with those sticky flat velcro mitts and he's throwing apparently extremely well for a kid his age. i had no context for it until his teacher told me he was really good.
he imitates Kris Bryant at the plate now. Last week he had a breakthrough w/r/t keeping his right foot fairly well-planted and he's started sending lasers past my ear. he's also demanding that i throw my sad imitation of "fastballs" and he's starting to hit those pretty well.
we're using a small foam baseball, so we don't kill anyone or break anything, and i keep telling him it's good to try and hit the smaller ball since it's helping his hand/eye coordination.
it's fun! i get all misty like field of dreams sometimes but that's just a dad thing.
― omar little, Tuesday, 6 March 2018 19:02 (six years ago) link
time for some switch-hitting!
― mookieproof, Tuesday, 6 March 2018 19:10 (six years ago) link
sounds like he's getting pretty confident – might want to send a little chin music his way!
― Mad Piratical (The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall), Tuesday, 6 March 2018 19:50 (six years ago) link
I already told him that when a player is hit by a pitch, sometimes they attack the pitcher. He seemed mortified but then I plunked him and he chased me around waving the bat.
― omar little, Tuesday, 6 March 2018 20:00 (six years ago) link
has he been to a batting cage?
― and in my opinionation, the sun is gonna surely shine♪♫ (Karl Malone), Tuesday, 6 March 2018 20:05 (six years ago) link
they often have special machines for smaller kids that pitch relatively slowly and/or use softer balls
― and in my opinionation, the sun is gonna surely shine♪♫ (Karl Malone), Tuesday, 6 March 2018 20:06 (six years ago) link
hmm i should check that out. i'm still trying to get him out of the occasional habit of diving forward as he swings, he's hit the ball a couple times off his hands.
he tried switch-hitting a couple times and hit the ball, i didn't start from the left side til i was in middle school so he's way ahead of me.
― omar little, Tuesday, 6 March 2018 20:09 (six years ago) link
<3
― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Tuesday, 6 March 2018 23:59 (six years ago) link
omar, wd like to see footage of kid goin' Piazza on your Alejandro Pena
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 7 March 2018 17:10 (six years ago) link
ha speaking of Mike, after he chased me around (as described upthread) i told him that whenever a batter fights someone he's not supposed to bring his bat (i didn't talk about Marichal) but mentioned once a pitcher threw a bat at a guy "on accident" and he said "i think it was on purpose."
― omar little, Friday, 9 March 2018 23:40 (six years ago) link
lol otm
― mookieproof, Saturday, 10 March 2018 00:17 (six years ago) link
Wanted to buy two new non-used gloves, one for a gift and one for myself but boy these are very expensive.
― Van Horn Street, Monday, 23 July 2018 20:01 (six years ago) link
nice gloves are so expensive. i got a nokona amg 1200 a few years back on super clearance (i think it was like 75% off) from a random sports store that was closing. consider myself lucky on that one.
― InfoWarriors (Spottie), Monday, 23 July 2018 20:21 (six years ago) link
I use the same glove I've had for ~25 years, but the Brooklyn Cyclones' pregame catch on the field promos appear to be over for the season, so it may not get used this summer.
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Monday, 23 July 2018 20:39 (six years ago) link
yeah if you invest in a nice glove hopefully it's a one time purchase that lasts a lifetime.
― InfoWarriors (Spottie), Monday, 23 July 2018 20:41 (six years ago) link
I've had the same glove I've used since high school. it's holding up well but I'd be devastated if I had to get a new one!
― k3vin k., Monday, 23 July 2018 20:48 (six years ago) link
i had a wilson a3000 -- technically an outfielder's glove, but i used it in the infield -- that ultimately fell apart on the inside, and it was gonna be more to fix than get a new glove : /
― mookieproof, Monday, 23 July 2018 21:09 (six years ago) link
sad
― InfoWarriors (Spottie), Monday, 23 July 2018 21:20 (six years ago) link
Have a really big (like 15 inch?) Mizuno I got at the swap meet for about 20 bucks and it rules. I do use it to play infield sometimes.
― timellison, Monday, 23 July 2018 21:34 (six years ago) link
good for first base!
― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Monday, 23 July 2018 21:37 (six years ago) link