Posted on: March 26, 2010 by admin
Off the field lives can really end up in the press more often than on the field lives when it comes to some players. Why is it that some players just seem to be in the habit of showing up front page of the news with some big off the field moment. Without naming names of course, players tend to be watched carefully by the media for starters. Once they do something that seems a little off, the press is all over it. If that event were to happen to most people nobody would care. But because these guys are in the news and sports celebrities, they tend to get a ton of attention.
They key for players really seems in balancing their off the field life with their on the field life. The season is very long and there is tons of time there for the two to clash at times. For most fans it is distracting. These guys get paid a ton of money and for fans they expect them to carry their team to the championship. There can be nothing worse for a team to have an odd man out when it comes to trouble. The more gelled a team is the better chance they have in winning.
Posted on: March 18, 2010 by admin
Just recently in the news was the announcement of John Smoltz heading to Turner Sports to become an announcer. Smoltz just recently retired and has played in the MLB as a pitcher for over 22 seasons, which is quite amazing for any player, much less a pitcher. His love for the game certainly continues off the field as a reporter. Not all players are cut from the same cloth though. Not every player will end up in the sport in the same way. Some may end up reporters or announcers like Smoltz; some may end up business men owning restaurants or some other sort of business. Many players do like to remain in the game though. Some end up team owners and some even end up head coaches themselves. Even Mark McGuire ended up a hitting coach in the MLB despite his past drug use. Once you find you have a love for the game, you have trouble leaving it.
Do you think Smoltz will make a good announcer? Many people seem to think he is just right for the position. Only time will tell how he performs and equally how he enjoys it. But after 22 years pitching, I would not expect to see him back on the mound.
Posted on: March 15, 2010 by admin
Swinging for the fences seems to be the thing to do now in the MLB. For the last couple of decades, the focus for many hitters has been hitting home runs. Some even have sacrificed their own bodies by taking steroids in order to achieve greater home run numbers. But the ones that are not breaking the rules still try and hit more and more home runs every year. But is it really wise? Certainly there are many power hitters in the game. Better yet, there are hitters with consistently high averages that can still hit over 20 homers a year. But what caused the US to lose in the World championships a few years back was just good old fashioned error free ball by Japan. They won the game with no power hitting, just amazing fielding, smart base running and good get on base hitting. They knew if their pitching could keep them in the game, they would need very few runs to win. Every batter that got on base was precious, no matter how they got there. Home runs can be great, but a bit over-rated at times. What is your opinion, would baseball still be as exciting with half as many home runs per year?
Posted on: March 9, 2010 by admin
Off topic somewhat for this post, did you or possibly even your kids ever play little league baseball? What was your experience with the coaching? It seems within youth ball that the coaches range from the very inexperienced to the strict and dedicated coach. Certainly the discipline that baseball can provide young kids can be beneficial for some. It can teach them concentration, agility skills and good eye/hand coordination. But what happens when coaches go just too far. Certainly most people would be fooling themselves if they did not say they wanted their kids to win. Yet if they lose, it should never be the end of the world, only that they try their best. But when teaching children, coaches must find that fine line between great coaching and not becoming an over bearing tyrant. It can be good if your child is taught by such a great coach, but just because they may be experienced does not make them good. It can also be really tough on kids to end up with coaches that have no business being on the field.
Keep in mind, baseball should always be fun for the kids no matter how hard they must work at it. If they have lost the joy in playing, then maybe they are ready to move on to other things.