Looking at the Game of Baseball from all ends of the Spectrum
Man, this 5-year old kid can really hit the ball. Apparently, he can field, too.
I almost feel for him. He’s doomed to a life of pressure, over-bearing adults, hype and over-expectations and he’s not even in first grade yet.
Deadspin pretty much sums it up:
You’ll have to watch the video to see Ortiz salivating at the idea and the dollar signs in his eye.
Go have a life, kid.
Youth Sports Parents describes a dramatic comeback at the Tee Ball World Series.
T.J. McCants, 7, slugged a home run. This capped a nine-run rally. And in the championship game, Cantonment upended Northeast Pensacola Blue, 31-29. That’s right – 31-29.
My thoughts:
They have a Tee Ball World Series? They have winners and losers? They actually keep score?
That’s a different Tee Ball than the one my kids played.
Either case, congrats to Master McCants and his team. That homerun must have been a sight to see.
No one knows who actually exactly invented the game of T-ball. But many credit Sacharski for popularizing it in his hometown of Albion, Wisconsin where he was teacher and coach. It is said that here in Albion is where it was first played as an organized sport.
US Rep. Nick Smith even offered a tribute to Jerome Sacharski for his contributions:
“After he started teaching, Jerry took it upon himself in 1954 to head up the Albion recreation department’s summer baseball program,” Smith said at the time. “Because of this position, he was able to see the lack of opportunity for younger children that two years later would drive him to develop one of the largest innovations in youth sports.”
T-ball is similar in so many ways to baseball yet made simpler for younger kids by giving them a fighting chance to hit the ball by hitting a ball off a tee rather than a thrown ball. Today, millions of boys and girls play the game which emphasizes fairness and education of the game over competition.
So for all the parents (and for that matter, kids who have grown up) out there going back all those years, I say thanks Mr Sacharski. That tee made it sooo much easier to hit.
I was flipping around the TV dial last night trying to find something worthwhile to watch. It was getaway day so most of the baseball games ended early. The first football game of the new season was over. The only thing on was the Republican Presidential Convention in Minnesota, don’t know how the Metrodome didn’t explode from all the hot air, four more years, sheeesh, didn’t we get enough over the last eight years? Seriously, if you truly believe you’re better off than you were eight years ago, these poor kids are fighting an unwinnable war (how do you know when you’ve defeated terror?), all the big corporations are getting huge tax breaks & moving jobs out of the country, the deficit is growing larger every second with China buying our debt & selling us all their junk, the middle class is being squeezed out of the picture, and Big Brother is watching with cameras on every street corner. And we’re worried about Mexicans coming across the border to pick our produce, women being told they can’t make a decision about their own bodies, and whether Adam & Steve should wed and be as miserable as the straight marrieds. Don’t get me started!
Well I finally found worthwhile TV on the Comedy Network where South Park was airing a classic episode of their Little League team trying to lose rather than having to keep on playing boring baseball. Below is a recap of the episode, but my description doesn’t do it justice. If you ever get the chance, watch it!
The boys of South Park are involved in a Little League baseball team, despite the fact that they all hate the sport; they play because of the enthusiasm of their parents. When they win their final game they are initially elated, thinking the season is over, but then discover to their horror that they have to continue playing in the state championships. They decide to lose their next game, and thereby get out of the running for the championship, but the teams they oppose have exactly the same idea. They compete with Fort Collins, Greeley, and Pueblo (shown as being full of Mexicans). While trying desperately to lose, they manage again and again to beat the other team, whose efforts at throwing the game are more effective.
Meanwhile, Stan’s father, Randy, has taken up the hobby of being a “trash talking dad,” being generally obnoxious at every game so as to get into fights with other, equally obnoxious fathers. While training to be the best fighter he can be, he becomes terrified when he meets the Denver team’s “Bat Dad,” who wears a purple Batman cowl and cape, is much bigger than him, and behaves like an over-the-top professional wrestler. He decides not to attend his son’s game, as Stan and the others play the Denver game, which, if they win, will force them to waste the whole summer in the national circuit. The team drafts Kyle’s stereotypically Jewish cousin, Kyle Schwartz (distinguished in a previous episode as “Kyle One”) to join their team, knowing he is terrible at any sport. Even this strategy fails to work as the pitcher hits Kyle’s bat with the ball, resulting in a ground ball and subsequent home run after Kyle rounds the bases with no effort from Denver to throw him out. The kids realize that while they were practicing being bad, the other team got “really good at sucking” – they can even “bat themselves out,” purposely hitting pitches directly into South Park fielders’ gloves. Just as it seems the South Park team is sure to win, Stan’s dad shows up and begins harassing Bat Dad. The two get into a huge brawl that spills onto the field, and the umpires declare that if either man continues to fight their team will be disqualified. With the encouragement of his son and his team (though he doesn’t really know why) and other illusionary people in his head (including Mickey Goldmill from Rocky), Randy gets up and keeps fighting, and the South Park team is disqualified, leaving victorious Denver to go to the national circuit. Stan tells his father, “You’re the greatest,” as he is led away in handcuffs by the police in his underwear. After hearing that, Randy jumps for joy as the song “You’re the Best” plays.
Michelle Gallien is the daughter of one of my good friends Doreen. This past fall Michelle was in China representing the USA at the Special Olympics. Today Michelle will be honored before the Red Sox game at Fenway Park and she will throw out the first pitch. You can read all about Michelle’s trip to China by clicking here.
Michelle leads a life kind of like Forrest Gump, she’s always doing incredible things, despite her disability. She holds down two jobs, is a black belt in karate, watches the daily news without fail, and is always looking for someone to help along the way. She has gone on several cruises with her mother and after her trip to China, she went on a vacation to Mexico. I’m so very excited to see the Red Sox taking the time to recognize Michelle Gallien. Michelle’s the best! Throw Michelle Throw!!!
This is a game I’d had every intention on attending. I’ve been asking everybody at US Cellular Field, “When’s the Public League Championship game going to be?” Nobody could tell me, I guess I should have asked Caramel Corn Mike, I’m sure he was out there behind home plate selling his caramel corn, only feet from where I’d have been standing, had I only known.
The game was May 27th at US Cellular Field, the same day as the NCAA Division III Championship was taking place in Appleton, WI. But I was in Chicago, having returned from Waupaca, WI the day before. I’ve always had strong ties to the Chicago Public League, having represented Spalding High School, back in the day, on the chess team.
This contest featured Whitney Young trying to repeat as champs versus Lake View. My girlfriend when I was in 7th grade lived next door to Lake View at Irving Park & Ashland, on the northside. Young is a magnet school on the southside, you have to be really smart to go there.
Lake View scored in the first inning when Deion Geiger singled home Carlos Ruiz with the first run of the ballgame. The lead held up until the top of the 5th when Young’s Jack Cinoman reached on an error. Valmer Jordan laid down a bunt, the pitcher field it, but his throw caromed into centerfield, sending the runners to 2nd & 3rd. A fake squeeze play was called, the pitcher balked in a run, moments later a wild pitch plated another.
Joe Frahm kept the Lake View hitters off balance all day with a steady diet of offspeed stuff was the winner for Young over tough luck loser, Geiger. Final score Whitney Young 2, Lake View 1.
I found out today that a graduate student in my building plays on a barnstorming baseball team called the Jitterbugs. From the Jitterbugs web page: The Jitterbugs are a barnstorming baseball team, the brainchild of Murdock native Lucas Stock, composed of players from all across Nebraska. In its whirlwind season, the team is playing more … Continue reading “Jitterbugs barnstormers”
I found out today that a graduate student in my building plays on a barnstorming baseball team called the Jitterbugs.
From the Jitterbugs web page:
The Jitterbugs are a barnstorming baseball team, the brainchild of Murdock native Lucas Stock, composed of players from all across Nebraska. In its whirlwind season, the team is playing more than a dozen games against town and Legion teams in parks as far east as the Missouri and as far west as the Sandhills. Following in the footsteps of Lucas’s uncles, who traveled the state playing baseball over half a century ago, the Jitterbugs are dedicated to reviving the fun and community of small town baseball.
Check out their web page. Yes, it has photos and stats but the blog entries are well written.