How to Teach Baseball Catching to 5-7 Year Olds

We'll show you how to teach 5-7 year olds how to catch a baseball.

Coaching Youth Baseball Catching Drills & Skills

How to teach a young player how to catch through safe, repetitive drills that build player confidence. The video shows the development of a 5 yr old player catching pretty well and learning a little bit about baseball.

Hustle made Pete Rose respected, infamous..."Charlie Hustle"

Images of Pete Rose on the baseball field flash as vibrantly as his quick-talk personality.

Rose, the major-league career hits leader with 4,256, was admired by fans by not only what he accomplished but how he did it.

He played the game with childish joy, exuberance at odds with the disgrace of a lifetime suspension from baseball, a ban that has kept him from induction into the Hall of Fame.

Rose visuals: Pounding the top of his batting helmet with his fist. Crouching at the plate. Whipping the bat quickly with his compact swing, sending the ball on a line. Sprinting to first base after a walk. Running the bases, thick legs churning, cap flying off. Belly-flopping into a base, face full of dirt.

Smooth? Sleek? Graceful? Not Rose. "Charlie Hustle" had no time for style points. He came only to win. Former Cincinnati Reds teammate Jack Billingham said, "Pete might go 0-for-4, but if we'd win the game, he'd be the happiest guy in the clubhouse."

Rose's philosophy: "Somebody's got to win, and somebody's got to lose, and I believe in letting the other guy lose."

Rose led his hometown Reds to two World Series triumphs (and four pennants) and helped the Philadelphia Phillies to one Series win (and two pennants). He won three batting titles, produced a National League record 44-game hitting streak in 1977, and broke Ty Cobb's 57-year-old career hits record in 1985.

His biggest loss came in 1989 when commissioner Bart Giamatti suspended him for gambling on baseball. Rose also had been suspended for 30 days by Giamatti the previous season for shoving an umpire.

He was born April 14, 1941 in Cincinnati, the third of four children. His father Harry, who played semipro baseball and football, and his uncle, Buddy Bloebaum, helped him become a switch-hitter.

"The ability Pete had was nothing compared to a Ted Williams," said Rose's Knothole League coach, Don Grothaus. "He just worked harder at it."

Despite weighing 140 pounds, Rose showed more potential in football than baseball at Western Hills High School. Bloebaum, a Reds scout, led Cincinnati to take a chance on Rose, an infielder who started in Geneva, N.Y.

In his first pro season, 1960, Rose batted .277 and led his Class D league in errors. He lifted weights, gaining bulk and strength, and blossomed the next year. In 1963, the player who was known as "Hollywood" in the minors became the Reds' second baseman and hit .273, winning Rookie of the Year honors.

Two years later, Rose delivered 209 hits and batted .312, the first of his 10 seasons with 200-plus hits and the first of 15 years hitting at least .300. He was durable, too, getting more than 600 at-bats for 17 of his 24 seasons. He appeared in 3,562 games and had 14,053 at-bats, both major-league records.

Rose was no natural talent, but at 5-foot-11 and 200 pounds, he had a body for wear. "I'm built like my dad. Stocky, strong," said Rose, who had 27-inch thighs. "My body is my best asset."

Never a great fielder, he was versatile enough to play second, third and first base and the outfield. He also had extraordinary eyes, picking up pitches by the spin of the ball. Though no intellectual, he showed an uncanny ability to recall pitchers' traits and many kinds of statistics, particularly his own.

Most of all, he played hard. "I don't mind lazy players," he said, "as long as they're on the other side."

Typifying his style, he scored the winning run for the National League in the 1970 All-Star Game by slamming into catcher Ray Fosse in the 12th inning, injuring Fosse's shoulder. In the 1973 playoffs, Rose's rambunctious play again made headlines when he crashed into New York Mets shortstop Buddy Harrelson in trying to break up a double play, starting a bench-clearing melee. The next day a pumped-up Rose homered in the 12th to win the game.

By the mid-1970s, Rose, Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan and Tony Perez were the leaders of the Big Red Machine, one of sports' legendary teams. Rose was the MVP in 1973 when he hit .338 to win his third batting title and had a career-high 230 hits.

In 1975, the Reds beat the Red Sox in a celebrated World Series that included a Game 6 thriller won by Boston's Carlton Fisk's home run. Afterward, Rose marveled at that game's drama. "Wasn't that the greatest game you've ever seen?" he asked his manager, Sparky Anderson. "Wasn't it fun?"

Rose batted .370 in the Series and was the MVP. The following season, he batted .323, and the Reds swept the Yankees for another title.

On May 5, 1978, he became the 13th player to reach 3,000 hits when he singled off the Montreal Expos' Steve Rogers. Later that season he broke Tommy Holmes' modern-day NL record 37-game hitting streak. His single off the Mets' Craig Swan extended his string to 38 games.

With media hordes following him, Rose gave chase to Joe DiMaggio's major-league record of 56. He passed Cobb's best streak, 40 games, and went after Wee Willie Keeler's 44, the all-time league record. His sixth-inning single off the Braves' Phil Niekro stretched the streak to 44, but Rose cautioned, "It's a long way from 44 to 56."

And so it was. Larry McWilliams and Gene Garber stopped him the next game, Rose going 0-for-4 despite hitting the ball hard twice. Garber struck him out to end the streak, throwing him a fastball that Rose tried to bunt, then two sliders and two changeups. "I suppose it's a load off my shoulders," said Rose, who batted .385 during the streak, "but we got beat 16-4 and I don't feel relieved about anything."

A free agent after the 1978 season, he signed with Philadelphia in December and played there five seasons. He went to Montreal in 1984 and got his 4,000th hit, a double off the Phillies' Jerry Koosman. In August 1984, Rose returned to Cincinnati as player-manager.

On Sept. 8, 1985, in Chicago, Rose singled twice off the Cubs' Reggie Patterson, moving even with Cobb at 4,191 hits. On Sept. 11 in Cincinnati, 57 years to the day of Cobb's final game, Rose singled off San Diego's Eric Show for the record. He was greeted on the field by his 15-year-old son, Pete Rose II, who later would briefly play for the Reds.

The sellout crowd of 47,237 applauded for seven minutes, bringing Rose to tears. "I was doing all right until I looked up and started thinking about my father," said Rose, whose dad died in 1970. "I saw him up there. Right behind him was Ty Cobb."

Rose played through the 1986 season, but continued as Reds manager. He finished with a .303 batting average, 160 homers, 1,314 runs batted in and 198 steals. His 2,165 runs scored are fourth all-time.

In the eighties, Rose gambled heavily on several sports, and by most accounts, lost large sums. Amid reports that Rose had bet on baseball while Reds manager, he was questioned in February 1989 by outgoing commissioner Peter Ueberroth and his replacement, Giamatti. Three days later, lawyer John Dowd was retained to investigate charges against Rose.

The Dowd Report asserted that Rose bet on 52 Reds' games in 1987, a minimum of $10,000 a day. On August 24, 1989, he was banned from baseball permanently, though he was eligible to apply for reinstatement in one year. Rose, with a 412-373 record, was replaced by Tommy Helms as manager.

Rose was found guilty of federal tax evasion in 1990 and served five months in jail and three months in a Cincinnati halfway house.

Rose stays in contact with the game he played with such passion as a sports talk-show host.
Source: http://espn.go.com/sportscentury/features/00016443.html

Recent MLB Draft picks from Mass. high schools

The first round of the Major League Baseball Draft commences tonight with the first round, and ends Saturday following the 40th round of selections. A few local names are expected to get selected over the next few days, including Springfield Central shortstop Isan Diaz and Xaverian/Salisbury (Conn.) righthander Austin DeCarr. 

Here's a rundown of the selections of prospects selected out of Massachusetts high schools since 2000: 

(NOTE: No Massachusetts high schoolers were selected in 2013) 

2012 
25th – Rhett Wiseman, OF, BB&N (Chicago Cubs) 
26th – Chris Shaw, 1B, Lexington HS (New York Mets) 
35th – Pat Delano, RHP, Braintree HS (Boston Red Sox) 

2011 
1st – Tyler Beede, RHP, Lawrence Academy (Toronto Blue Jays) 
5th – Andrew Chin, LHP, BB&N (Toronto Blue Jays) 
35th – John Magliozzi, RHP, Dexter (Tampa Bay Rays) 
38th – Pat Connaughton, RHP, St. John’s Prep (San Diego Padres) 
44th - Adam Ravenelle, RHP, Lincoln-Sudbury HS (New York Yankees) 
50th - John Gorman, RHP, Catholic Memorial (Boston Red Sox) 

2010 
13th – Kevin Ziomek, LHP, Amherst HS (Arizona Diamondbacks) 
14th – Travis Dean, RHP, Newton South HS (New York Yankees) 
44th- Eddie Campbell, LHP, Bridgewater-Raynham HS (Cincinnati Reds) 

2009 
19th – Nelfi Zapata, C, Boston English HS (New York Mets) 
24th – Dan Kemp, SS, Tantasqua HS (Boston Red Sox) 
30th – Kyle McKenzie, RHP, Thayer Academy (New York Yankees) 
36th – Mike Yastrzemski, OF, St. John’s Prep (Boston Red Sox) 

2008 
18th – Keith Landers, LHP, St. Peter-Marian HS (Baltimore Orioles) 
18th – Scott Weisman, RHP, Acton-Boxborough HS (Detroit Tigers) 
34th – Blaine O’Brien, RHP, Scituate HS (Philadelphia Phillies) 

2007 
6th – Jack McGeary, LHP, Roxbury Latin (Washington Nationals) 
16th – Dan Mahoney, RHP, Cushing Academy (New York Yankees) 

2006 
14th – Matt Small, RHP, Ipswich HS (Atlanta Braves) 

2005 
34th – Scott Savastano, SS, Plymouth North HS (Chicago White Sox) 
43rd – Scott Barnes, LHP, Springfield Cathedral HS (Washington Nationals) 

2004 
13th – Ryan Moorer, RHP, Peabody HS (Chicago Cubs) 
15th – Adam Crabtree, RHP, Phillips Andover (Anaheim Angels) 
36th – Buster Lussier, RHP, Diman Voke (San Francisco Giants) 

2003 
1st – Jeff Allison, RHP, Peabody HS (Florida Marlins) 
19th – Matt Antonelli, SS, St. John’s Prep (Los Angeles Dodgers) 
23rd – Pat Bresnehan, RHP, Dover-Sherborn HS (Kansas City Royals) 
41st – Brandon Anderson, OF, Wayland HS (Colorado Rockies) 
43rd – Nick DeVito, 1B, Hingham HS (Cincinnati Reds) 
46th – Steven Paddock, OF, Milford HS (Los Angeles Dodgers) 
48th – Lance Zawadski, SS, St. John’s HS (Montreal Expos) 
49th – Jason Smith, RHP, Bourne HS (Boston Red Sox) 

2002 
33rd – Nate Nelson, 1B, Holy Name HS (Oakland Athletics) 
37th – Mike Constantino, 3B, Somerset HS (Minnesota Twins) 
42nd – Neil Avery, OF, Dartmouth HS (Milwaukee Brewers) 
48th – Matt Morizio, RHP, Waltham HS (San Diego Padres) 

2001 
1st (Sandwich) – Mike Conroy, OF, Boston College HS (Cleveland Indians) 
14th – Chris Farley, RHP, Mahar HS (Boston Red Sox) 
16th – Tony Gonzalez, OF, Framingham HS (Boston Red Sox) 
31st – Chris Ciesluk, SS, Taunton HS (San Francisco Giants) 
47th – John Toffey, RHP, St. Sebastian’s (Colorado Rockies) 

2000 
2nd – Manny Delcarmen, RHP, West Roxbury HS (Boston Red Sox) 
45th – Garrett Greer, C, Peabody HS (Pittsburgh Pirates)

Source: http://espn.go.com/blog/boston/high-school/post/_/id/32552/recent-mlb-draft-picks-from-mass-high-schools

Tommy John surgery now routine in Major League Baseball, but is youth baseball partially to blame?

Teams are searching for ways to protect their investments, but the hard truth is that many pitchers are on the road to surgery well before they are drafted.

Call it the year of the elbow ligament, and many in baseball are asking two separate, and newly urgent, questions about Tommy John surgery: Why is it happening so often, and is the procedure riskier than we thought?

This young season, more than any other year in recent memory, has been defined by pitcher injuries. The Atlanta Braves were stunned when starters Kris Medlen and Brandon Beachy each required a second elbow reconstruction surgery, six months after National League All-Star starter Matt Harvey needed his first, devastating the Mets’ hopes to contend in 2014.

Other high-profile victims this year — there are 12 so far — include Mets closer Bobby Parnell, Oakland’s Jarrod Parker, Arizona’s Patrick Corbin, Detroit’s Bruce Rondon, and Pittsburgh’s Jameson Taillon. Tampa Bay’s Matt Moore is the latest victim, after he held off on the decision for a short while.

Teams are searching for ways to protect their investments, but the hard truth is that many pitchers are on the road to surgery well before they are drafted.

If a 24-year-old in the pros blows out an elbow, then the question is, did it start when he was 15? And the answer is, probably.

“If a 24-year-old in the pros blows out an elbow, then the question is, did it start when he was 15?” says Glenn Fleisig, a biomechanics expert who works in conjunction with noted orthopedic surgeon Dr. James Andrews. 

“And the answer is, probably.”

Fleisig, the research director for the American Sports Medicine Institute in Birmingham, Ala., worked on a study that followed 500 pitchers for 10 years, starting at age 12.

“We found, for sure, that kids who pitched more than 100 innings in a year were more likely to have surgery,” Fleisig said. “It was a statistical, very strong finding that if you pitched too much you had a higher chance of getting hurt.” There were other factors, like mechanics, but Fleisig found that a heavy workload in youth was the strongest.

Yankees reliever Shawn Kelley, who has undergone Tommy John surgery twice, has copious anecdotal evidence to support Fleisig’s findings.

“Nowadays anybody can start a travel league, or an AAU team,” Kelley says. “I think the problem lies there. Some Little Leagues do a good job of regulating how often a kid can throw. But if you’re throwing in a sanctioned Little League, and you throw 60 pitches, and they say you can’t pitch until next week, that’s great.

“But if you’re on another team, and you throw 60 pitches two days later — they can’t monitor that. The parents and the coaches, they want to win, and they think their kid is going to be the next Nolan Ryan.”

We found, for sure, that kids who pitched more than 100 innings in a year were more likely to have surgery. It was a statistical, very strong finding that if you pitched too much you had a higher chance of getting hurt.

Kelley continued: “Kids are getting run into the ground. I have so many people that I talk to who are like, ‘Hey, my 15-year-old is having elbow problems, and I’m just like, how? How are you having elbow problems when you’re just a kid?’”

Another question that arises because of the uptick in young pitchers needing Tommy John surgery: If a kid has been using performance-enhancing drugs since high school or college, is he at a greater risk to tear a tendon?

“Is that a possibility?” Fleisig says. “Yeah. Whether using the banned stuff, or just good nutrition and the weight room, the truth is that when you exercise, your muscles are what get bigger. Your ligaments and tendons get a little bigger and stronger... (but) if you make your muscles super strong, and your ligaments and tendons don’t proportionally keep up, that might (create) a higher risk for injury.”

Fleisig and Kelley both added another important point, that Medlen’s and Beachy’s need for a second Tommy John surgery underscored a misconception, stronger in recent years, that it is a fool-proof procedure.

“A lot of times, because Tommy John surgery is so good, the pitcher, the team, the dad or whatever will say, ‘Hey, let’s just do it and get it over with,’” Fleisig says. “And the doctor, if they’re a good one, they’re trying to convince them not to. The doctors know the truth, that your body still has the best pieces to start with, so surgery is the last resort.”

Added Kelley: “There are so many young kids who think that it’s like a miracle surgery — ‘Hey, let’s go do it now when I’m young. Let’s get it out of the way.’ Why would anybody want to cut their elbow open and take a year off of baseball at a young age if they didn’t have to?”

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/martino-mlb-tommy-boys-dropping-flies-problem-start-youth-leagues-article-1.1756389#ixzz30Iw8UJKW

Highlights From Mariano Rivera’s Memoir, ‘The Closer’

He honed his aim with target practice on iguanas, found the cut fastball by accident, and got a visit to the mound from God—read highlights of Mariano Rivera’s The Closer.

Legendary New York Yankees closer Mariano Rivera retired last year after 19 seasons, five World Series titles, and a Major League Baseball record 652 saves. The son of a Panamanian fisherman and onetime aspiring mechanic, Rivera charted an unlikely path to the big leagues, sculpting a storied career out of perseverance, fortuity, preternatural talent, and, according to him, God’s grace.

Now, Rivera has stepped off the pitcher’s mound and picked up the pen, writing a new memoir called The Closer. He recounts his journey with humor and humility; here are the highlights.

Target practice with iguanas
Growing up poor in the small village of Puerto Caimito, Panama, Rivera learned to play baseball with makeshift equipment. “We have no bat, so we find an old piece of wood or saw off a branch of a tree,” he writes. “We have no ball, so wrap up a rock with fishnet and tape. We have no baseball gloves, but it’s amazing what kind of pocket you can make out of a cardboad box or a six-pack carton, if you know how to fold it.”

Rivera also worked on his arm by launching rocks at iguanas, or “chicken of the trees,” which happened to be one of his favorite foods. “Most times I’d have a direct hit on the first try, then pick it up and sling it over my shoulder to bring home for dinner.”

Rivera’s Yankees tryout came after his first-ever game pitching
Rivera was originally a position player, or rather an any-position player, suiting up at shortstop, right field, or catcher for the Panama Oeste Vaqueros in the country’s top league. During a playoff game in which his team’s best pitcher was getting smacked around, the manager unexpectedly signaled for Rivera. “Why is he looking at me? I think. He can’t mean me. I am not even a pitcher,” he writes.

With no experience, Rivera ended up throwing seven-plus innings of scoreless ball, and two of his teammates subsequently arranged a tryout with the local Yankees scout. Rivera threw a total of nine pitches at that audition, but they were impressive enough to score a follow-up. About a week later, he signed a $2,000 contract with the Yankees.

Rivera prefers starting to relieving
Despite being the best relief pitcher the sport has ever seen, Rivera admits that he would still rather be a starter. (Rivera’s time in the minor leagues was spent as a starter—a pretty darn good one—and he didn’t move to the bullpen until 1996.) “I guess if you put me against a wall and force me to answer, I’d say I slightly prefer starting,” he writes, “but whatever the club needs, I will do my best.”

Rivera’s signature pitch was an accident
Much of Mariano Rivera’s greatness stems from his cut fastball, a nasty pitch that no major leaguer seems able to hit. But Rivera discovered his cutter by accident, in 1997.

One day, he was having a catch with teammate Ramiro Mendoza, using his standard four-seam fastball grip, and the ball developed a “mind of its own,” Rivera recalls, “moving late, on a horizontal plane.”
“I do not spend years searching for this pitch. I do not ask for it, or pray for it. All of a sudden it is there, a devastating baseball weapon.”

Rivera was racially profiled when he went to buy a Westchester home
A few years into his pro career, Rivera and his wife Clara went to look at a house for sale in suburban Westchester County, just outside New York City. As Rivera tells it, “It’s an 8:00 a.m. appointment, and it’s such an early hour that we don’t dress up for it; I am in sweatpants and a T-shirt, and Clara is dressed the same way.

“We ring the doorbell and a woman opens the door. She looks aghast at the sight of us. The look on her face, and her manner, suggest that she thinks we are drug dealers, or maybe gardeners who are playing a joke.”

Rivera chalks it up to being racially profiled, and the woman completely changed her attitude when she found out that he was a Yankees star.

Rivera was visited on the mound by the Holy Spirit
Rivera’s Christian faith plays a large part in The Closer. At every turn, good and bad, whether he’s winning the World Series or tearing his ACL, Rivera gives credit to God and reiterates his belief in God’s plan.
And on a “hot Friday night” in July 1999, just after Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” plays for the first time as the closer’s new walk-out music, Rivera says he was visited on the mound by the Holy Spirit. He believes that he had “gotten a bit too big for my closer’s britches, and that I need to be reminded that He is the one who is all-powerful, not me.”

Emotionally shaken, Rivera then gets roughed up by the Atlanta Braves, blowing the save and the game, calling it “about as bad an outing as I’ve ever had.” After that moment, Rivera says he recommitted himself to religion, prayer, and humility, and he gave up one solitary run for the rest of the season.
Now, his faith has become his second career, as he and Clara run a church in New Rochelle called Refuge of Hope.
Fear of flying
According to Rivera, he has flown millions of miles over the last 25 years. And he has been terrified every airborne second. He copes by maintaining the same routine during each trip: “I sit in Row 29, in the middle seat, with my red leather Bible in my hand and Christian music in my earphones.”

Rivera once bet owner George Steinbrenner on the World Series outcome
It was 2000, and the Yankees were locked in the Subway Series with the Mets. Rivera encountered Steinbrenner in the clubhouse, and the owner asked the closer whether they were going to win.
“We are going to win, and I am so sure I will make you a bet, Mr. George,” Rivera remembers himself saying. “If I am right and we win, you’ll fly my wife and kids and me to Panama on your private jet. If I am wrong, I will take you out to dinner at the restaurant of your choice.”

Steinbrenner accepted the bet, the Yankees won, and he promptly paid up.

Read More: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/05/15/speed-read-highlights-frommariano-rivera-s-memoir-the-closer.html

Bo Jackson tells would-be two-sport athletes to stick to one sport

Bo Jackson, who along with Deion Sanders was one of the most famous and accomplished two sport athletes of all time, has some advice for Russell Wilson or anyone else who thinks they can play baseball and football: Don’t. Indeed, he doesn’t think he could do it if he came up today. From Dan Hayes of CSNChicago.com:

“I probably couldn’t, no,” Jackson said. “Just because the talent pool is that deep now. If my kids want to do both sports – ‘No. No. No.’ … If you try to do both you’re going to be riding the bench in both. You’ll never get to that level that you want to get to if you split your time between multiple sports.”

Jackson says the training is too specialized and intense. The time commitment too great. And most especially the talent pool is so deep that if you don’t focus all of your effort on one sport you have no chance at all.

Which is just another amazing thing about Bo Jackson. In addition to everything he accomplished, he’s one of the few aging athletes who doesn’t think everything was tougher back in his day and the athletes today are too soft and stuff. 

Source: http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/03/18/bo-jackson-tells-would-be-two-sport-athletes-to-stick-to-one-sport/