I played in coed softball leagues as I got older.  When I became a parent, I coached boys baseball, girls softball, served on the local Little League board of directors, and umpired to boot.  My signature as a coach was to line my kids up on the infield foul line before a game and pledged allegiance to the flag.  After all, it is America’s game.  Curiously, there were some coaches who adamantly opposed me doing this, but I see citizenship as an inherent part of the game.

I suffered under no illusion my kids were going to be superstars and, as such, I concentrated on teaching the basics (hitting, fielding, and pitching), teamwork, and hopefully, the love of the game.  There is something magical about the game of baseball; the smell of the grass, the heat of the sun on your back, the taste of the leather string on your cowhide mitt, the crack of the bat, and the excitement of the play.  You relish the camaraderie of your teammates, the precision of a perfect bunt, the tenacity of a runner stealing a base, and the grace of an infielder flawlessly throwing out a runner or executing a double play.

Baseball is a game of nuances and you really cannot appreciate it if you have never played it.  As you approach home plate to bat, you see how the fielders are setting up to play you, either deep, in close, or to a particular field.  You take your sign from the third base coach, check the eyes of the pitcher, hear the cheering of the parents, and all along your mind is constantly calculating all of the variables involved.  Your hands grip the bat as you position yourself in the batter’s box.  Your body language tells the other team whether or not you can be intimidated.  Finally, just before the pitcher makes his wind-up, you spit.  Translation, “Bring it on!”

There is also a lot of communications in a baseball game, both vocal and silent.  The vocal is rather obvious, the silent communications is a lot more interesting.  We’re all aware of the third base coach making strange gyrations with his hands in order to call the play, but there are also a lot of subliminal signs not so apparent, such as a manager turning up his collar or crossing his legs.  The communications between pitcher and catcher is also well known.  The great Willie Mays was notorious for his ability to study and steal the signs of the opposing team.  It just takes a little concentration and attention to detail.

When I coached Little League, and my kids were batting with one or more runners on base, I would suddenly yell from the dugout, “Red-22, Red-22.”  Actually, it was nothing more than a smoke screen as it meant absolutely nothing, but it put the other team on edge as they thought some trick play was about to be executed.  My kids thought it was a riot.

As a Little League coach, you realize you are having an impact on your young players when they start asking you more questions about the game, such as the meaning of the infield fly rule, how to keep a scorecard, how a batting average is calculated or ERA, the number of ways a runner can advance to first base (eight) or the number of ways to make an out (14), etc.  It’s no small wonder baseball is a great game for trivia buffs as there are so many facets to it.  Casual spectators do not truly appreciate baseball as much as students of the game.

You know you have a love of the game when you collect baseball cards, not as a commodity, but simply to have them; that you keep a prized baseball signed by your teammates many years ago; that you cannot bring yourself to throw away an old baseball bat or glove years after you have stopped using them, or; you completely understood what Pete Rose meant when he said, “I’d walk through hell in a gasoline suit to play baseball.”

It is a great game.

Keep the Faith!

The adoption of the “save” as an official baseball statistic in 1969 (though saves were being unofficially calculated and published as early as 1960) confirmed the value and unique contribution of the closer. The pitchers listed below were bullpen pioneers. Their selection and ranking is based on a combination of their closing effectiveness and overall pitching performance in terms of strikeouts and ERA.

1. Hoyt Wilhelm –Throughout the 1960s, Wilhelm won 75 games and saved 152 more, with an ERA of 2.19 for the decade. Today he remains the all-time major league leader in career relief wins (124) and career innings pitched in relief (1,871).

2. Dick Radatz – Radatz broke in with the Boston Red Sox in 1962, going 9-6 with a 2.24 ERA, striking out 144 batters in 124 innings pitched, and leading the major leagues with 24 saves. His dominance continued over the next 2 seasons. In 1963, Radatz finished 58 of the 66 games he appeared in, going 15-6 with a 1.97 ERA and 25 saves. He struck out 162 batters in only 132 innings. In 1964, Radatz led the majors with 29 saves, posting a 16-9 record with a 2.29 ERA. He struck out 181 batters in 157 innings pitched.

3. Ron Perranoski – Perranoski’s best year came in 1963, when he posted a 16-3 record and 21 saves with a 1.67 earned run average. Over the next 4 years, Perranoski appeared in 256 games for the Dodgers, saving 54 with a 2.73 ERA. He was traded to the Minnesota Twins following the 1967 season, and saved 65 games for the Twins over the next two years, leading the American League in that category both seasons.

4. Roy Face – Face’s best season came in 1959, when he set the major league record for winning percentage (.947) on an 18-1 record. But he was also effective throughout the 1960s. He led the league again in saves in 1961 (17) and in 1962 (28), when he had the lowest ERA of his career (1.88). In his 16-year career, Face posted a 3.48 ERA while accumulating 193 saves pitching in 848 games.

5. Phil Regan – Regan was so-so starter for the Tigers (42-44 with a 4.50 ERA) who found great success in relief work. His best year was 1966, when he went 14-1 for the Dodgers with a 1.62 ERA and a league-leading 21 saves. He also led the league with 25 saves in 1968, splitting a 12-5 season between the Dodgers and the Cubs.

6. Stu Miller – Miller was the pitcher who was allegedly blown off the mound by a gust of wind during the 1961 All-Star Game in Candlestick Park. That was his best season for the Giants, winning 14 games in relief, saving 17 (NL best) and posting a 2.66 ERA. Traded to the Baltimore Orioles in 1963, he responded by leading the majors in saves (27) and appearances (71) while posting a 2.24 ERA. In 5 seasons with the Orioles, Miller won 38 games in relief, and saved 100, with a combined ERA of 2.37.

7. Lindy McDaniel – McDaniel pitched for 4 teams during the 1960s. One of the most underrated pitchers of his era, he led the National League in saves 3 times, collecting 141 victories and 172 saves over his 21-season career.

8. John Wyatt – The Kansas City closer from 1962 to 1965, Wyatt won 27 games while saving 70 for one of the league’s worst teams. He led the American League with 81 appearances in 1964. Traded to the Boston Red Sox in 1966, he had the chance to show what he could do for a winning team, saving 20 games for the pennant-winning Bosox in 1967 with a 2.60 earned run average.

9. Eddie Fisher – Fisher was a spot starter who learned the secrets of the knuckleball from Chicago White Sox teammate Hoyt Wilhelm. His best season was 1965, when he went 15-7 for the White Sox with a 2.40 ERA and 24 saves in 80 appearances.

10. Luis Arroyo - Arroyo was a sub-.500 pitcher until he became a relief specialist. In 1961, pitching for the New York Yankees, he led the majors in appearances (65), games finished (59) and saves (29), while going 15-5 with a 2.19 ERA.

Like Ralph Kramden would put it, “he is a bum.” Burnett has been like a faucet, hot and cold, but more cold than anything else. The Yankees made a bad decision in signing this bum and Yankees fans would love nothing more but to see him out of New York, me included.

Burnett faced the White Sox and gave up 8 earned runs on 8 hits in 3.1 innings pitched. The Yankees lost 9-4. If you need a steal, Burnett is by far the easiest in baseball.

Who wants the bum? No one, and that is what the Yankees will have to live with for three more long years.

The worst part of watching the game last night was listening to Ken “Hawk” Harrelson, this guy is so freaking bias and dumb as a box of rocks. You watch when the other team is beating the White Sox, Hawk gets so quiet.

Hey Joe Girardi! When will you learn how to manage? You are so clueless it’s embarrassing.

Back then the World Series was a best of nine series instead of a best of seven series as it is today. In the very first game, on the very first pitch, White Sox pitcher Eddie Cicotte hit Red’s batter Morrie Rath in the back. This was a signal to the gamblers that the Black Sox would go ahead with the plan to fix the Series.

Arnold Chick Gandil, the White Sox first baseman, was the leader of the fix. It’s said that the entire thing was his idea. Along with his friend, known gambler Joseph Sport Sullivan, they allegedly convinced 7 other White Sox players to take part in the fix as well. These players accepted money in exchange for allowing the Reds to win the necessary 5 games in the Series.

The players who agreed to throw the series for money most likely did so for 2 reasons: they wanted / needed more money than what they were making playing baseball and they didn’t like White Sox owner Charles Comiskey.

The most interesting player involved in the Black Sox fix is Shoeless Joe Jackson. Jackson was one of the greatest ball players of his era. He confessed to fixing the games at first but then took back his confession. He maintained his innocence until the day he died.

Jackson batted .375 in the Series and made several spectacular defensive plays, including throwing out 5 base runners from his centerfield position. He also made 30 outs without committing any errors. However, in the games that the White Sox lost, Jackson’s batting average was much lower and he failed to make a play on a ball hit his way. The play resulted in a triple and was not ruled an error.

Shoeless Joe did accept $5000 from the gamblers. He later tried to give back the money but to no avail. Though he was found innocent of taking part in the fixing of the games, Jackson was kicked-out of the Major Leagues and would never again be a big league player.

The story of the Chicago Black Sox continues to interest people to this day. The movie Eight Men Out tells the story of what happened. The fact that players accepted money to fix the biggest series in the most popular sport in America at the time will always be a black eye for America’s most storied game.

Shibe Park stood in Philadelphia for nearly seventy years. It was opened in April of 1909 and demolished in June of 1976. During its time it was home to the Philadelphia Phillies (1927 and 1938 – 1970) and the Philadelphia Athletics (1909 – 1954). Shibe Park was the first steel and concrete stadium in Major League Baseball. In 1953 Shibe Park was renamed Connie Mack Stadium. It played host to the All-Star Game in 1943 and 1952. The last game was played in Shibe Park / Connie Mack Stadium on October 1, 1970.

Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, New York stood for less than 47 years. During that short span it became very famous. Ebbets Field was home to the Brooklyn Dodgers. One of the best features of the park was the fact that children could and would gather at the gate in right-center and watch the game in the gap under the gate. Historically the field was important as well. Here are some interesting facts about Ebbets Field for all you sports trivia buffs. On April 15, 1947 Jackie Robinson became the first black person to play Major League baseball in the 20th century. Also, the first televised game took place in Ebbets field on August 26, 1939 when the Dodgers played the Reds. The last baseball game was played in Ebbets Field on September 24, 1957. Ebbets Field was demolished on February 23, 1960.

Yankee Stadium is home to the New York Yankees. Unlike Ebbets Field and Shibe Park, Yankee Stadium is still operational. Going to Yankee Stadium is like taking a walk back through the history of baseball. Just past the left-center field wall stands plaques and monuments to some of the great players who have played in Yankee pinstripes. These are some of the biggest players in MLB history and they include: Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Thurmon Munson, and Yogi Berra. Yankee Stadium was built in 1923. It closed in 1973 and then reopened in 1976. Over the years it has undergone many renovations and additions.

Fenway Park is another ball park that is still being used. It is home to the Boston Red Sox. Fenway opened on April 20, 1912. Besides having many great players pass through Fenway (Carlton Fisk, Ted Williams, etc.), the best feature of the park is The Green Monster. The Green Monster is a high green wall that sits out in left field. It is only just over 300 feet from home plate. The short porch is unique, there is no other wall like it in Major League Baseball.

Wrigley Field is home to the Chicago Cubs. It was opened on April 23, 1914 but the Cubs didn’t play their first game there until 1916. Wrigley Field preserved its historical persona and didn’t install lights in the ball park until the late 1980s. The first official night game was played on August 9, 1988. Some interesting sports trivia about Wrigley Field is that the lights were originally set to be installed in 1941, but Wrigley donated them to a local shipyard for help in the effort to win World War II. Wrigley Field is easy to identify because of the ivy vines that grow on the outfield walls. These vines were planted in 1937.

Throughout the history of baseball there have been many great classic ball parks. Five of the best are Shibe Park, Ebbets Field, Yankee Stadium, Fenway Park, and Wrigley Field.

The general opinion is that it is almost impossible to get autographs of the best baseball players. In reality, things are not like that at all. Getting the autograph of your favorite player is much easier than you might think. Don’t be a geek and think that the only way to get an autograph to the player you admire more is going to the stadium and fighting with the large crowd for a chance to get an autograph.

There are several ways to accomplish your goal easier. The first of them is getting an autograph through the mail. Many players sign the majority of their autographs outside the ball park, one of them is through mail. How do you go about it? It is quite simple. First of all, visit the official site of the club. You will surely find on it an address where you can send fan e-mail to he players. E-mail a picture, sports card or letters through the e-mail, and in a few days you will get it back signed by the favorite player. Nowadays, many professional athletes will sign an autograph and send it back to you. Be thoughtful and remember to send a self-addressed stamped envelope so that the player can send it back where you want it.

Another way to collect the autographs of your favorite baseball players is to buy them. How is that possible? Well, just visit E-bay, and you will be surprised on what you can find there. Do watch out for fakes. It’s always best to deal with the people who have been doing business on E-bay for a while. Many of the top autograph sellers are power-sellers. What I’ve also found lately on the web is some internet addresses where you get guidelines on getting the autographs of famous people, and among those several baseball players. They sell the addresses and they guarantee the information are reliable. I personally don’t know if it works, but you can at least try it. Just give it a shot, and if you really get an autograph, it will be worth it.

The other possibility is to go to autograph sessions. Just pay attention to the news on the official sites of the baseball clubs and even on the personal sites of the baseball players. The serious clubs regularly organize autograph sessions with some of their players, and you might get lucky. So, in conclusion, no matter what method you try, it will likely be easier to succeed attaining that autograph than going to the baseball stadium and clawing your way through thousands of people to get to your favorite ball player for an autograph.

The challenge for every pitcher is to try to get most of his starts into this zone range. One reason pitchers have difficulty getting into or remaining in the zone is due to a lack of concentration. A pitcher can improve his concentration during a game by following this simple ritual:

1. Block out Background Noise: Before every batter, make a point to block out all the background noise and to focus your attention only on the catcher’s mitt. You do not want to be thinking about the fans, the backstop, the umpire, the batter, or anything else. All your focus is on the catcher’s mitt.

2. State, “Focus on the glove”: You should let any thoughts that come into your head pass right through. Do not try to think about those thoughts, just let them pass. Your focus remains on the glove and it is a good idea to even state this mantra under your breath, “focus on glove” or some similar type expression.

3. If Difficulty Focusing, Re-Focus Again: If you are still having difficulty focusing, consider bringing down the bill of your baseball cap to make even more of a tunnel for your eyes to follow to the catcher’s mitt. Also, feel free to restart this process again and again until you feel you have reached the desired state.

4. Begin Your Pitching: Once you feel you have blocked out the background news, you should begin your pitching.

If you would like to see an example of this exercise, go rent the movie, “For The Love Of The Game”. In this movie, Kevin Costner’s character goes through this type of ritual when he uses the phrase, “Clear the mechanism” before pitching to the batter. Ultimately, you would like to get to a point where you have this level of concentration.

A second challenge some pitchers have is confidence in their pitching when a mistake is made. A smart pitcher must recognize that mistakes will happen. He could throw a hanging curveball that gets hit for a double to the wall or maybe the second basemen boots an easy grounder. Regardless of how frustrating this might be, a good pitcher must have a short term memory for these errors. Much like a quarterback who just threw an interception, he must immediately forget that error and move onto the next pitch. This type of short-term amnesia ensures the error doesn’t get you twice by dwelling on it with the next batter. Here is a basic thinking ritual that can be performed to help with these situations:

1. Breathe In and Exhale After the Error: Take one deep breath and then exhale deeply. This will help you address the situation constructively.

2. State, “Oh, well. Nobody’s Perfect”: After you exhale, state under your breath, “Oh, well. Nobody’s perfect.” This step will help you compartmentalize the error.

3. Perform Focusing Ritual: Finally, start going back into the focusing ritual mentioned above. This will allow you to shift your focus away from the error and direct it toward a ritual that you have practiced again and again.

This type of thinking ritual is good because it gives you a ready-made response for a stressful situation. It allows you to address the problem right away and compartmentalize it. Once you are able to do this, it is much easier to turn your attention to the next batter. As you advance in your baseball pitching career, you will begin to notice your success in baseball pitching tends to focus more on how you handle these situations more than any other aspect of your game.

Baseball memorabilia is sometimes even bought with money begged, borrowed and dare I say, stolen. And if that’s not enough memorabilia baseball cards are often stolen along with jewels and money from many houses. The burglars are not baseball fanatics; but its just that the resale cost of these this is sometimes more than that of jewelery .The rarity of many a baseball card increases its value. Life even got easier for sports channels, as prizes Baseball cards and Hats from games that no fan would have missed are given.

Otherwise private deals with owners of autographed property, Public Auctions and Online bidding are how these memorabilia are acquired by anyone. Some more memorabilia are Gloves, Mitts, Helmets, Posters, Signs, Plates, Pins, Buttons, Toys, Cheering Gear, Bobble heads, Figurines, Tapes of Vintage games, sports patches, magazine covers, matchbooks, Shoes etc- you name it, it’s collectible. And these remain more popular than Jerseys of these teams custom made with the buyer’s name on it. But that’s not the only kind of memorabilia, a specific game where the team, which the fans rooted for won, clothes they were wearing that day, the ticket to that game, the Packet of peanuts they ate will all be treasured as more personal memorabilia.

Memorabilia from the early 1950’s till the yesterday’s game are available, any little thing you are looking for can be found if you know where to look and if you are prepared for the amount its going to cost you. Players themselves do not benefit in anyway from this memorabilia. It is to do with the team and sponsoring company making extra money. Most fan clubs of players or teams will have some memorabilia amongst members or will have common ownership of certain things.

In fact an average Baseball fan tends to leave his baseball cards to a son or daughter in his will. It’s amazing how a little piece of paper or a worn out bat can mean so much to someone. Memorabilia baseball cards give the players an eternity, they never die. Memorabilia baseball cards availability may be in question but its authenticity and the love for the sport and the way the fans want to remember every game and every player is truly something. And this is probably the best way to give the teams, All of them, and the players and substitutes, and the coaches they’re due respect and place in history.

FantasyBaseballDugout.com, a new fantasy baseball tips site owned by Saint Davids, Pennsylvania-based Olympic SEO, is the brainchild of Bob “BallparkBob” Bentz and his nephew Jonathan “BatBoy BeeZee” Bentz. The two men share a love for fantasy baseball and, quite frankly, got bored with winning their respective leagues each season.

BallparkBob, who started playing fantasy baseball in college in 1980 when it was still called “Rotisserie Baseball,” claims to have won his fantasy baseball league 19 of the past 28 seasons, including nine in a row at one stretch. BallparkBob, who is often mistaken for Cleveland Indians’ pitcher Paul Byrd, said that his goal is to spread the word about winning fantasy baseball leagues. “There’s a lot of bad fantasy baseball players out there,” said BallparkBob, “but, it’s the ones who do the research that should win. That’s where Fantasy Baseball Dugout comes in.”

BatBoy BeeZee has similar ideas for Fantasy Baseball Dugout. “A lot of fantasy baseball websites are overwhelming for first time players, because the game is very driven by statistics.” Every website has injury information, statistics, mock drafts and trade analysis, “but our site has news and research players with all levels of experience can use.”

When I first reviewed Fantasy Baseball Dugout, I was impressed by the amount of information that they had on the site in such a short amount of time. The site is also not just a statistics-laden one, but offers player profiles and player projections. It offers inside information that is far more topical than what you’ll find in the fantasy baseball preview magazines. It’s a site that a pure baseball fan would also enjoy reading and learning about the MLB.

“A lot of websites also fail to pay attention to fantasy baseball players who use auction formats for drafts, but we haven’t forgotten about them, either,” said BeeZee.

Fantasy Baseball Dugout offers free fantasy baseball advice, but it does hope to capitalize on its baseball fan traffic by selling advertising. The site already has secured advertising from a discount baseball equipment company, a ticket broker, and even a dating site promoting sexy women. Hey, I guess fantasy baseball nerds need love too.

When asked what are the most important fantasy baseball tip that he could give me, BallparkBob responded by saying: “draft more closers than your competition—saves is the easiest category to win. Don’t ever pick a player just because he’s on your favorite team or is one of your favorite players. And, don’t ever go to a game and tell a major leaguer during BP that he’s on your fantasy baseball team. He doesn’t care.”

“Hey Pat Burrell, you’re on my fantasy team!”

There are several categories that can be considered when determining America’s number one pastime. Analyzing attendance, ticket costs, revenue from television, salaries, venues, will help to present a case for which sport is number one in the United States. These six factors will help determine which sport is more beloved by Americans.

Attendance

One way to determine whether baseball or football is more popular in America is by looking at how many people go to the games. During the year 2000, the average crowd at a baseball game was 30,125, while the average crowd at a football game was 66,077. This figure is based on a total yearly attendance, divided by the total number of games that were played in the sport. Simply based upon this one factor, it would appear that twice as many people went to football games than to baseball games in that particular year.

Ticket Costs

An aspect which can contribute to the popularity of a sport is ticket cost. An important question is: how affordable is it for the average family in America to go to a live sporting event? Pertaining to this factor, baseball is more accessible and potentially more popular overall with average, to below-average income earning American families. Baseball games, in the year 2000, cost $20.02, while football games cost an average of $54.14. Clearly, live baseball is easier to afford than live football, and watching games live is an experience that can create a lot of fans and generate plenty of excitement for a particular sport.

Television Revenue

Another important factor to consider when analyzing the popularity of a given sport is how much money that sport accumulates from television revenues. In this case, football is the clear winner. The NFL brings in about 2.2 billion dollars a year in revenues from television. The MLB earns about 340 million. The significant difference pertaining to TV revenue is that football is on a few days per week, and baseball is on nearly every night. However, football still brings in much more money from ad revenues on television, which means that there are more people watching the football games than are watching the baseball games. When it comes to television revenue, football is the number one sport.

However, this does not settle the argument. The baseball season and the football season are opposites in many ways. Baseball season is long and drawn out, with a team playing almost every night. Football games are essentially once a week, even though the league and the networks have added Saturday and Thursday games to the already successful “Monday Night Football”. This creates more of a buzz for a football game, and the TV numbers and the revenue generation is a product of that buzz.

Salaries

Another measure of how popular a sport is would be how much its players are paid. In the Major League Baseball, the average salary is a little over 2 million dollars a year; while the average salary in the NFL is right around 1.18 million dollars a year. Therefore, baseball pays its players more money, but it is essentially unclear what effect this aspect has on the fans preference between the two sports.

Venues

The different venues in which the two sports are played is another aspect to take into consideration. When attempting to determine which sport is number one sport in America, this can be a factor. The number of seats in stadiums is important because it shows the number of fans that can be expected per game. The average baseball stadium holds 47,000 people. The average football stadium holds 70,000 people. Therefore, there are more seats to watch football games, meaning that more people typically go to football games. Again, this may be skewed due to the frequency of games played in both football and baseball. However, a regular season football game is more of a major event on a consistent basis than a regular baseball game.

The Role of a Sport’s Athletes

Another factor to consider when discussing what America’s favorite pastime may be is the impact the games players have on society, both positive and negative. For instance, if an Arena football player or an A-class baseball player gets in trouble, or does something very generous, it is not big news. If a NFL or MLB player does one of those things, it usually gets plenty of coverage. This may be a draw, mostly because both MLB and NFL players are consistently in the news for various run-in’s with the law or charitable actions.

Looking at these factors together, one realizes that football and baseball are both extremely popular and also very different. Due to this dynamic, it becomes difficult to compare the two fairly. Both sports have been around for many years, and both of them will continue to be popular for many years. Which one, however, is the more popular, is still undecided.