When you played baseball...

[Gregory Pratt]

A friend and I brought some friends out today (we got eighteen on the dot) and played baseball for about an hour and a half this evening, went six innings and it was a lot of fun.

 

When I was playing for my high school team earlier this year, I was forced to quit for a variety of reasons: when I pitched, Coach didn't want me throwing breaking balls or fastballs, and wanted me to learn the knuckleball. I hate the knuckleball, and I asked to be moved to center or left. I was, and I was doing very well (I think that, fielding wise, I'm best fit for center) but he moved me to the infield. I wanted to be at third, but he stuck me at second. I was a very poor middle infielder.

 

After awhile, the coach started interfering with my hitting: if I wanted to steal, he wouldn't let me even though I've got VERY good speed and get good jumps. When I wanted to hit for power, he'd tell me to bunt and stuff. I'm not a bad ballplayer, but we just clashed very much.

 

But my first passion was pitching, although I must admit, when I was younger I hurt my shoulders, the aftereffects are still there, and I have some problems sometimes with fastballs because of it, but everything has been much better lately, and I was pitching today. I struck out nine over six -- which I'm not boasting about, by the way: a lot of the guys playing were BAD, but some were quite good -- but I finally mastered my breaking ball. I throw a 12-to-six breaking ball, and made some people look silly.

 

I also threw a knuckleball a couple of times, and it hit the other pitcher -- my best friend from grade school -- in the side of the face. Luckily, it didn't get him too bad.

 

When you played, if you played, what'd you play? And if you were a pitcher, what'd you throw?

[Kalapse]

I was a SP until I totally f***ed up my elbow, I threw as many pitches as I could learn but had most confidence in my 2-seamer, circle change and slurve (which 1/2 the time I threw at below sidearm). My best asset was my many arm angles which I guess was part of my downfall along with throwing an inordinate amount of pitches for like a 6 year span.

 

Whenever I wasn't pitching I played everywhere else especially middle infield, great defensively and fast but I showed hardly any power because I was always trying to shoot the ball into the right center field gap but didn't have much opposite field power.

Edited June 11, 2006 by Kalapse

[Rowand44]

I played one year and was a third baseman. I was a great defender but couldn't hit at all. I had to quit after one year cause it interfered with my crazy basketball schedule at the time.

[Gregory Pratt]

I was a SP until I totally f***ed up my elbow, I threw as many pitches as I could learn but had most confidence in my 2-seamer, circle change and slurve (which 1/2 the time I threw at below sidearm). My best asset was my many arm angles which I guess was part of my downfall along with throwing an inordinate amount of pitches for like a 6 year span.

 

Whenever I wasn't pitching I played everywhere else especially middle infield, great defensively and fast but I showed hardly any power because I was always trying to shoot the ball into the right center field gap but didn't have much opposite field power.

 

Oh, man, did I hate the middle infield, but I'm glad you did well there. Although I didn't get much time at shortstop, but I did play a lot at second and I loathed it there. I must've been the worst double-play turner our school has ever seen.

 

Power-wise, I never really had much trouble with it. I feed off of curveballs and offspeed stuff, but it's always been easy to bust me in. Except that I can be patient and take pitches, and so it's a risk if your control isn't on.

 

Sorry to hear about your elbow.

 

I played one year and was a third baseman. I was a great defender but couldn't hit at all. I had to quit after one year cause it interfered with my crazy basketball schedule at the time.

 

I really wanted to try third base and do it well, but I didn't get that. I don't think I'd have done well, though.

[whitesoxfan101]

I played CF through 8th grade. I simply wasn't good enough once I got to high school to keep going .

 

Actually, to describe how I was: Brian Anderson right now. I had very good speed and athletic ability and was very good in center, but damn I just could not hit. I had pretty good power and drew walks, but I struck out sooooooooo much and hit a ton of pops up and s***, although I wasn't swinging for the fences or anything, just couldn't hit pitches coming in that fast.

Edited June 11, 2006 by whitesoxfan101

[greasywheels121]

I primarily played outfield, and I also played some first base (when select pitchers were on the mound), from age 5 until senior year of HS.

[Goldmember]

1B/RF

[Rex Hudler]

I played from when I was 8 through my sophomore year of college. I played a little bit of everywhere - SS, 3B, C, RF, P - until HS. I pitched and played 3B until my junior year of HS. At that point I pretty much became a pitcher only.

 

I was blessed with being able to make the ball do whatever I wanted to. I threw mostly a two-seam fastball but I could run it in on righties or cut it in on a lefty. The ball moved well and had some sink to it. Rarely did I throw a four seamer as I preferred to go up and in with the two-seamer and let it run into a RH.

 

My breaking balls were easily my forte. I dabbled with all of them. The 12-6 curve was my bread and butter and broke from shoulders to knees sharply. I was able to buckle LH hitters knees on occasion when set up properly. I threw a slider, dabbled with a knuckle curve and even mixed in a few knuckleballs in my teen years. I learned a circle change as a freshman in college that turned out to be a very good pitch with a lot of sink to it. I always had problems keeping my changeup down until I got the 2nd best advice I ever received from a coach. Try to bounce the ball on the plate. I would throw the circle change right at the freaking plate and it would cross at the knees or just below every time. After that, I never had problems "hanging" a change.

 

A Twins scout told me after my sophomore year in college that I had an above average Major League curve ball, a nice changeup and a fastball that would never get me out of Class A. Unfortunately, I threw only 82-83 consistently, hitting a high of 86 on a high mound with the wind at my back. If I were a left-hander they would have called me crafty. Instead, I realized there was no future for a 5'9 righty that didn't even throw mid-80's. I was a borderline Division I pitcher. I had an opportunity to transfer to a D-II school and move right into their rotation, but I chose to further my academics after my sophomore year. I just didn't want to transfer schools.

 

Not pitching much frustrated the hell out of me. I wish I would have stuck with it, even if I never would have been a key pitcher in D-I. Oh well, my sophomore year was fun. We won 44 games and beat #1 Arizona State in Tempe in the first game of the NCAA Regional. Our pitching staff threw 16 complete games that year, which made it even more difficult to get to the mound. As I said, I wish I had stuck with it, but I had some great experiences to look back on.

 

 

 

For anyone interested the absolute best advice I ever got from a coach about pitching went something like this (not for the squeamish):

 

 

 

 

Throw the god-damned ball. You're putting everybody to f***ing sleep! Your infielders will never make a play for you if you keep f***ing walking all of the place. Catch the ball and get back on the damned mound now. If you get off the mound and touch the grass, you can just start f***ing running. LET's GO!!

 

 

From that moment, I threw the ball, followed through and started back-pedaling to the top of the mound to receive the ball back from the catcher. By the time I got it, I was a half step from the rubber, got back on it and waited for the sign. You'd be amazed at how much better I was when I pitched quickly. The defense behind me was better and I got into a much better rhythm.

Edited June 11, 2006 by Rex Hudler

[Phuck the Cubs]

I played for 2 years. I was a 2B/RF.

[Hangar18]

Grade school and high school.

I always loved the SS position, but as a kid I was smaller than everyone, and I had no arm

so I was made to play 2B.

[3E8]

I was a pitcher. I had a two-seam fastball, which actually which had below average velocity but had a nice tailing motion. In addition to this I had three different breaking pitches which all were thrown at different speeds. Each was a variation of a curveball with different grips. I'm left-handed, and had good control of every pitch. I threw a ton of offspeed pitches because kids at the high-school level can't handle them that well. This would be my downfall, the stress on my elbow caused me to get tendonitis my sophomore year. I would never pitch again. I cried when I realized this because being lefty I think I could've gone D-III. I played lacrosse junior and senior years.

[zach23]

I played pretty much every position and primarily SS, 3B and pitcher through T-Ball, Little League and Pony league from the ages of 5-18. I pitched all 4 years of High School at Whitney Young from 1981-1985 and played no other positons there. Our coach wouldn't allow pitchers to do anything but pitch.

After High School I pitched and played 3B on various leagues at McKinley park, Marquette, River park, Winnemac, and a bunch of others in the Chicago parks district from 1986-1994, then I didn't play at all from 1995-1999.

I am playing on a league now that I have been in since 2000. http://midwaybaseball.org

I now play 3B and only pitch occasionaly because at the age of 39 there isn't much left of my arm.

Our league is for guys 25 and older and you must be over 30 to pitch. Wood bats only, since the combination of aluminum bats and bad fields would kill some of us old guys in our league.

[RockRaines]

I was a Cf'er for most of my little league career, batting lead off. Actually set a LL record in my area for most walks in a season. Was a rare switch hitter as well.

 

Once I then moved up leagues I was primarily a catcher and 3B. Hit for power mostly, but my alley was Right center when batting RH, and RF when LH. After that, I couldnt really play much do to other sports, and gave it up except for games once in awhile. Now I dabble in some wooden bat leagues.

[WCSox]

I rotated around between CF, P, and 3B from little league through high school. I always wanted to be a pitcher, but was horrible on the mound. Had above-average zip on my fastball and had a decent slider, but my arm is inaccurate as hell. I unintentionally hit three batters in a game during my freshman year of HS (two in the same inning) and a brawl broke out. I asked the coach to take me out of the rotation after that. After that, the coach tried to stick me at 3B but, again, my inaccurate arm was a problem. So, I moved back to my "natural" position, CF. I was pretty good out there. I had some speed back then and also have good depth perception and can get good reads on the ball. Managed to throw a couple guys out at the plate as well. I was an above-average hitter with decent power to the opposite field, but not prolific enough to start on a college team.

[thedoctor]

i played from tee ball through the top level you could play at in the ridge beverly league on the south side. mostly i played second base and shortstop, but at various points through the years i played every position except pitcher (noodle arm).

 

when i got to high school i decided to focus on wrestling to try to earn a scholarship, and i never played high school ball. to this day that's one of the big regrets i have.

 

after college i used to play periodically in some pick-up games here and there. i was amazed at how the fundamentals really stuck with me through all those years. it was like riding a bike.

 

i really wish i got to play more.

[southsideirish71]

I played 2 years for Moraine Valley and one year for St Xavier University. At Moraine Valley I was a pitcher, played some 1st and played some LF. At SXU they just had me pitch.

 

When I pitched I threw a pretty good fastball, 85-88mph. Of course it was straight as an arrow. The fastest was 89mph on a radar gun in Panama City against Miami Dade CC during a ST tourney. I fell in love with watching the gun a bit much in that game, and watched my first batter hit a close to 500 foot homer off of me that dinked one the top of the light standards. I threw 2 others pitches. A 12/6 curve which was my best pitch and a forkball/splitter. I learned how to throw a forkball later on in life, after watching a clinic that Don Paul put on. The spliter has no control whatsoever and was just used to get guys fishing.

 

At SXU I had lots of problems with my control and my velocity dramatically dropped towards the end of spring. Which was my undoing. I was not a control pitcher by any means, and got by with stuff. I did a lot of stupid things with my arm. I played for 2 summer league teams and pitched for both the summer between Moraine and SXU. I was young and dumb and didnt understand that overuse and not stretching would catch up to me. I felt a twinge in my shoulder, just thought it was nothing. After the twinge I saw my velocity drop only 4 mph. But that was the start of my undoing. When I was getting into 3-1 counts with guys with aluminum bats and a very straight fastball I was done. My velocity ended up around 80-81 when I was done. My advise to everyone is to take care of your arm, ice it, stretch and listen to your body and try not to be a lunk head like me, who threw away any possibilities of doing something with thinking he was invinsible. I was a 6'2 150 pound kid that was throwing 85-88, to this day I wonder what would of happened if I took care of my arm, and grew into my body a bit more. Maybe nothing, maybe something.

 

Coolest things I can say happened.

 

I owned Ron Mahay at SSC. I think I hit somewhere around 400 against him with a few dongs. He still has one of the best looking swings that never got to the majors for his bat.

I got to hit against Alan Benes iand was 0-3 with 2 strikeouts. But I hit a line drive directly at the LF. His stuff was great.

I faced Casey Fisk in a summer league game in college and struck him out 3 times. One of his teammates came over when I was warming up to tell me that Casey predicted that he was going to hit 3 homers off of me. Casey couldnt hit a curveball that game, and thats pretty much what he saw.

 

I still played semipro baseball for about 4 years after college. Playing a lot of 1st and OF.I could still hit pretty well. But my career finally ended when I faced a kid who pitched for Notre Dame in the regular season. Electric fastball, and he had some scouts there with radar guns. If anyone has seen a game where the scouts come with radar guns, the pitchers usually falls in love with "blowing" everyone away. I knew a fastball was coming, so I got lucky and got solid aluminum contact on it and hit it off the top of the football stands at Bremen High School. It was a moon shot. The next time up, the pitcher decided to brush me back. I didnt react fast enough and took a 91mph fastball off my elbow. It shattered and that was it.

[whitesoxin']

Played for the last 12 years years of my life. Every summer and every fall. This summer is the first summer since I was 4 that I haven't played. I was mainly a pitcher and catcher, but really played every postion. I had a great arm as a kid and just used straight gas to strike everyone out. I could never develop a quality curve, so as I got older, my pitching skills declined. Then, summer after freshman year I tore my labrum in my right throwing shoulder and have been like Kerry Wood ever since. My shoulder has seperated three times since then, and my shoulder joint is deteriorated. Last summer I just played first base all year because I couldn't throw. I miss those days of little league.

[zach23]

I rotated around between CF, P, and 3B from little league through high school. I always wanted to be a pitcher, but was horrible on the mound. Had above-average zip on my fastball and had a decent slider, but my arm is inaccurate as hell. I unintentionally hit three batters in a game during my freshman year of HS (two in the same inning) and a brawl broke out. I asked the coach to take me out of the rotation after that. After that, the coach tried to stick me at 3B but, again, my inaccurate arm was a problem. So, I moved back to my "natural" position, CF. I was pretty good out there. I had some speed back then and also have good depth perception and can get good reads on the ball. Managed to throw a couple guys out at the plate as well. I was an above-average hitter with decent power to the opposite field, but not prolific enough to start on a college team.

 

My biggest regret is that I didn't get off my lazy ass, go to college right out of HS, and try out for a team. I had a real good fastball and change up and went 8-0 with a 2.80 ERA my senior year of HS. I think I could have had a shot to pitch for a college team but now I will never know. I don't think I ever had the stuff to go beyond that level, but since I never tried, I will never know.

[WCSox]

The next time up, the pitcher decided to brush me back. I didnt react fast enough and took a 91mph fastball off my elbow. It shattered and that was it.

 

Goddamn, that's awful. Sorry to hear that.

[RockRaines]

Anyone playing in the 25+ leagues around the area?

[zach23]

Anyone playing in the 25+ leagues around the area?

 

I am. I mentioned the league in my earlier reply.

[Felix]

I played baseball until about 7th grade or so (can't remember the year exactly), playing just about every position but the corner outfielders and catcher (didn't play second much either, but I did play it occasionally). I was best on the mound, but didn't have any stuff and had to rely on control. I wasn't too good with the bat, but was fast at the time (something that has really changed as of late, stupid growing killed my knees) and could beat out throws for infield singles, etc. I made a few all-star games, but I wasn't really that deserving

[Heads22]

I was a slick second baseman in little league.

[Chisoxfn]

I played baseball (and soccer for that matter) for most of my life. Starting around 5 or 6 and playing up into high school (for baseball). I played in a few leagues per year (pretty much played year round) and I pitched and played 1st base, although as I got older I moved to the outfield (I was at one point a damn good defensive first baseman) but thats cause early on if you could catch you played first base and I kind of stuck with it for a while until a coach wanted my speed out in the OF (I am not super fast, but am fast enough and get very very good reads on the ball).

 

Pitching was my bread and butter though, I never threw hard, but no matter what I threw (a lefty) it had a ton of movement on it. In the younger levels (when you couldn't throw breaking balls) I was routinely asked to stop throwing (and one time was forced off the mound) for throwing breaking balls (problem was I never threw them, I just had an assload of natural movement on the ball).

 

I went into high school with the expectations of making varsity at a pretty young age, but my arm got hurt just prior to my high school season (did the summer league with a lot of the high school team) and my arm was pretty much shot (it had been killing me a lot up to that point, but I just pitched threw it).

 

I had to have surgery (nothing major) but I never really rehabbed it and pretty much was on the team but didn't play (aside from a few AB's and some defensive substitutions). My arm has pretty much sucked since than and I wish I just worked hard and rehabbed it, but I was really sick of the arm hurting (my shoulder injury got my mechanics all out of whack and it lead to me messing up my elbow, which is fine now).

 

As far as the pitches I threw, I was a FB/Change/Curve guy but I pretty much only threw the FB and change and the curve would be a get me over for a strike (ocassionally I'd snap off a really really good one, but I wasn't at all consistent with it). I was just able to throw my FB and change (which had good sink to it and good arm speed) pretty much anywhere I wanted.

[PaleHose4Life35]

Growing up I played so many different positions until I got to about 6th or 7th grade then I mostly played 1B but then my 8th grade year my team didn't have a catcher so I jumped in there and liked it a lot. So Freshman Year I tried out as a catcher and made the team and we were real good, then the next year I tried out for the first two days but quit after realizing that if I made the team it would probably be my last year on a high school team and I wouldn't play very much so I thought it wasn't worth it. I still play in local rec leagues and play just for fun with my friends.

 

I was a pretty good player in High School and middle school. In Middle School I hit close to .400 because I didn't play travel baseball, and once I got to high school the AVG went down a bit because it was a big change of pace from in-house leagues to high school.