Mark The Bird Fidrych s Magical 1976 Season
Mark Fidrych of the Detroit Tigers, for one season, was the most exciting... . .. athlete in America. The Bird... Mark Fidrych was one of the most fascinating, intriguing and just plain COOL players in baseball history, starring for a pretty bad Tiger club during the rebuilding phase of the mid 1970s. What made the Bird a master showman- who could pack ballparks from coast to coast- was the fact that he didn"t even know... or care... that he was performing and all of it was natural. That"s what those huge crowds came to see! Talking to the ball... getting down on his hands and knees to groom the mound... shaking hands with teammates after they made big plays.
Why I Don t Hate Barry Bonds
Have you ever heard of John Dowd? I discovered who he is this past weekend when my son brought home a new baseball video game. Ordinarily, I figured my son and I could spend a few lazy summer hours bonding, talking about baseball and the reasons why my Angels are better than his Diamondbacks. This particular day featured a game on the video screen between my son's Diamondbacks and the San Francisco Giants. The Giants lineup featured a clean-up hitter named John Dowd. He was a hulking figure who hit and threw lefty and played left field. I shook my head and chortled heavily when I first saw this image. Then I proceeded to explain to my son that Barry Bonds doesn't allow his likeness to be used in video games like this one.
Mark The Bird Fidrych s magical 1976 Season
Mark Fidrych of the Detroit Tigers, for one season, was the most exciting... . .. athlete in America. The Bird... Mark Fidrych was one of the most fascinating, intriguing and just plain COOL players in baseball history, starring for a pretty bad Tiger club during the rebuilding phase of the mid 1970s. What made the Bird a master showman- who could pack ballparks from coast to coast- was the fact that he didn"t even know... or care... that he was performing and all of it was natural. That"s what those huge crowds came to see! Talking to the ball... getting down on his hands and knees to groom the mound... shaking hands with teammates after they made big plays.
MLB Bats Whittled Down to Uneven Playing Field
As Barry Bonds comes ever closer to breaking the National Pastime"s hallowed home run record, currently held by Hank Aaron at 755, the controversy regarding illicit performance enhancing drug use, which may forever taint Bond"s entire career, does accomplish taking the focus off of Major League Baseball (MLB) and its own shortcomings. The scrutiny which has been paid, in only just the past two years, over drug use among MLB players, while having been a black eye for MLB, is also convenient as Commissioner Bud Selig need not address myriad other issues which also play their part in preserving the integrity of the game. For example, MLB has done little exploration into the variations in equipment over just the past 10 years or so and more specifically the wooden bat itself.
Baseball Glove Repair - Every Little Bit Helps
From the beginning of spring through the summer playing season someone is always dropping a baseball glove off at "The Doctor's" house to get a little baseball glove repair done on their glove. Most of these repairs are usually the same... broken laces in one or more places on the glove. Every time I repair one of these gloves I'm always thinking the same thing, "If this guy would have taken just a little bit of care of this glove... " You don't have to go nuts with caring for the glove, but every little bit helps. You see, by the time I get these baseball gloves they are, by definition, neglected! Here's what I usually see: They are usually dirty. Dirt is not so bad, though, because dirt is part of what the glove is going to see anyway.
Home of the Detroit Tigers - Comerica Park
Although it"s car, bus, limo or luxury sedan ride from any point in the Detroit suburbs, Comerica Park has become a big draw this summer mostly because of the Tiger"s successful 2006 season and it"s current season with a record above. 500 for the year so far. The famous park is almost 10 years old and is another in the line of the picturesque throwback era ballparks situated in the heart of a major downtown metropolis. And naturally, tigers are the theme in this park. Its all brick exterior is circled by stone tiger heads with a baseball between clinched teeth. Huge tigers with menacing scowls guard the two main entrance gates, both down the right field line.
The Best Baseball Websites
My favorite baseball websites are as follows (no particular order): www.BaseballAmerica.com Not taking the major leagues into account, baseball is played all over the United States. You can find minor league teams in towns and cities all across the country. Baseball America is a great source for finding out about your favorite major league team's farm system. They provide comprehensive lists of players, sortable stats and commentary for all minor league teams. They also do a fine job covering college baseball, which is growing rapidly in popularity. www.RotoWorld.com Primarily a fantasy sports site, RotoWorld is not just for fantasy geeks. RotoWorld reports sports news in a very timely manner.
Barry Bonds-Who s Your Daddy?
To real baseball fans, Babe Ruth is the greatest home run hitter of all time. When he hit 60 home runs in 1927, he hit more home runs than any of the other (7) American League TEAMS. When Bonds hit 73 homers in 2001, every team in the National League out-homered him. Of course they did, it's simply not human for one player to out-homer an entire league. Statistics Through 6/22/07( Projected HR'S Per Aaron's At Bats) Name---Homers----- At Bats---- HR per AB------ Slugging Ave------- HRs Projected Aaron-----755-------- 12364--------6.1% -------------.555----------------------- 755 Bonds---- 749--------- 9, 683-------- 7.7 ---------------.608----------------------- 909 Ruth----- 714------- ----8398-------- 8.
Areas Of The Zone That You May Be Pitched
This article highlights the areas of the zone that you may be pitched. Following are a few guidelines that will help you in understanding the various areas: When you are looking inside and if you get pitched inside, you should hit this particular pitch to the pull side of the field. Also, you ought to look to go to the opposite field in case you are pitched middle away. Always, look for the pitch down the middle just like other Major League hitters do. This is useful because it helps you to adjust off the ball down the middle instead of the extreme outside or the extreme inside. However, there are times when you should look inside or outside as well. In case, a pitcher consistently throws you on the outside part of the plate, you should always look on the outside part of the plate and hit the ball to the opposite field.
Conquer The Curveball - Learn Curveball Drills
In order to conquer the curveball, it is very necessary to learn and practice certain curveball drills. There are five important curveball drills. These are as follows: Underhand recognition drill Back toss drill Underhand lob drill Bounce drill Drop the ball drill This article presents a few of these drills in detail. #Underhand Recognition Drill This drill helps to differentiate between the speeds of an off-speed pitch and a fast ball. It also helps to recognize where the weight of your body needs to be. Here are some techniques to do this drill. Sitting about 15 feet in front of home plate, the coach is required to toss underhand from behind a screen. Next, the coach is supposed change speeds and locations.