Last week I saw a Phillies pin up for sale that I knew I had to have.  It contains actual infield dirt from Citizens Bank Park.  These were given out to certain group clients and couldn’t be purchased at a gift shop.  I never thought I’d own a pin with a relic in it.

So, I’ve been on a breaking and entering streak lately, largely due to discovering a fabulous partner in crime. That’s him on Churchill Down’s infield, around 3am. It would seem that they have a rather porous boundary, with a crack just large enough for two limber people and 4 Heinekens to fit through.

From our entry point, we had no choice but to go through the building’s back door and up along some corridors until we got to the main mezzanine near the track. Sidling along the walls and trying to be inconspicuous, we made it as far as we could until we came to a large hall and had to make a run for the track. I was nervous about going out on the track, but he’s braver than I am and grabbed my hand and pulled me across the open space. I reasoned that nobody had seen us thus far, and really– if you’re going to do something just go ahead and do it, there’s no such thing as sort of trespassing.

The place is possibly more majestic at night than it is during the daytime, with the white columns and landscaping all moonlit and shimmery. It was lovely, sitting in the infield and drinking our beers. I made a snow angel in the sand on the track and wrote our names.

After a few drinks, we walked the tunnels under the track. It looked a lot like Waverly’s Death Tunnel, where we’d gone in the week. I guess that was a bad place to be as a trespasser, it was brightly lit and there was no place to hide, but nobody came. It wasn’t until we tried to leave that we ran into some trouble, a few failed attempts to make myself cry later they photocopied our IDs and let us go to live and trespass another day.

As we drove off, I thought of how confused the trainers would be at our names written into the sand next to a snow angel.

As everybody knows, or at least everybody who has been to my site YouGoProBaseball.com, I have been trying to get it up and running. I recently signed up to yahoo answers for a couple of reasons. One was to promote the site. Although they don’t like that there at yahoo, I was really trying to help answer these baseball questions to the best of my ability. Therefore I didn’t feel too bad about throwing a link to my website on there every now and again. Another reason I signed up was to learn what kind of questions that people had about baseball, drills, and getting better. There was a lot of great questions that were being asked that I think a lot of people would like to know the answers to or at least wonder about sometimes. Therefore I decided I was going to answer some of the best questions in my blog. Hopefully this can be a regular thing and we can all learn from each other. Without further ado, let me present some of the questions (and answers) of my first week on yahoo answers.

I’m only going to go over the questions that I was given the title of “best answer” so I don’t bore you with all 62 answers I attempted this week.

Question 1
This one comes from a kid with the tag name Rob The Slugger who was concerned about playing first base for his high school team:
“I just started playing baseball two years ago and I’m pretty good and I want to play first baseman like my favorite player Mark Teixeira. I don’t know if my coach will play me there. Kids often make fun of me because I played minor league in 7th grade. I can catch which is all a first baseman needs to do. What should I do so I can be able to play first base? Should I just play high school baseball or play Babe Ruth league as well? Will it be to time consuming?” – Rob The Slugger at Yahoo Answers

Here was my answer to Rob:
Congratulations on joining the best sport in the world. I’m glad that you are taking such an interest to the game. Baseball changed my life and I hope it impacts you in the same way! As far as your coach not playing you at first base, that may be something that you can control. If you go out and work everyday and try to get better, focus on catching EVERY ball thrown to you, and have a good attitude through even the rough times, then you will increase your chances at being a starter. Not only that, but most first basemen are known for their hitting. You should practice your hitting just as much as you do your first base. Coaches will love you if you are able to drive in runs, especially in clutch situations. Focus on seeing the baseball and making contact.

Here is a link to my website that may help you with both first base and hitting.
First Base
Hitting

Work hard and stay focused. Good things happen to good people and you can do anything you put your mind too!!!!! GOOD LUCK!

Question 2
This question comes from Baseballer25 who was what he could do to prepare for his upcoming season as an outfielder:
“ive always been a baseball fan and loved baseball but ive nvr actually played for a team since im in high school now ill be able to make practice everyday since im already going to be at skool but the hard part will be making the team im a pretty good hitter ive been goin to the batting cages every night for the past two months i can hit the very fast ball consistantly about 11 out of 16 was the most i got i usually get around 9 soo im not really worried about hitting but im worried about fielding how do i beat out the other fielders im really fast(idk if thats a bonus) but what work outs can i do to help my fielding” – Baseballer25 at Yahoo Answers
Here was my answer to Baseballer25:
To be a good defensive outfielder you have to master the fundamentals. Know where you are throwing the baseball before the play happens. Know what hitters are up to play a shift if necessary. Hit all your cut offs. And keep the baseball in front of you no matter what.

Speed is definitely a good thing for an outfielder to have. Most scouts draft outfielders because they are fast. An outfielder should run a 60 yard dash in 6.5 – 7.0 seconds. I think 6.7 is the average of major league outfielders but if you can break 7 in high school you are doing ok.

The other part of being an outfielder is hitting. You said you’ve got that down but it never hurts to practice your strengths as well as your weaknesses.
Hitting
Outfield

Question 3
This will be the last one I do this week for the blog. I had 7 best answers but what I think I’m going to do each week for the blog is pick only 2 or 3 of the best answers I have. Therefore you guys are only seeing the best of the best answers. I don’t want to waste anyones time with babble.
This last question comes from Kev and he asked:
“Why does a hitter go into a slump?” – Kev at Yahoo Answers

Here was my answer to Kev. Looking back on it, I probably should have left out the part about the slump buster because I don’t know how old this kid is. Ooops. Here’s the answer:
That’s a great question and I’m sure there are many reasons. I think the main reason however, is that hitters will let one bad at bat lead to another and another. It’s mostly mental. It doesn’t even have to start with a bad at bat. It can start with something happening at home or at school.

The slump is a result of letting each previous situation effect the next one. And it keeps going and going until you can break the slump.

There is a great article on my website that talks about hitting and how not to let the previous at bat effect you because that’s how slumps start. Here’s a link to the article Previous At Bat. Professional baseball players are professionals, not only because they are superior than others at the game, but because they minimize the times that they are in slumps.

One superstition that some baseball players believe in to get out of a slump is to get a slump buster. A slump buster is usually the name for an overweight or not so attractive girl.

Well That’s It!
That is all I have for the blog today. I hope you enjoyed this article. I plan on doing something like this once a week, so don’t forget to check back often.

YouGoProBaseball.com