Photo taken from Google Images

This is a post written by Jeff Herbst. Jeff has had a passion for sports ever since he could first walk and enjoys writing in his spare time. He works with Phoenix Bats, a company that manufacturers wood bats and specialty composite wood bats for amateur and professional ball players around the globe.

Since 1936, the baseball Hall of Fame has inducted 296 players, managers and executives who have excelled on the field of play, behind the scenes as manager, coach or executive, or who played a part in advancing the game of baseball itself. In its induction criteria, players must have played a minimum of ten years, and have been retired for five years. A screening committee then ciphers through the list of eligible players after they have waited the mandatory five-year period after retirement. Once the screening committee clears the list of lesser-qualified players, members of the BBWAA (Baseball Writers Association of America) must then cast their votes for players on the ballot and players who receive a minimum of 75 percent of the votes cast is automatically inducted.

While the process itself may seem foolproof, there are flaws in the system and those flaws have certainly come into play during and after what has been termed as baseball’s Steroid Era.

The Steroid Era can be loosely defined as the era between the late 1980s until now, when many ballplayers were suspected to have used performance enhancing drugs to in order to increase offensive output. Many players during this time were alleged to have used PEDs, while others actually tested positive for banned PED substances after MLB implemented PED testing in 2003.

The voting bloc for baseball’s Hall of Fame, the BBWAA (Baseball Writers Association of America) has largely denied entry into the hallowed halls of baseball for players suspected of PED use, including those who have tested positive in recent years. Mark McGwire, the slugging first baseman who originally broke Roger Maris’ all-time single-season home run record in 1998, is one such player who has failed to gain enough votes for entry. In the five years that McGwire has been eligible for Hall of Fame induction, the highest number of votes he has achieved has been 23.7 percent in 2010, far short of the 75 percent required for automatic induction.

So too is the case with former designated hitter Rafael Palmeiro. Palmeiro famously declared at a Congressional hearing in 2005, “Let me start by telling you this: I have never used steroids, period. I don’t know how to say it any more clearly than that. Never.” However, just four months later, Palmeiro tested positive for a banned substance, rendering his very public statement useless. Despite the fact that Palmeiro is just one of four men in baseball history who have collected 3,000 hits and 500 home runs, he only received 11 percent of the votes in his first year of Hall of Fame eligibility.

Cheating is cheating, no matter what form it takes. That is exactly why Shoeless Joe Jackson and Pete Rose have been barred from entry into the Hall of Fame—they were both involved in gambling on their own teams in some way. Baseball writers in the BBWAA have taken a stand that anyone accused of, or who tested positive for PED use also cheated and also should not gain entry in baseball’s hallowed halls.

For this writer, were I eligible to vote, I too would absolutely not cast a vote for any player who willingly changed his body via unscrupulous means in order to pad his statistics. Are there players in the Hall of Fame who were not the nicest of people, or who were disliked for various reasons? Yes, but none of them were accused of cheating the game. The Hall of Fame should only be reserved for players who earned it the right and honest way.

by Buddy Biancalana

I recently returned from baseball’s Winter Meetings. Reflecting back over the three days, one conversation I had is staying with me.  The conversation of which I intentionally did more listening than speaking, included Carlos Zambrano’s agent Barry Praver, Cub’s VP, Player Personnel, Oneri Fleita and MLB.com writer Carrie Muskat. They were discussing Zambrano’s challenges.

Certainly if Carlos could harness his emotions, overcome his reoccurring shoulder issues and pitch consistently like he can, there would be more joy in Wrigleyville.

When any athlete does not understand motion from the most fundamental level, it can kick off a chain of issues such as inconsistency, injuries and in Zambrano’s case, anger.

Image via Wikipedia

Let’s take a look at the interconnectedness of Zambrano’s three challenges.

Not understanding how to access the origin of motion can be compared to driving in an unfamiliar city without a GPS. It becomes a bit of guesswork, and now and then you will most likely get lost. Getting lost can certainly cause frustration and in some cases anger.

When mechanics start to break down for an athlete, confidence can start to diminish and create some concern or fear.  Fear is at the root of all anger.  At this point an athlete can start acting out by throwing or hitting things, yelling at team mates or through other various means. 

When things go wrong around Zambrano, if he understood how to pitch as well as he ever has by having a clear understanding of how to access the origin of motion, do you think his emotions would run rampant?  It is doubtful. His confidence would remain and anger and fear would stay dormant.

So how does this tie in to Zambrano’s shoulder issues? When a pitcher is not accessing the origin of motion, the bigger, bulkier muscles in the body will play a more dominant roll. This is multiplied in the case of a maximum effort pitcher like Zambrano.  A tug of war is created between the bigger muscles and the more subtle fast twitch muscles. This tug of war leads to injuries as doctors and trainers have told me.

If Carlos understood motion from the most fundamental level, he would get to enjoy the game and his team mates as much as his financial wealth.

Buddy Biancalana
Co-author, The 7 Secrets of World Class Athletes
www.zonetraining.net

“These guys have discovered something in all sports that is going to have a huge impact wherever it is taught.”  George Brett, Baseball Hall of Fame

With US backing, the ABL is thriving, writes David Sygall

 Written by David Sygall

Field of dreams … the Sydney Blue Sox opened the Australian Baseball League season on Friday with a win over the Melbourne Aces. Photo: Anthony Johnson

A striking aspect of baseball’s opening night is the level of confidence emanating from the tight community of fans, players and officials associated with a sport that acts nothing like a domestic fringe dweller.

And, it’s not just about mimicking the stereotypical chest-pumping, too cool for school-style attitude often linked with quintessentially American sports. The Australian Baseball League and its small but dedicated band of followers have genuine reasons to feel positive about the game’s future here, as it begins its second season since relaunching.

There is plenty to be said for a game steeped in as much tradition as Test cricket, yet which somehow can effortlessly maintain a sense of relevance and modernity. Whereas cricket and many other sports keep tinkering with their rules, image and style, baseball is the same today as it was when it began in the US north-east 140 years ago. You know what you’re going to get every time you watch a game at the ol’ ball park.
”One thing I love about baseball is that it’s consistent,” says Sydney Blue Sox general manager David Balfour, whose son Grant is earning millions playing for the Oakland Athletics. ”It hasn’t changed since the day it started. I think Twenty20 cricket is basically trying to be like baseball. Cricket is baseball on valium.”

Balfour ran former incarnations of Sydney baseball teams and admits to having lost ”a lot of money”. He says the old league was ”very good, a well-run league”, but this league’s better for one enormous reason – the league is now majority owned by US Major League Baseball.

Centralised ownership means there are no owners going broke, player payment and trading issues, or arguments over how the teams should be structured and marketed. Everyone is pulling in the same direction under a sporting behemoth that definitely knows what it’s doing. Merchandise is from the same template as highly successful MLB stock, as is the game-day running sheet, right down to the seventh-inning stretch. It also means American players have a direct opening to play in Australia, setting up a mutually beneficial exchange of skills with Australia’s brightest talents, several of whom will doubtless add to the already impressive list of Australians to hit the big time in the US.

”The problem in the past was a lack of funds and pretty bad facilities,” Balfour says. ”That’s improved. To have the backing of MLB is a really big plus. It basically means we have just one owner, which makes things easier. In the old days nothing ever moved because everyone was looking after their own interests.”

It’s definitely not a bottomless pit of cash, Balfour adds, as MLB expects the ABL to be self-sufficient eventually. But the backing as the game seeks to permanently establish itself is priceless. Other practical factors add to baseball’s appeal. At the game on Friday night – which the Blue Sox won brilliantly 3-2 over the Melbourne Aces with a winning run at the bottom of the ninth inning – knowledgeable and passionate fans could hear at close proximity the whizz of the ball zooming through the air at 160 km/h. They could see its dip and swerve and feel the thud as it smacked into the catcher’s glove. Whereas cricket’s rule tinkering has nearly killed the art of bowling, the baseball pitcher’s skill remains highly celebrated. Same with the batters, who are as courageous as they are powerful.

”The standard is already there,” says Bob Turner, the former basketball identity who is now a chief advisor to Baseball NSW and the Blue Sox. ”You’ve got 20 kids who played in the Majors last year playing in the league. You’ve got five guys who played in the league last year who went on to play in the Majors this year. The fact that Major League Baseball is such a major driving force behind the ABL gives every young fellow a real chance. It’s now a case of, ‘If I show my skills, I can make it to the big league’. The success of the league will probably be based on crowds and media coverage. But I think people have accepted that it’s here to stay and will become bigger and bigger over the years.”

Greetings,

It’s been another year of wonderful success for many of our clients. We have now worked with athletes in seven professional and 13 amateur sports. We’ve also worked with a few musicians.

Following are a few of the success stories from baseball.  I am not at liberty to use some client’s names.

Philip Humber–Pitcher-Chicago White Sox:

In four call ups to the Major Leagues prior to Zone Training, Philip had a 1.82 WHIP (walks and hits to innings pitched) and a 1.11 to 1 K-BB ratio. (strikeout to walk ratio)

In the past two seasons combined following Zone Training, his WHIP was 1.19 and he had a 2.75 to 1 K-BB ratio.

Bobby Keppel–Pitcher-Nippon Ham Fighters: (Japan)

In four plus years prior to Zone Training, Bobby had a career AAA ERA of 5.42. In 20 following Zone Training , he had a 2.43 ERA in AAA and his first 14.1 innings in the Major Leagues were scoreless.

In 2010 for Nippon he was 12-8 with a 3.20 ERA and this past season was 14-6 with a 3.21 ERA.

Aaron Laffey–Pitcher-Kansas City Royals:

In two previous seasons combined prior to Zone Training, he had a 1.04 K to BB ratio. This past season with the Mariners and Yankees, his K to BB ratio was 1.66. Both ratios do not include intentional walks.

Minor League Hitter:

Increased HR and RBI totals from 5 and 35 to 18 and 97. HR to AB ratio went from 1 every 48.6 AB to 1 every 29.22.

Joey Bielek–Chapparal High School, Scottsdale AZ:

Increased batting average from .334 to .486 and had a 27 game streak without striking out.

Received scholarship from University of Cincinnati following no interest from any college prior to his senior season.

Philip Werner–St Andrews High School, Bethesda MD:

Increased batting average from approximately .400 as a sophomore to .724 as a junior.

Buddy Biancalana
www.zonetraining.net

“These guys have discovered something in all sports that is going to have a huge impact wherever it is taught.”  George Brett, Baseball Hall of Fame

This graphic comes to us via Mike Donghia of   http://www.webstaurantstore.com

So what really happened to the Braves and Red Sox that caused their hard to imagine collapses?

On the surface level, we could just very simply say that neither club performed well in September. For the Braves, one could focus on the fact that they did not hit well with runners in scoring position over the last month or that their outstanding relievers, Jonny Vetters and Craig Kimbrel saved their least effective month for September.

However, to fully understand anything, it is helpful to look at its origin. In the case of the Braves and Red Sox, their hitter’s swings and pitcher’s motions were not as good in September as they were for most of the season.

So looking at the origin of motion we must look at the processes in the mind. When we are doing anything in life, information or signals enter the pre frontal cortex of the brain. What determines fluidity of motion is how quickly and seamlessly these signals move to the motor system. When they move quickly and seamlessly, the more subtle fast twitch muscles in the body become enlivened which causes the motion to be fluid and effortless and thus be more effective.

 



When the opposite occurs and the signals get held up in the pre frontal cortex, the fast twitch muscles are less enlivened and the bigger, bulkier muscles dominate the motion. This causes the motion to be more forced and less effective.

Along with the bigger muscles dominating when this process occurs in the brain, the athlete also experiences time as speeding up and does more thinking instead of just reacting or “letting it happen.”

Kimbrel had the following to say after walking three in the 9th inning of the Brave’s loss on the last day of the regular season to cost them the NL Wild Card spot.

“Things started moving too fast. My head started moving too fast. My brain, I didn’t put it together. It was too late.”  The translation of this is that the information he was taking in was getting held up in his pre frontal cortex.

He went on to say that his 9th inning collapse “would just make me work harder this coming off season.” Careful Craig!  His working harder without understanding motion from the most fundamental level could easily cause his September to carry over into April 2011.

To better understand motion, you may want to view this video of Dr. Fred Travis.

Buddy Biancalana
Co-author, The 7 Secrets of World Class Athletes
www.zonetraining.net
727.417.7895

“These guys have discovered something in all sports that is going to have a huge impact wherever it is taught.”  George Brett, Baseball Hall of Fame

CELEBRITY GOLF TOURNAMENT IN FULL SWING 

Each year, the Florida League puts on a prestigious golf tournament in November that baseball fans should not miss. The event features an opportunity for participants to openly mingle with Major League Baseball stars of yesterday and today over a two day period. The night before the tournament, golfers and celebrities attend a casual pairings dinner and enjoy delicious food from Flemings Steakhouse while greeting each other. The day of the tournament features a pre-golf buffet lunch on the driving range, 18-holes of challenging golf with a celebrity, and finally a brief awards ceremony accompanied by Interlachen’s finest buffet dinner.

Playing spots are already filling up quickly. The tournament is limited to 25 foursomes ensuring a delightful golf experience and preserving the exclusive nature of the event. Register your foursome today to guarantee your spot!

DATE

November 13 & 14, 2011

LOCATION

Interlachen Country Club

Winter Park, FL

COST

$2,500 for a foursome

or

$625 per player

(Tax-deductible)

CLICK HERE to view this year’s event flyer 

WHAT COMES WITH MY REGISTRATION  

3 delicious meals from culinary experts

Drinks

18 holes of unforgettable golf at Interlachen Country Club (private)

$100 gift card to Nike golf shop set up at event

 Opportunity to meet and play a round of golf with current or former MLB celebrities

Chance to win multiple vacation packages for your family

WHO DOES THE TOURNAMENT BENEFIT   

This unmatched tournament benefits the Florida League. Each year, the Florida League is tasked with raising a minimum of $500,000 to operate six collegiate baseball teams in Central Florida. Money is raised from donations, sponsorships, game-night revenues and fundraisers like this.

The Florida League is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization which exists solely for the benefit of the players who play in the league as well as the six communities in which the league operates. The Florida League has had over 160 players drafted in just 8 years and is partially funded by Major League Baseball.

WHAT CELEBRITIES ARE ATTENDING

(list of celebrities currently committed, subject to change)

Hunter Pence, Davey Johnson, Vince Coleman, Ryan Hanigan, Tim Wakefield, Tim Raines Sr., Frank Viola, Mike Stanley, Fred McGriff, Zack Greinke, Rickie Weeks, Daryl Boston, Jemile Weeks, Ray Lankford, Dave Clark, Ozzie Timmons, Jim Hickey, Jon Niese, Luke Gregerson, Stan Boroski and more!

HOW TO REGISTER

Contact Rob Sitz

Florida League President

RSitz@FloridaLeague.com

Or call league office

(321)206-9174 

Click Here to read about last year’s event

Winners: to be announced December 1st 2011

All children must submit your entry with permission from your parents and use a valid parent’s email address.  Must be 16 or younger (parent feel free to help your child).

Luke (age of Bethlehem, PA (Wineter 2010)

My Cub Scout pack, pack 343 in Bethlehem, Pa, recently visited Washington DC because we had raised a lot of money for popcorn sales.  When we were in Washington DC, I learned about how army people died for our freedom.  I also learned from my Dad that my Grandpa’s life was saved by a man named Charles Rein.  Private Rein died instead of my Grandpa in Viietnam and we visited his name at the Vietnam War Memorial.  When we got back, I volunteered to try and make a difference in someone’s life by replacing American Flags at the graves of men and women who fought for our country’s freedom.  I even helped a fellow Cub Scout named John Jones and together John and I fixed one of the broken flag-holders and placed a new flag into it. That day, I must have placed a few hundred flags. This makes a difference, I think because when the soldiers’ families come to visit the graves, they will see a shiny new flag and they will know that their family member is honored and remembered and that might make them feel good.

Luke

8 Years old

Bethlehem, PA

Y Athlete… Assisting and Empowering Todays Athletes

The one thing that separates the successful athletes who reach their highest potential level from those who don’t are the ones who lack focus. Focus defined is the concentration of attention or energy on something: i.e. a goal. As an athlete looking to make it in their respective sport, whether its high school, collegiate, professional or Olympic level, having a focused and clear goal oriented mind set is what will propel the athlete towards success.

The Y Athlete teaches athletes to have a purpose for anything and everything they do: for this very reason the ‘Y’ in Y Athlete www.YAthlete.com stands for the word ‘why’ itself.

The idea behind the Y Athlete is to teach the drive behind your actions!

What is your drive? What’s makes you fire on all cylinders everyday? What excites you so much, that IT would make you jump out of bed a 5:30am in the morning so you can get a run or lift in before the busy day that lies ahead? What is IT that when you run into an unfavorable situation, the IT will help you battle through the adversity with the right attitude? Have you ever thought hard into Y you do the things you do? Y do you eat what you eat? Y you listen to what you listen to or Y you hang around the people you do? There are answers to all of these questions, but are they truly the most power answers or are they just answers that you think the person asking wants to hear. Most of the time we are making decisions to the things we do without ever asking the question. Are these actions or decisions that I am about to make going to take me closer to my goals or lead me astray from my goals?

What is your ultimate Y? Right now instead of looking at your whole life and asking Y to everything I am asking you to focus on the question, Y do you play sports? What are you looking to accomplish through your participation in sports? Are you looking to receive a collegiate athletic scholarship? Maybe you would like to participate at international competitions for your country, which in turn may just earn you a future spot on your country’s Olympic team. What about the possibility of playing a sport at the professional level? One great goal may be that you love to participate in games with your teammates and friends which is a very nice goal. But I am here to talk with the serious minded athletes. The athletes looking at being the best they can possibly be.

Maybe you have never even thought about this question before and I know there are others that may already have planned out a purpose filled course in order to attain whatever it is they are seeking. There are a lot of roads out there to take to your final destination, some are thruways and while others may be filled with bunches of red lights. Also remember there are some roads that will drive you up to the front door of your destination while others may take you down a rough, bumpy road that leads to a dead end. Imagine putting in all those hours and years of hard work, commitment and discipline in only to find yourself knocking on the wrong door or no door at all. One thing is for sure and that is while working towards your goal there is definitely not a lot of room for making the wrong decisions. There is no replay button you can hit and go back to fix the wrong turns you may have made. So let’s get you started out in the right direction and minimize the wrong turns or detours you may make. John Wooden once stated “The most important key to achieving great success is to decide upon your goal and launch, get started, take action ” Let your actions do your talking!

So how do you go about setting goals and getting the support you need to reach them? We believe it all starts with your Ultimate Goal, The Y you play. Take some time to think about your reason behind your game. From there, athletes can begin to decide upon what we call Season Goals. Whatever point you’re at today, you can figure out and decide what do I want to accomplish right now that will take me to my ultimate goal? And what actions do I need to perform to get there. Setting goals may be challenging at first, but once you get in the habit of doing it they can definitely become fun and inspiring. We encourage athletes to remember it isn’t just about where you want to be in your sport, it is what you do to get where you want to be. Which is why daily evaluation on the actions your taking to reach your goals becomes so important. Have you ever thought about the level you perform at as far as your nutrition? Your rest? Your work ethic? The Y Athlete empowers athletes to be both accountable and responsible for the athlete they want to become. And daily evaluation enables an athlete to experience and feel process success and not just outcome success. By placing you the athlete at the forefront of decision-making, the Y Athlete makes the athlete the catalyzing force in the process of improving.

To learn more about how you can implement goal setting and how we can assist you with your self evaluation check out The Y Tool www.YAthlete.com/tool/landing The Y tool has the unique ability to allow an athlete to consider, reflect and track progress in ways that extend far beyond “number of reps”. For those athletes that are willing to accept the responsibility and accountability and become an active part in the process of getting to where they want to “be” as an athlete, becoming a Y Athlete will be an empowering and wonderful experience.

In an acceptance of responsibility comes awareness and respect that don’t only make someone a better athlete, but a better person as well.

Choose Your Journey, Make It Happen!

Y Athlete

www.YAthlete.com

This article was written by our friends at MoneyStats.com

At MoneyStats, we have developed a Splits List Section for starting pitchers.

In our Splits Lists, you can break down the lists by American and National League,

by team and by number of starts for easy comparisons.

Our Splits Lists include breakdowns on all starting pitchers in Quality Starts, Runs Received,

No Decisions, Home / Away Records, and 9 Inning Splits.  Each of our columns are sortable, from high to low and low to high throughout our entire Player Rating System.

To view our entire Player Rating System and complete Splits Lists, please visit us at www.moneystats.net.

Click on the yellow banner at the top of our homepage to sign in at no obligation.  All we need is an email address and a password you determine, and then click the “Try MoneyStats for Free” tab and that will give you access to our entire site.

We welcome all comments, so please email us at mark@moneystats.net with your thoughts….

Here is an example of our Runs Received Splits based on the Differential number (through August 2^nd)

22 – 28 Starts

15 – 21 Starts

8 – 14 Starts