Luck Factor: AL Lineups
Honestly I feel a whole lot better about studying the American League. It has nothing to do with superior play or the designated hitter. It has everything to do with the fact that I am a dedicated Astros fan. I run an Astros blog at Breathingorangefire.com and have been a fan of […]
Making Contact, Step 3: Flat-Hand Hitting
If any single idea dominates my overall approach to hitting it is my undying belief in the advantages of flat-hand hitting. Here’s why… It increases your flexibility to react to a variety of pitches. It gives you more leverage to drive the baseball. It provides you better arm extension. It allows you the ability to […]
An Introduction to the Luck Factor in Baseball
There is a schism in baseball between those that we might call traditionalists and those we would call sabermetricians. Traditionalists believe in intangibles. They believe in character, chemistry, and pure athletic skills. Unexplained events are actually explained by clutch performance or what some people call “choking”, Moreover, we shouldn’t try to define it or quantify […]
Catching the Fun of Throwing a Baseball
It does not take long for kids to get bored with a game of catch, whether it is with mom or dad in the back yard or at baseball practice. Often, players get bored quickly with playing catch and want to move on to fielding or hitting right away. The problem is that many kids […]
Hall of Famer Rod Carew on Making Contact, Step 2: The Stride
As you continue taking steps toward becoming a successful hitter, one of the crucial steps is actually making a stride. In your quest for contact, the purposes of the stride are many. For starters, it gets your energies moving in the right direction. It also eliminates a flat-footed swing and balances the weight shift and […]
Book Review: Arm Chair Reader Grand Slam Baseball: The Lore and Legends of America’s Game
If a sports fan is looking for the perfect reading partner in the bathroom, this book may provide them with just what they are looking for. With over 400 pages of baseball facts, statistics and stories, Grand Slam Baseball is sure to teach even the most knowledgeable of baseball fans a thing or two about […]
How to Run a Great Baseball Practice
The key to running a great baseball practice is organization. Coaches should map out their practices so that there is little wasted time. Preseason practices should cover every important aspect of baseball for the age of the player. In the regular season, coaches can gear their practice time to cover parts of the game most […]
Book Review: Scorecasting: The Hidden Influences Behind How Spots Are Played and Games are Won
What happens when one of the most renowned finance professionals in the country gets together with one of the mist intelligent sports writers in the country? They create a perception of sports that has never been heard before. In Scorecasting finance scholar Tobias Moskowitz and sports journalist L. Jon Wertheim attempt to answer questions that […]
Major League Baseball Scores
Volume IV, Issue 1: A Publication For Your Reading Enjoyment Major League Baseball scored a significant victory recently when Dominican authorities arrested a prominent MLB scout and charged him with fraud and document forgery in connection with young baseball prospects. Victor Baez was regarded as one of the most successful Dominican scouts and ran his […]
Talk Like an Expert and Help Youth Baseball Players “Stay” in the Game
Spring training is right around the corner for young ball players, too, so parents and youth coaches have to get up to speed on good baseball teaching terms. There is one word that is necessary to teach baseball. Adults need to know this word to help them sound like an expert and so they can […]
Prince Fields a Whopper
It is 11° as I write this so to get in the mood I am listening to Baseball’s Greatest Hits – mostly cheesy tributes to former New York players – Joe DiMaggio, Willie Mays, Jackie Robinson and Mickey Mantle as well as one of the best baseball songs ever written “Willie, Mickey and the Duke” […]
A Review of High Heat: The Secret History of the Fastball by Tim Wendel
The Hardcover version The full title of this book is “High Heat: the Secret History of the Fastball and the Improbable Search for the Fastest Pitcher of All Time”. Its chapters are named after different aspects of pitching: The Windup, The Pivot, The Stride, The Arm Acceleration, The Release, The Follow-Through, and The Call. It […]
REMEMBERING FENWAY PARK: An Oral and Narrative History of the Home of the Boston Red Sox
Click this Link to Buy “Remembering Fenway Park” THE BABE. THE KID. THE CURSE. THE MONSTER. A CENTURY OF STORIES. REMEMBERING FENWAY PARK: AN ORAL AND NARRATIVE HISTORY OF THE HOME OF THE BOSTON RED SOX Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls.Welcome to Fenway Park. Six days after the Titanic sank in the […]
5 Habits Sports Parents and Coaches Should Avoid
Often, the parental pressure that parents place on young baseball players is subtle, but builds over time to the point where kids no longer want to play. The resulting kids’ desire to quit baseball comes as a surprise and disappointment to parents, which creates additional tension between them. Parents and coaches, who avoid these negative […]
Rod Carew on Gripping Your Bat: Taking Hold of Success
For decades upon decades, from Ty Cobb to Mickey Mantle to Tony Gywnn to Miguel Cabrera; Major League Baseball’s finest hitters have taken hold of a bat in the fashion that suited them. And, in doing so, they all held tight to successful careers with an assortment of batting titles, All-Star selections, and even Hall […]
A Video Tribute to Hall of Famer Bob Feller
Please share your favorite stories of the late Bob Feller in the comments section below! We hope you like this video tribute… Feel free to add links to any other video tributes on Bob Feller in the comments section as well!
I-70 Baseball Announces First Writers Conference
I-70 Baseball is proud to announce the organization of the first Midwest Baseball Writers Convention to be held on February 12, 2011 in Springfield, MO. Baseball writers from around the country are being invited to attend the first ever conference, aimed at creating a networking opportunity for writers to exchange ideas and meet with industry professionals that can assist them […]
Baseball Bloggers Alliance Day
Today, Friday December 10, 2010 is Baseball Bloggers Alliance (aka BBA) Day! The BBA was started in April 2009 by one of our contributing writers here at Baseball Reflections, Daniel Shoptaw. Daniel also runs his own blog where he covers the Cardinals called C70 at the Bat and he also runs the United Cardinal Bloggers […]
Baseball is a Head Game and How to Fix It
This article is probably not what you think. You are probably thinking I am talking about what baseball players should be thinking about on the ball field – the mental game of baseball. Actually, this article is about the physical aspect of a baseball player’s head and how important the location of the head is […]
Is Jayson Werth it?
Wow is all I can say right now. I knew Jayson Werth’s new contract was ridiculous but I had no idea how ridiculous it was. Let’s examine the 18 million dollar man. After going through some numbers of the greatest players in baseball history the player who closest resembles Jayson Werth is….Paul Konerko. Also, please […]
A’s work out details to make MLB doubleheader a reality
Editor’s Note: This post was originally posted to Kevin’s Examiner page! Not since Bill Clinton was in the White House and Beavis and Butthead were childishly giggling their ways into our living rooms have the Oakland A’s done what they will do next year. For the first time in 15 years, the A’s will conduct […]
How to Make the Baseball Team: 5 Important Tryout Tips
Of course, there is no substitute for ballplayers, who are trying out for a team, to display good baseball skills in order to make the team. Good baseball skills and knowledge of the game are the things that baseball coaches are looking for during tryouts. However, often players have equal abilities and who makes the […]
Women at Play: The Story of Women in Baseball
Women at Play: The Story of Women in Baseball consists of original newspaper articles written between 1875 and 1935. Most of the articles are quoted in their entirety and some are summarized. These are a portion of the research notes from which the author wrote back in 1992. You can find a copy of this […]
The Big Business of MLB World Series Baseball
The following CNBC video discusses the business of baseball, with Larry Baer, San Francisco Giants COO, and CNBC’s Darren Rovell. Dated 10/27/10 before the 2010 world Series
Australian Baseball League Launched…Again
They come from the land Down Under and they hope to make a splash with professional baseball in Australia. They’ve tried this before, but let’s hope it sticks this time around. Watch the video below for a brief history of the game in Australia, and maybe it will shed some light as to what went […]
How Coaching High School and Travel Team Baseball Has Made Me a Fan
Having an appreciation for the game of baseball goes much longer then rooting for your favorite player (Pedro Martinez) or your favorite team (Boston Red Sox). I’ve been fortunate that many of my experiences within baseball have allowed me to develop a greater passion for the game I love. Over the past several years, I […]
The Rules of Reading the Spin of the Ball
Knowing where and when to look. Those are the two simple, but important rules to reading the spin of the ball out of the pitcher’s hand. Every pitcher has his own release point, the point at which the ball leaves his hand – and the point at which a hitter should begin to read the […]
Can the Phillies’ payroll afford Jayson Werth?
In our last article examining the Phillies payroll, we found that allowing Jayson Werth to walk essentially maintains the same payroll of $141 million next season. Re-signing Werth would simply ADD Werth’s salary on top of the $141 million. It originally seemed like $15 million would be enough to keep J-dub. But after listening to […]
Teaching Young Ballplayers that Defense Wins Championships
By far, the greatest play I ever made was on a routine ground ball, about 4 or 5 steps to my left, with a very short throw to 1st base from my second base position. “What was so great about that?” The circumstances of the situation are what made the play great, at least to […]
The Giants First World Series Victory in San Fransisco
Congratulations to all SF fans… This must have been a close series MVP race between Renteria and Lincecum! If Renteria actually does retire, what a way to go! I was also impressed with the post season play of rookie catcher Buster Posey and OF Cody Ross who was a waiver wire pick up! The Giants […]
