Threes

The team played a great game last night. We had superb pitching performances, solid defense and consistent hitting.

It could have been the "milk-man" uniform we wore last night. The white jersey with white pants that have blue piping down the side. Even though it looks similar to a milk-man or a county jail inmate's garb, I think it looks cool and so do the boys. 

Whether you are the head coach, assistant coach or a parent in the stands we all deal with "coaching up" our own kid. As parents we all face similar issues in this area.

Coaching/teaching your kid is full of ups and downs. Some may argue more downs that ups.

Parents just want what is best for our kids.

• We want them to do well because they can. 
• We want them to do well because we know they will enjoy it so much more. 
• We want them to succeed because we don't want them to endure the pain of failure.

However, coaching /teaching our kids is often received by them as criticism. Our kids get defensive and hurt (at times) when we correct them. I believe that deep down our kids really just want to please us (and play ball).

Last weekend in one of the games I yelled out "Let's go threes" from the third base coaches box.

Weird.

Really weird.

My number in high school was 33 (which happens to be my sons number). When I heard myself say that, it brought back memories of my coach and parents saying that exact phrase.

Has time flown by so fast that I now have my own "threes" that I'm coaching up?

Coach Coen, my high school coach, was the first to call me "threes". Looking back, I can appreciate what a great coach he was. He always expected us to play our best. But he never was degrading or rude in his coaching style. Of course he got angry and intense at times but that is different than just being plain mean.

Coach Coen will never know the impact the life lessons, he taught me over 20 years ago, has had in my life. Or the fact that I use the same lessons he taught me when I coach my players.

I am a big believer in positive affirmation. You will have whatever you say. Telling kids they are great, that they are improving, that you are glad they are on your team really builds kids up. Certainly there are teaching moments that you have to correct kids. Having laid the foundation of positive words in their life helps those times of correction.

Without positive affirmation, coaching points are received as a never ending list of items the kid is struggling with.

Last weekend, from the third base coaches box, I was reminded just how important it is to tell my kids that I am proud of them. And yes, even that I love them.

Telling the Greatest Story Ever Told Through the Greatest Game Ever Played...

There is no better example than this one....It is God himself speaking:

2 Peter 1:17
And he received honor and glory from God the Father when God's glorious, majestic voice called down from heaven, "This is my beloved Son; I am fully pleased with him."

Don't you think Jesus already knew he was pretty good? If anyone could have gone without positive affirmation from his father it was Jesus Christ.

Regardless, of whether or not you believe in Him as the savior of the world, you at least  have to give Him credit for being a prominent historical figure. After all, He has two major holidays honoring him. And rather than just having a photo calendar of Himself , the entire way we mark history is relative to when he was born.

Bottom line: His dad spoke words of affirmation into His life in front of other people.

Try it with your own kids. It's kind of weird at first but after a while you will get used to it.

Grown-up Lessons: Part 1

I mentioned in my last post how proud of the boys I was this weekend.

Friday evening the boys were fired up! The game started at 8:50pm. Some of the excitement and enthusiasm was because they were up past their bedtime playing baseball under the lights. It could have been due to the fact that they caught the vision of them winning the tournament. Whatever it was the boys were ready to go!

At the coaches meeting I won the coin toss and elected to be the home team. Everything was going our way, right up to the point where the other team posted a four spot on us in the top of the first inning. I started to think that maybe electing to be the home team wasn't such a good idea after all.

The boys battled back in the bottom of the first to get 3 runs back. It was a back and forth battle all game long. I guess the other team was excited about being up past their bedtime also.

Eventually, in the bottom of the 5th inning we went up by 4 runs. We had a runner on third base and our clean up hitter at the plate. There was about 2 minutes left in the game. When the coach on the other team came out of the dugout and motioned "ball game".

The home plate umpire was livid! He was the one to call when the game was over. And according to his watch time was not up and the boys should continue to play.

The opposing coach said "fine" and slowly walked to the mound for an extended visit with his pitcher. He essentially ran the clock out so that his team would not (potentially) give up any more runs.

Now to some of you this "time limit" stuff and "run differential" is foreign to your baseball experience. Basically, in tournaments you are seeded in the elimination round based on your win loss record and run differential during pool play.

What the coach was doing made sense based on tournament strategy. He was conceding victory and trying to prevent more damage to his run differential. I understand, from a strategy point of view, what he was doing. But at the end of the day he simply quit.

It was not a foregone conclusion that my clean up batter was going to hit a "bomb" or for that matter that the runner on third was going to score. But we will never know for sure because the boys were not able to compete to the end of the game.

There was a stark contrast between what my 10 year old boys did that evening compared to the actions of the opposing coach.

I absolutely love the fact that my boys did not quit. Even when they fell behind in the first inning they kept battling all night long.

Finishing is a lesson that I want my team to take from this season. Never give up and finish what you start.

Will it always be easy? Of course not. But you are still expected to finish what you start. I am so proud of the boys because in both of our games Friday night and Saturday afternoon the boys finished strong!

This is one of my favorite sports examples of finishing. It takes about 3:19 seconds but watch what he walks past at about 3:08.


After watching this video, you may be surprised that I also talked to the boys this weekend that "there is no crying in baseball."

Seriously, it's o.k. if you shed a tear over this video...


Telling the Greatest Story Ever Told Through The Greatest Game Ever Played....

This idea of perseverance is found all throughout the Bible.

Hebrews 10:36

"Patient endurance is what you need now, so you will continue to do God's will. Then you will receive all that he has promised."

We are expected to precede with "patient endurance" all the way to the end!

Finish Strong!

Community Costs

Our boys have played their two best games of the season this weekend!! I could not be prouder of them. Not because we are winning or because of "clutch plays" but because of the way that they have come together as a team.

There have been many grown-up "achievements" that these 10 year old boys have demonstrated this weekend. And I will fill you in more Monday when I can sit down and decompress from the weekend.

Just to give you an idea of how much time, effort and energy goes into one of these tournaments here is our schedule. We played Friday night at 8:50pm, today at 2:30pm and then we start tomorrow at 9:00am.

The tournament is an hour and 30 minutes from the house and we are there at least 1 hour before game time. It will take four games to win the championship tomorrow.

Every now and then I hear people talk about the expenses related to youth baseball. And they are absolutely founded in the fact that travel ball is expensive. So much so, that when I lost the team bag for a couple of days, I realized that there was over $1,000 in 3 bats and catchers gear.

Fortunately, the bag was taken by mistake and later returned.

The funny thing is that most of my kids have more money in their equipment bag than I had in my '77 Celica GT that I bought when I was in the minor leagues for $375. One window didn't roll up and the other window didn't roll down. But it didn't really matter because only the driver's door opened. However, it did have a racing inspired wooden steering wheel and it cranked every day! Looking back I kind of miss that car.

What's the Return on Investment?

Something has been lost in our email, voice mail, texting, blogging world (blogging's not so bad). But this afternoon after the game we cooked out as a team. Nothing fancy just good ole southern tailgating. The boys played and the parents talked and we all ate.

We experienced "community" firsthand today. I would suggest that one's level of influence or affluence does not determine your wealth but it is the depth of community you are able to share with others that defines your life's value.

I certainly don't consider it time or money spent rather invested. And in today's world is there a better investment than kids, families and baseball?

Investing so much time, effort and money to participate in travel baseball gives us an excuse to share  life  with other people. Baseball gives us a reason to sit together (for two hours at a time), talk to one another, rally together, help each other through common struggles and celebrate "wins" with each other.

Is it always perfect? Of course not! We are humans. But it is always worth it.

And today Life is Good!


The Greatest Story Ever Told Through the Greatest Game Ever Played

Life is Good when circumstances are good. But I also believe that God is always good! As we move into the Resurrection Sunday time of the year, I can't help but realize a little better why God would send his only Son to die for my sins.

Even if you have never been to a church in your life, you probably have seen John 3:16. You may have seen it posted on a highway sign or at least the guy in the end zone holding up the yellow poster board. But a key scripture that you may have missed (due to religion) is John 3:17.

Jesus did not come to condemn the world he came to save the world.

The reason He paid such a high price (investment) is that He wants to have "community" with me and with you.

It costs my family a lot for "community" and travel baseball. But I would spend every dime again if I had it to do over.

God Spent infinitely more than I could ever imagine to have community with me and with you. And the fact that I know he would do it all over again allows me to say  that God is good all the time (regardless of circumstances)!! And that life is good because God is good.

If you don't have a church to go to this Resurrection Season, then I invite you to my church, Journey Church.

Winning the Inning

It is another beautiful Friday (last day of winter!!), with great expectations for this weekend's tournament.

As my wife and I were talking this morning, she asked about the championship teams I played on in the past and what it was that made them successful.

I know it reminds me of Bruce Springsteen's "Glory Days" also but please indulge me for a moment.



I notice two models in MLB. The New York Yankees way...buy the best talent. Which certainly works. The Yankees have won 27 World Series compared to the next most successful team in Majors the St. Louis Cardinals with 10 championships.

Another way of winning championships is the Braves model used in the 1990's of developing talent from within their organization's minor league system.

Although acquiring the talent to win championships may differ...buying vs. developing. I believe there is a common thread that runs through both ways of building championship caliber teams.

In 1991 and '92 I was fortunate enough to play on  two championship teams with the Scottsdale A's of the Arizona Rookie League. It's funny how a group of young men worked so hard for a ring. I still have one of the rings (I lost the other). The prize was not the important part (although, I wish I could find that other ring), rather the achievement of winning was most memorable and gratifying.

Based on those two seasons, my perspective on winning championships is different than the Yankees model in acquiring talent. Our team only had one "bonus baby". A bonus baby is a kid that gets a huge signing bonus based on his potential. Sometimes they pan out and make it to the Bigs. Most of the time they are a headache to be around. But the do drive pretty sweet cars for 18 year olds.

Our team was made up mostly of guys that were either late round high school picks, 4th year college seniors or free agents from Latin America and did not get big signing bonuses. Basically, we were not in high demand by other clubs.

One game when I was catching, I remember looking out at the fielders and realized that the first baseman, Rob O'Leary and I were the only English speaking players on the field. And O'Leary had his own language of conjugating the same cuss word for nearly every situation. Communciation or backgrounds certainly was not the key to our teams' success.

Side Journey...
In retrospect, the Latin players received very little compensation to play in the minor leagues. But they were much easier to get along with than the "bonus babies". I think it had to do with their "attitude of gratitude" (sounds like the title to a future post).

So Then What Makes a Championship Team?

Without the best players in the league, How then did we win back to back championships?

"Winning the inning"

A motto that both Dickey Scott and Bruce Hines used in their managerial tactics. Basically, no matter what happened, the goal was to win each inning.

I believe this motto was the main ingredient to our success. Even when we gave up a big inning, say 4 or more runs and we were trailing in the game, we would come back and try to win the next inning.

It was evident that when other teams fell behind, they would give up on the entire game because the task of winning the game seemed insurmountable. However, with us all we had to do was win the next inning.

By winning the inning we never gave up. There was always a chance to still achieve "wins" throughout the game (that we may ultimately loose). And with that mentality we ended up winning more often than not. There was a culture of winning surrounding our team. Every little success was a "win".

Baseball is full of failures. Therefore, it is important to develop a culture of winning whenever and wherever you can.

I love baseball because of innings. Every inning is a brand new start. It requires us to put last inning behind us no matter how great or badly we played. Each new inning requires us to press on towards the goal of achievement by making one play at a time.

As it is with youth baseball, it is very easy to ride the emotional roller coaster of good plays and bad plays. "Winning the inning" is a rudder that can stabilize a team and build an environment of winning amidst the failures of baseball.

When individuals and teams buy into the "winning the inning" mentality it has been my experience ("Glory Days") that teams succeed.

One of the most quoted baseball quotes of all times ties in well with this idea...

"It ain't over 'til it's over" 

(Yogi Berra)

***By the way Berra played in 14 World Series; 10 "rings"--the most by any player in MLB history!***

Acquiring championship caliber talent may differ but the heart of a champion is found in winning the inning!

Telling the Greatest Story Ever Told Through the Greatest Game Ever Played!
I believe God has the corner on this idea...Every day is a new day and opportunity to be great!

Check out what Lamentations 3:22,23 says:
Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. Read more at Blue Letter Bible...

Run Rule Etiquette

This past Sunday the Yankees traveled to Gainesville to play the Cherokee Reds and the Gainesville Braves in a round robin. The team is really coming together well. Seeing the boys improve their weakenesses and build on their strengths is gratifying as a coach. We went 2-0 this Sunday. But even in a solid day of baseball, I learned a HUGE lesson in coaching.

Both of the coaches of the other teams are super guys. In fact, one of the coaches and I have been friends since the 5th grade. We grew up playing baseball together. My son played on his team a few years ago. Our families get along very well.

As I have stated in other blogs, I am laid back. Simply stated my buddy is not at all laid back. In fact, he is so high energy that he makes a cup of coffee nervous. However, we are both extremely competitive in nature. We just express our intensity differently.

So you get the picture... my players are clicking on all cylinders, I am playing one of my best friends, we are both competitive. Now for the conflict...

The Yankees were winning 12-1 and we were the home team. Rather than stopping the game in the bottom of the 4th inning due to the run rule, we decided to play the bottom half of the inning. The umpires were on our dime so they agreed to let the boys keep playing.

We scored 4 in the bottom of the last inning. But the way we scored the runs almost cost us our friendship.

As the third base coach (with a large lead) I stopped giving the boys the steal sign. However, my boys kept running. I really wasn't prepared to tell them not to run when we are up by a lot of runs I just stopped telling them to run.

In my defense: we had never been in that situation before. Secondly, our team has really worked hard lately on being aggressive on the bases. And thirdly, this is the same Yankees team that gave up 20 runs in an inning. You could make the case that no lead is safe with us.

The double steal in the bottom of the last inning is what sent my buddy over the edge. How do I know this you ask. Well after the game when we were shaking hands my good friend lit into me about sportsmanship and running the score up on him. He made a great case for his argument. I don't know how he got out so many words so fast. It was an awesome display of communication! I think I would have passed out if I said that many words without taking a breath.

Needless to say, he did not invite us to go to the Mexican restaraunt after the game with his family. However, the next day I called my friend and we discussed the situation and I am happy to report we are still friends.

How you handle big leads is a tricky deal in coaching youth baseball. You certainly don't want to demoralize the other team and practice poor sportsmanship. But on the other hand it is hard to coach hustle and intensity to your boys and then ask your players to turn it down when they are experiencing success with it.

What would have been even worse... is for a coach to take the foot off the accelerator and then for the other team to come back and win. How do you explain that to your team at the end of the game?

I know there is an unwritten code of conduct in baseball when it comes to managing large leads. Certain situations have their own "safe lead" threshold.  I certainly could have done a better job with it based on the situation Sunday. I am now clearly aware of  how to manage those situations.

Bottom line: the teams got to play two games Sunday; And the coach and I are still great friends!

"PICKLE"

At last night's practice we were working on run downs when one of my ten year old players ask if I had ever heard of the game "pickle".

"Of course I have heard of pickle" I told him. "I have only been playing baseball for 30 something years."

I remember playing pickle for hours on end at my grandparents house in Indiana with my brothers and cousins. This obviously predated the Wii or the  x-box but it was a blast playing anyway.

If you have ever seen the movie the Sandlot... there is a great scene when the Jet gets in a run down and the catcher yells with excitement all over his face "PICKLE!!" That's what happened last night at practice.

The atmosphere of Practice quickly changed from a learning/teaching environment of working on run downs to an impromptu party game.

Watching the boys work together in a game that was all their own taught me how much enthusiasm they could have for baseball. As a coach or parent, if I make practices so intense that there are not times to break free and let the ten year old's act their age, then I have done the boys and the game of baseball a disservice.

Each year when I talk to coaches I often hear them tell me their goals for the season...

• Teach the fundamentals of the game...
• Have fun...
• Be a positive role model...

It is the second one that I want to hone in on... "have fun"

My mental response is:

"Have fun??? The game is already fun. It is up to you to keep the game fun for the kids."

The filter between my brain and mouth never allows me audibly say what I think.

Of course there needs to be constructive, orderly parts to practice but you also need to allow for the improptu "pickle" game in your practices (and in life in general).

Last night reminded me just how fun baseball really is!

Tournament Wrap-up

The tournament ended in a great semi-final game against the EC Outlaws. We went into extra innings and both teams played exceptionally well. We lost by one run which eliminated us from the tournament.

As I look back on the final game, I realize how important "team" really is in baseball. No one ever single handedly wins or looses a game. There are plays that stand out as being extraordinarily good and bad. But it is never one person that wins or looses a game.

There are countless plays, decisions and calls that impact the game in one way or another.

For instance, when I sent a runner home with no outs in the first inning and he got thrown out that was a bad decision on my part that greatly impacted the game. Because it was not the final out or the winning run, some people may not even remember it. Not only did I commit a "cardinal sin" in baseball by making the first or third out at the plate but that play caused the kid who got thrown out to loose his composure and confidence for a couple innings.


If you have been around team sports for any length of time you may have heard the speech..."The name on the front of the jersey is more important than the name on the back of the jersey".

With the parents and players all gathered around, I attempted my best rendition of the speech. I sincerely believe in the team concept. So much so that "commitment" is a cornerstone on which we are building this team. I want players and parents to know that I am committed to them regardless of circumstances. Remember, circumstances are always subject to change.  "Team" and "commitment" are great life lessons for all of us to study.

My wife pointed out that even at 10 years old you have to re-train kids to buy into the team concept. Sometimes coaches preach "team" but in post game speeches they berate individual players for poor performances.

Learning from mistakes is something you have to do. However,  in order to grow as a team, your players, coaches and parents must buy into "the one for all and all for one" mindset.

We have a great group of parents, players and coaches that are committed not only to the well being of their  kid but to the overall well being of the TEAM. As this commitment to one another grows, it will only strengthen our team.

I am excited to see what our boys can accomplish when they are clicking on all cylinders as a team!!