REDSHIRTING?
There is no question in my mind that Chase has a big advantage because he was “redshirted” in the third grade. I would strongly encourage anyone to resist the urge to rush their sons into school particularly if they are summer babies. Each state has different rules pertaining to high school eligibility. Generally, if a child repeats a grade prior to reaching high school, it has no effect upon their eligibility. One year can make all the difference in the world. - READ MORE

TURNING A NEGATIVE INTO A POSITIVE
I am currently coaching my Lone Star Baseball Club team. It is a showcase team that is put together with the help of a panel of pro scouts. We try to give them assistance in getting to the next level, pro or college. Over the years, 16 Lone Star alumni have made the Show including Justin Thompson John Patterson, and Ryan Rupe, and over 200 have gone on to play college ball. This year's team is the worst ever. Although these boys are supposedly "prospects", they have not got neither respect for the game nor the foggiest notion what a scout or recruiter are looking for. I spoke to them recently about how you can turn a negative into a positive and conversely a positive in to a negative. - READ MORE

PLAYING TIME
Probably the most controversial subject matter in youth league baseball is the subject of "playing time". I annually give my "How to Get Your Butt Off The Pine" speech. In this speech, I analogously compare the workplace to baseball. If you make the team that is like getting a job. That is a good thing 'because if you don't have a job you will live in a van.DOWN BY THE RIVER". If you get in the starting lineup, that is like getting a promotion. If you happen to play one of the premier positions, (SS, C, P, etc.), that is like being a vice president.(The boss's son will never be an accounting clerk. He will be a VP). And always there is the coach/boss and for those not in the lineup he is a jerk. He controls the PEN. He will place people in positions predicated on HIS level of confidence that they can perform the job. HE wants every one to succeed, so work hard and win his confidence. - READ MORE

FALL BALL
Ball is over for the summer! Take a break. Encourage your son to go to the beach, golf or anything but baseball. Let them recharge. But now is the time for you to plan for Fall Ball. Fall ball is a wonderful season. Some refer to this season as a developmental season but not for the right reasons. This is not a time to just goof off but a time to work on specific things. If they will be moving up to a different age group with a larger field and older players it is a great time to get acclimated. This is a great opportunity to play for another admired coach or play a different position. If he's considered trying to switch hit, the Fall is a great time to experiment. - READ MORE

THE MOST IMPORTANT TIP
There are three vital elements necessary to be successful at playing or coaching baseball. 1. RESPECT THE GAME 2. WORK HARD 3. HAVE FUN - READ MORE

WHY SHOULD KIDS PLAY BASEBALL?

I would truly like to drive a stake through the phrase, "Just let the kids play ball and have fun"! There is nothing intrinsically fun about baseball. Stand in the middle of a room and swing a bat. After about :30 you will determine that this is no fun. Hitting the ball is fun! Swinging the bat and not hitting the ball is not fun. NOT catching the ball and having it hit you in the nose is NOT fun! That is why we have coaches, to teach the skills necessary so that the players can have the maximum amount of success and FUN!

I guarantee the player that is batting .500 is having more fun than the one who is batting a buck fifty. But the beautiful thing about baseball is that with discipline and hard work the player that is batting .150 can have more success and HAVE MORE FUN. What a great lesson in life to learn from a little boy's game. If you are disciplined and work hard, you will have more success and more fun!

IF I WERE BASEBALL CZAR
After perusing various youth baseball discussion boards, I sense a great deal of dissatisfaction with the structure of youth baseball today. So here is the way it would be were I appointed “Youth Baseball Czar”. - READ MORE

SELECT TEAM CRAZINESS
In 1987, I brought "select" team baseball to Texas. My God, what have I wrought? Saturday December 21, I accompanied my son, the pro ballplayer, to a tryout for a "select" team. He was asked to act as a "grader". I talked to the parents in the stands. They told me their sons had all played over 100 games the last year. They told me of tournaments in which they had played four games, back to back, in one day. Each had their own private hitting coach and a private pitching coach. Each had a batting cage in their backyard, pitching machine, and bullpen with pitching mound and radar gun. One parent said he knew of parents that were spending $30-40,000 a year on their son's baseball! I went down into the dugout and snooped though their bat bags. They each had at least one and sometimes two $200+ pro line gloves, as many as three $250+ bats, several pairs of batting gloves, turf shoes and spare cleats, eye black, ankle guards, wrist bands, warm up jackets, underarmor, Oakley sunglasses, etc.. These ballplayer were 8 YEARS OLD!!!!!! - READ MORE

WHY KIDS QUIT !
I hate soccer!!! I hate that young baseball players quit the game to play soccer. I recently spoke to a neighbor kid that told me he didn’t play baseball this year and played soccer. I asked him why and he answered, eyes downcast, that he guessed he just burned out on baseball. BS. He didn’t burnout. He batted .135, got 3 hits for the year, got hit by the pitch 6 times, had 4 balls hit to him all year in LF, K’d 22 times, walked 29 times and stole 37 bases. That’s not much fun. Heck if the only enjoyment you are going to get from baseball is running around the bases, you might as well play soccer. Heck in soccer all you do is run around and you never have a bad game. ( How can you tell?) This kid is nine years old, the age at which baseball starts to lose them. - READ MORE

FIELD OF DREAMS
Recently, I was retained by a local youth league to conduct a coaching clinic for T-ball and Coach Pitch coaches. In the next few days, I was deluged with offers from dads of 5-8 year olds desiring to retain my services to give private lessons to their sons at $75 an hour! They were all told to go out and play with their son. What in heaven’s name could I teach a 5-8 year old that his dad couldn’t? What these dads were saying was that they had more money than time. Let me assure you that no one ever lay on their deathbed and wished that they had spent more time at the office or mowing the lawn but I guarantee that if you don’t prioritize correctly and find time to play catch with your son you will someday regret it. Heck, a great movie, FIELD OF DREAMS, was made about that theme. - READ MORE