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“If we are to learn to improve the quality of the decisions we make, we need to accept the mysterious nature of our snap judgments.” – from the book Blink (2005) by Malcolm Gladwell As players and coaches, sometimes we don’t recognize what’s likely to happen on the baseball field until it actually does. It’s … Continue reading
“While it is only human to fear change and to fear the unknown, take a deep breath and welcome change.” – Jonathan Lockwood Huie Paul Quantrill and I would have been teammates at the University of Wisconsin my freshman year had he not left a year early to play pro ball. He was drafted by … Continue reading
“The present Is too much for the senses, Too crowding, too confusing – Too present to imagine.” – from the poem Carpe Diem by Robert Frost Baseball players play the game for many reasons. When a kid first starts playing baseball it’s probably simply because his mother or father signed him up to play. A … Continue reading
“People think I’m smart? You know what makes you smart? Locate your fastball down and away. That’s what makes you smart. You talk to Sandy Koufax, Bob Gibson, or Tom Seaver. They’ll all tell you the same thing. It’s not your arm that makes you a great pitcher. It’s that thing between both of your … Continue reading
“At the end of our workout I spoke to the kids briefly about the two fundamental “rules” I have for when we’re together. 1) Safety – basically don’t do anything dumb that would put someone else or yourself in harm’s way. Wear helmets when batting, be careful and aware of others when swinging bats, make … Continue reading
“The great pitchers are the ones who work the count in their favor and put the batter in a hole. There are twelve possible ball and strike counts. Out of those twelve there is one that seems neutral – the first pitch – with five in favor of the pitcher and six in favor of … Continue reading
“You must forget the last game and the last inning and the last batter, because there is not a thing that you can do about them. The only batter you can get is the one standing up there at the plate with the bat in his hand. You can have the strongest arm in the … Continue reading
“The legendary shortstop Derek Jeter was a frequent subject of debate during the Moneyball era. Broadcasters and scouts noticed that Jeter seemed to make an especially large number of diving plays and concluded that he was an exceptional shortstop for that reason. Stat geeks crunched the numbers and detected a flaw in this thinking. Although … Continue reading
“If you do not expect the unexpected you will not find it, for it is not to be reached by search or trail.” – Heraclitus (Greek Philosopher, late 6th century BC) [Today’s post is a short follow-up to one from a couple weeks ago entitled “Baseball Is Not A Spectator Sport (For The Players)”. Although … Continue reading
“To swing or not to swing, that is the question.” – what William Shakespeare would have written had he ever seen a baseball game and subsequently been inspired to write The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of the Diamond. Seven-time American League batting champ and Hall-of-Famer (as well as 18-time All-Star, the 1967 Rookie of the … Continue reading
Elevate Your Baseball Game 