Now that the terrible darkness of the MLB off season is upon us it's time to lock ourselves in our homes and watch highlight reels of our favourite players well we drink ourselves through the winter. Or you can start thinking about/join a baseball/softball recreational league! Depending on what part of the country you live in (any foreign league players out there?) there might even be some leagues playing right now. If you're like me the terrible realisation that snow is coming means the only thing to do is think about and prep for spring. This thread will server as a discussion for all things recreational baseball/softball, you don't need to play to discuss. Please feel free to suggest edits to the OP or to write up a guide if so compelled. I'm by no means the expert on rec bat & ball sports. I haven't swung a bat in 15 years I like many of you out there played little league and then a single year in high school on the JV team where I got exactly 1 (one) hit the entire season (a triple, idk either). I then forgot about baseball until the waning years of college when I for whatever reason got the bug to try playing again and have been doing so the past ~5 years in two different cities. Now is the perfect time to start getting into baseball shape. You haven't thrown a baseball since high school? Well buy a glove find a buddy and get together on a weekly basis and just play catch. Maybe find an indoor batting cage and get some reps in. Either way prepare to feel a soreness you didn't imagine was possible. Baseball uses a number of muscles that often aren't activated (especially throwing) in day to day activety and you're gonna feel like you arm is about to fall off. But just focus on good throwing and swing mechanics. The biggest piece of advice I can give is... DO NOT THROW OR SWING AS HARD AS YOU CAN You might wanna show off to your buddy your sick knuckleball, or look cool at the cage (hint: you won't look cool) but you're liable to gently caress up your arm or get yourself into bad habits trying to do your best Aroldis Chapman impression. Watch Youtube videos and read articles on rotational hitting and how to throw a baseball. It might sound dumb to look up (how to throw a baseball) but it's not an intuitive thing for most people so get the basics down and get into a routine. The best thing you can do is start early and get into a routine. How do I get into organized play? If you wanna just get together with pals and toss a ball or throw BP too each other, that's a lot of fun by itself. It's how I got started, me and my college roommates lived near a field and ended up going there every day to practice our curveballs and see who could hit a ball the furthest. Eventually or maybe right from the start you'll want to play on an organized team. First step is to use your search engine of choice to find out what leagues are available in your city/region. From my experience a lot of leagues are run by 50+ year old men who are still struggling with the concept of the internet. League websites can be difficult to find and the websites themselves look like someones first Geocities site. Baseball loves being stuck in the past. League sites should have a page regarding signing up for a player pool or draft where you will fill out some basic information and how to be contacted. If it doesn't have a signup page look for an email of the league president and shoot them an email saying you're interested in joining but don't know how. They'll likely get you into contact with managers whose teams need players. What should I look for in a league? Assuming you have multiple leagues to choose from you'll want to get a feel for each of them to determine a fit for you. First off skill level, this can be hard to determine just from a website but sometimes you can search Youtube for the leagues name and find some videos of their games to get a feel for the skill level. Leagues that are more competitive will often state that they are competitive league and have some level of requirement (former college/minor league experience required). Most leagues you find will be open to new players no matter the skill level, even leagues that are fairly competitive often have teams that just needs bodies to fill out a roster. Do not be shy about applying for a league even if you suck. You are not the first person coming back to baseball after a long time off, maybe you never played! Teams don't care. If you're not good enough they'll tell you up front they only want people who have recent experience. Managers will usually presume you're barely better then a scarecrow with a glove attached but they want your money to pay league fees and you will get play time. The goal your first year is to get a feel for your team and the league and find something that fits. It's rec league ball no one expects you to be a gold glove defender or Ricky Henderson on the base paths. Have fun and pay your league fees and the manager will be glad to have you. I found a league(s) I want to join, now what? First off, take a look a the league schedule. Can you make it to most of the games? Usually teams play once or twice a week on fixed days so make sure you'll actually be able to make it after work or on the weekends. Secondly and this ties into the first part, where does the league play? Are they 2 hours away and playing at 6:30 PM on Tuesday? Might be hard to make after work. If they do not say where they play email the league manager and find out. Third, find out the league fees and be able to pay them. Pretty self explanatory but a lot of managers want money up front but may work with you to setup a payment plan if needed. Managers usually take on a chunk of debt to pay the league fees for fields/umps and get screwed over when guys play half a season and never show up again and also never paid. Be a good ball player and pay your fees and your manager will like you a lot. Baseball Equipment Depending on your sport softball/baseball you'll need different equipment. I play baseball so I'll outline that here but if anyone wants to chime in about softball equipment I'll add it. Glove - outfield or infield, maybe get both if you'll be moving around. Find something comfortable and then wear it in by stuffing a ball or two in the glove and then rubber banding/tieing it up tight over night. Also just play catch enough and it'll loosen up. Alternatively you can buy "worn in" gloves new. Bat - Check your league rules (wood/metal) usually needs to be BBCOR certified as well. If you're like me you break a lot of wood bats so if you find a size/model you like buy in bulk to save some money. Bats can range from $20 cheapo metal to $300 fancy multi-component barrel dinger machines. If you're just starting out and going to a cage buy a cheap $20-$30 metal bat that you can practice with and later on buy something nicer if you so desire. Finding a bat that's comfortable is important but this usually has more to do with weight/length than price. Hitting is ability not $$$. DONT SWING THE LARGEST BAT YOU CAN FIND UNLESS YOU ARE LITERALLY BABE RUTH Seriously, I see so many bigger (or even not so big) guys who have a 35" bat that they can barely get around with just cause they think it'll let them hit the ball farther. Well it won't unless you know what you're doing and can handle that much wood/metal. Expiriment with a few different sizes and find one that's comfortable. No shame in using a smaller bat, if it lets you swing faster you'll get more hits and that's a lot cooler than walking up to the plate with a tree trunk. Cleats - Most leagues ban metal cleats these days so it's best to just get rubber molded cleats. Find some that are comfortable you don't need to spend a bunch here but $30-$50 will get you something decent (Under Armour, Mizuno). Clothing - Socks/under shirts/pants/belt. Just find whatever is comfortable, get some cool striped knee high socks and rock the old school look like I do or wear long pants and get them caught in your cleats. You can buy 3/4 sleeves at most sports store for dirt cheap. Misc. - A cup. Especially if you play infield, find something comfortable and protect your junk. Just having one on will give you more confidence on the field. batting gloves, a good pair will run you over $30 but may be worth it cause I've worn through plenty of lovely cheap gloves in under a season. I finally sprung for the Franklin gloves you see the big league players use and it was worth it. After a full year of abuse in the cage and play they're still holding together well so it'll likely save you money in the long run. Pine tar if you swing wood is always good to have handy. Now get out there slugger!
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# ? Nov 6, 2017 04:12 |
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# ? Mar 28, 2024 13:03 |
MORE STUFF TO COME
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# ? Nov 6, 2017 04:15 |
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Really good OP! It's the best time of year to buy baseball stuff. Places like Marshall's/TJ Maxx or whatever sell cleats dirt cheap in the off-season. I got a pair if Nike and pair of Under Armour for $20 each last November. Oh also if you live in or around NYC join the Men's Adult Baseball League (MABL) so you can play with or against me.
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# ? Nov 7, 2017 03:00 |
It's always a good time to buy baseball stuff! In my ever lasting search of good quality and cheap wood bats I stumbled upon some cheap Old Hickory maple bats (non-player model). Decided to buy one to try out and it supposedly arrived at my work over the weekend but wasn't there today Really hoping I didn't just lose a bat in the mail. I was very excited to swing a new bat in my apartment and scare the cat.
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# ? Nov 7, 2017 03:13 |
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Popete posted:It's always a good time to buy baseball stuff! I regularly buy bats on amazon, as long as you buy a familiar model they have good prices in the marketplace. I've been using an insane highlighter orange Easton ash bat the last year-plus because it's important to stand out as the nine hitter/sac bunt doer.
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# ? Nov 7, 2017 03:37 |
There's a popular video that's been floating around where JOSH DONALDSON (see time 4:40 for landing foot) discusses hitting mechanics. It's overall a very good video that portrays a modern view of "rotational" hitting. One thing Josh really emphasizes in the video is landing with your front foot open so that your hips can separate and lead the swing. I've been watching some Giancarlo Stanton videos and I think he's a perfect example of "there are very few hard rules to good hitting", Stanton in THIS video has a very minimal stride compared to Donaldson and his foot lands closed. But no one would argue that Stanton has trouble getting his hips open to the ball. I can see Donaldsons line of reasoning that landing with a slightly open foot and knee means less effort to open the hips and it clearly works for him. Your stride foot should land on the ball of the foot and as the heel drops and lands it naturally pulls your hip open towards the ball. A small nitpick on an otherwise very good mechanics discussion by Donaldson, but I like seeing the differences in guys swings.
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# ? Nov 12, 2017 07:15 |
Continuing that thought about stride foot open/closed, this video talks about the differences. The more flexible a hitter (in the hips) they can land with a closed front foot to keep their front knee from "leaking" open and pulling the bat out of the hitting zone. Well a maybe less flexible (think power hitter, like Donaldson) might benefit from an open stride foot where their hips are in a better position to open up towards the ball and get their back elbow into a slotted position quickly.
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# ? Nov 14, 2017 07:50 |
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In case anyone from my area reads this, I'd love to join an amateur/low level baseball league for adults that meets in the city of Toronto. I don't have a car so can't deal with games out in the 905 but it seems like the only leagues I can google are either too high level or very much in the burbs. I would really appreciate a lead.
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# ? Nov 15, 2017 21:34 |
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Been playing men's 12" slo pitch softball for 20+ years in the Chicago suburbs. Played baseball in college and have been in some age 28+ and 35+ baseball leagues, but at this point I prefer the softball leagues. They're cheaper, the scheduling is more consistent, and for me there's more going on in a 2 hour softball doubleheader than one 2.5 hour baseball game. I'm also a high school softball ump so I do that to basically pay for my league fees and equipment. I can't recommend it enough to anyone who is interested in umping to pick it up as soon as possible. It's great money for high school games and easy money for kids games. I kick myself for not starting doing it until I was 40. Edit: there's a decent amount of indoor softball leagues in the suburbs, but they cost about twice as much as regular leagues, the games start at like 9, 10, 11pm, the lighting usually sucks, and it's about 200" feet down the line with giant walls with home run stripes half way up them. The old Ditka dome was always hopping. KDdidit fucked around with this message at 02:00 on Dec 2, 2017 |
# ? Dec 2, 2017 01:56 |
Winter is already getting to me bad, spent like 30 minutes recording myself swinging a bat in my apartment with my phone.
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# ? Dec 14, 2017 04:49 |
Christmas time means more baseball stuff. I got a new Easton S3Z one piece aluminum bat, thinking for one of the leagues I play in that allows metal I'm gonna switch this year instead of only using wood. It's a 33" where as all my wood bats are 32", I switched a couple years back from 33" wood to 32" and it made a big improvement but the metal league I'm in doesn't have very high velocity pitching so I think I can get away with switching back to a 33" for a bit more pop and to use during training.
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# ? Dec 30, 2017 04:43 |
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Nice quiver man. I unfortunately moved up to the northern part of my province so had to bail on my baseball team halfway through the season. Was able to put in quite a few solid pitching performances for them and they went on to win the whole thing though There's no real baseball here but I think I'm gonna take up slow pitch
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# ? Dec 31, 2017 07:37 |
canadianclassic posted:Nice quiver man. That's a good way to part though, hope you get a chance to throw again soon. Too bad there isn't much in the way of hardball up there, have you played softball recently? I know a few guys who play softball and baseball but I'm always worried playing softball would have a negative effect on my swing. I'm expecting to play on 3 different teams this summer for a total of 60-80 games depending on how many I can make so I'm trying to get into a good off season routine to prevent injury/fatigue which has been an issue the past few season. By late summer my arm is shot and I feel like I can't make good throws.
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# ? Dec 31, 2017 08:05 |
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i played a couple games last summer and yeah the swing is definitely different. I was more of a pitcher than a hitter so no big loss as my swing is pretty poo poo to begin with lol That is a LOT of baseball man. My arm is usually ready for a break after 20 games with practices interspersed. Do you throw a lot in the off season or follow a stretching out program? I feel like that kind of a season would require it
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# ? Dec 31, 2017 08:41 |
canadianclassic posted:i played a couple games last summer and yeah the swing is definitely different. I was more of a pitcher than a hitter so no big loss as my swing is pretty poo poo to begin with lol Yeah I have a workout routine for the off season and I try to put some focus on rotator cuff strength. I live in Chicago so the winter kinda puts a damper on how much throwing I can do but usually one of my teams will start renting out an indoor facility ever few weeks in February to get a bunch of people together for practice. I moved in the fall and my new place is a block away from a baseball academy that has indoor batting cages so I'm going on Tuesday to sign up. Hoping that makes a difference and maybe I can find a partner to throw with more regularly.
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# ? Dec 31, 2017 18:28 |
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I'm not trying to derail but I always like to point out that, if you like baseball but don't have the time/money/effort for organized leagues, you can also look for local recreational/slow pitch wiffle ball leagues (avoid leagues associated with Golden Stick if you just want to enjoy yourself without facing 70+ mph wicked breaking stuff).
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# ? Jan 2, 2018 15:26 |
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Got roped into some weird 14" mushball league indoors in Rosemont starting next week. Should be entertaining I guess.
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# ? Jan 2, 2018 22:15 |
KDdidit posted:Got roped into some weird 14" mushball league indoors in Rosemont starting next week. Should be entertaining I guess. Have you played 16"? I never heard of it until I moved here but people seem to love it.
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# ? Jan 8, 2018 05:16 |
Took my first live swings of 2018 today. I finally stopped being so lazy and went to baseball academy near my new place, it's an indoor baseball/softball only training facility with batting cages and areas to work on throwing/fielding/pitching. It was great, a fantastic place for off season and in season training so I immediately signed up for a year membership. Surprisingly hitting off the iron mike felt pretty good seeing as it's been a few months now, tested out the new metal bat and it felt good. The nice thing about this place is they use real baseball instead of the plastic hard rubber practice balls which means it won't wear out metal or break wood bats as often. If anyone's in the Chicago area and wants a training partner hit me up, this place would be ideal for some winter toss and BP.
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# ? Jan 8, 2018 05:21 |
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Popete posted:Have you played 16"? I never heard of it until I moved here but people seem to love it. We played it all the time in gym in grade school and high school. It's fun, but I like my fingers too much to risk playing 16" it 3-4 times a week. I'll just risk 12" pitching and getting hit in the head and dying instead, much safer or something.
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# ? Jan 8, 2018 18:58 |
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Popete posted:If anyone's in the Chicago area and wants a training partner hit me up, this place would be ideal for some winter toss and BP. I mean, that just sounds fun as heck for a one-off thing in general
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# ? Jan 9, 2018 19:49 |
Poque posted:I mean, that just sounds fun as heck for a one-off thing in general Yeah, if anyone is interested in checking it out I can get you a guest pass for just $10. It's got space for tossing/pitching/tee work/pitching machines whatever you wanna try out.
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# ? Jan 9, 2018 20:57 |
First casualty of 2018, hit a ball right off the end of the bat that was probably gonna bounce off the plate. I gotta stop breaking these things. I've been going to the indoor batting cages for about a week now. My plan is to record video every week to track my swing faults and progress throughout the year. I have mixed feelings on batting cages, on the one hand it's a great way to work on different facets of your swing on the other it can get you into a bad rythm of swinging at everything or always expecting a fastball. Nothing really beats live pitching if you can get someone to toss to you. Bonus clip of me trying some different stuff during a cage round, mostly moving my hands around. This is just after I exploded my wood bat, I wish I would have caught that on video. You'll notice I'm getting under a lot of balls in this round, one thing I'm toying with is keeping my hands further back and lower to my shoulder I noticed I hit more line drives when I was doing that. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzLwqkxNHDo
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# ? Jan 20, 2018 08:09 |
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Popete posted:First casualty of 2018, hit a ball right off the end of the bat that was probably gonna bounce off the plate. I gotta stop breaking these things. I would really love to learn to hit with my hands lower (like Utley-style) but, holy poo poo, I think it would take me thousands of reps and I have nowhere near that kind of time. Just trying it while hitting around is a tough adjustment.
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# ? Jan 22, 2018 20:16 |
tadashi posted:I would really love to learn to hit with my hands lower (like Utley-style) but, holy poo poo, I think it would take me thousands of reps and I have nowhere near that kind of time. Just trying it while hitting around is a tough adjustment. It takes me a conscious effort to keep my hands down and thinking about your hands well hitting can get you into a bad habit of starting your swing with your hands and not your hips. Utley and Rizzo are the two guys I got the idea of starting with lower hands. I think it creates less of a loop in my swing and a more linear path. It feels awkward at first but I've noticed it helps me to keep my hands back during the forward stride and I've not been getting under balls as much. Something to toy around with in the off season at least.
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# ? Jan 22, 2018 20:38 |
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Trip report from the Rosemont dome thing. Pretty good indoor facility, not that surprising since Rosemont can afford whatever. It's about a minute a away from the Big Ten Network building. Here's a picture of me modeling the 2017 MLB Player's Choice Weekend socks and a fresh turf burn. I hate playing in full pants and most summers have me sporting trashed skin from sliding on that spot from April to October.
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# ? Jan 22, 2018 23:43 |
Get one of these. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BJOCSLA/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1 I used to get a bad rash/scrape on my left knee from sliding that would just keep getting worse every game. Having some kinda pad helps a lot unless you want your legs to be entirely scar tissue. Padded underwear helps too.
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# ? Jan 22, 2018 23:50 |
idk how many times I've said to myself I have to stop bringing wood to the batting cage.
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# ? Feb 9, 2018 04:57 |
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those wood breaks are the loving worst, how much is that gonna run you? I like using aluminum in the cage just to get my timing down, plus the sound of aluminum is soooooo sweet. I'm thinking about joining a slow-pitch league in the summer since I'm going to have a lot of free time. will post progress as I get into shape and actually pick up a bat for serious for the first time since HS
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# ? Feb 9, 2018 05:11 |
Carlosologist posted:those wood breaks are the loving worst, how much is that gonna run you? About $70 for that bat. I have a wood bat on it's way, it's a cheaper Marucci branded bat that I'm curious how it holds up considering the pro Marucci models are expensive as hell. I recently got a new aluminum bat. I recommend if you want a decent metal bat get a model a few years old, new metal bats are expensive as gently caress but even just a few model years older they drop dramatically. The one I bought sounds like one of those absurdly huge golf drivers and makes a loud ping. Nothing beats the crack of a wood bat though.
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# ? Feb 9, 2018 05:17 |
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I managed to pick up a wood bat and an aluminum bat when the Sports Authority I worked at a couple of years ago shut down. The wood bat broke after a couple of BP sessions, which was sad because it was also a Marucci. The metal is an Easton S500 and is still pretty new. it's also green and loud which is a ton of fun when I break it out
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# ? Feb 9, 2018 05:35 |
Yeah my metal is an Easton S3Z it's orange and obnoxious, I think Easton is going for intimidating neon.
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# ? Feb 9, 2018 05:39 |
SOME STUPID BAT COMPANY NEEDS TO SPONSOR ME SO I DONT GO BROKE
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# ? Mar 14, 2018 03:44 |
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Popete posted:SOME STUPID BAT COMPANY NEEDS TO SPONSOR ME SO I DONT GO BROKE Looks like your bat went broke first. I'll show myself out.
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# ? Mar 14, 2018 05:34 |
After breaking 3 or 4 bats already this year I finally said screw it and bought a couple composite wood bats, they are fantastic. First game of the year is this Saturday, this is a new team for me (I'm officially on 3 teams/leagues now). It's going to be 36 degrees...
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# ? Apr 3, 2018 16:58 |
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The Chicago Dogs are holding open tryouts on April 28. https://thechicagodogs.com/12992-2/
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# ? Apr 13, 2018 18:04 |
Poque posted:The Chicago Dogs are holding open tryouts on April 28. Uhhhhh this is awesome, I think I'm gonna sign up for this just for the hell of it. I would no joke probably leave my job to play on the Chicago Dogs for the summer. I looked at the roster and they only have 2 outfielders so that could be my way in. There is no way I'm making the roster
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# ? Apr 13, 2018 18:09 |
Sadly I did not attend the Hot Dogs tryout, I had already committed to play 3 games that day. Oh well, I have 1 more year of eligibility so if they have one next year I'm going for sure. After playing 3 games yesterday I had one more game tonight, I started in right field until our center injured himself (hamstring) I then moved over to center. Shortly there after I collided with our short stop well running in for a shallow fly ball he ended up with a bloody lip and I a bruised jaw and the wind knocked out of me. My final at bat I check swung a mid 80s inside fastball off my fingers, didn't realize until I got back to the dugout that it had hit my hands I just thought it was a stinger off the handle until I pulled the gloves off and my fingers where all bloody. At this rate I'm going to be a pile of scar tissue and soreness by mid July but drat does it feel good to be playing again.
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# ? May 1, 2018 07:15 |
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Hi thread! I signed up for the rec slow pitch softball team at work. The most experience I’ve had with anything resembling this sport is quoting Kang (Kodos?) saying "as a young boy I dreamed of being a base ball". The OP says baseball and softball equipment are different. I have a ball. Gonna grab a glove and a bat. What should I get? What should I avoid? This is the rec-est of rec leagues, if that helps.
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# ? May 5, 2018 01:04 |
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# ? Mar 28, 2024 13:03 |
I can't speak for softball as much, just get a bat and glove labelled for softball though. Should be easy too find. Softball bats are longer and the gloves are bigger too. Don't worry about buying a fancy bat, just get an Easton for like $30 and go to a sporting goods store and try on a bunch of gloves and get one that feels good.
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# ? May 5, 2018 03:18 |